Health and fitness marketing is ‘boring’ says Fitness First head of marketing

Health and fitness marketing is “actually really boring” the head of marketing at Fitness First, Samantha Bragg, said at the Mumbrella Health and Wellness Marketing Summit earlier this week.

“If you actually look at marketing fitness brands, it’s actually a really boring category, a lot of the stuff that is going on in the fitness category is really showing the same thing just with a different brand or a different logo or a different tagline.

Mike Bray, Samantha Bragg, Jacque Halstead, Rhian Allen, Giulio Gasperini

“For us it was understanding what are the real reasons people are coming to our clubs and it’s actually not about the training, it is not about the actual programs, it is about the end benefit and the emotional journey that someone goes on to get to that end benefit,” Bragg told the audience.

The fast paced nature of the industry was also noted by Bragg, addressing the high customer churn rate.

“The interesting thing about this category is that it is really fast paced, we’re introducing people into it really quickly.

“There is really high churn in this category as well, so how do you actually start to build your brand but also manage that day-to-day churn within people coming in and out of the category?” Bragg added.

Addressing the industry churn, Fitness First’s Bragg said it is tackling the issue in an analytical way.

“Retention actually starts before they join, the real key is really identifying who are the customers who are going to have the most appeal with your brand and product?

“We’ve really improved our retention rate but Churn is always going to be a problem, it is just how the industry works.

“It then falls down to what is that absolute customer experience that is right for that customer and then really starting to personalise that,” Bragg added.

Adding to Bragg’s point, the producer for health, wellness and fitness business Wanderlust Australia and New Zealand, Jacque Halstead, said it is no longer a fitness industry, instead a wellness industry.

Halstead, told: “I wouldn’t consider our industry a fitness industry, I would more consider the industry I am speaking to, the wellness industry and that includes everything from meditation, yoga, running, hikes, adventure, it includes things like what you are eating and just how you are living your life.

“A lot is happening now in that market and there is so much growth, you could call it crowded or you could call it a need for what we are doing and there is this huge demand for people living more mindfully and it could be because we are on things like our phone all the time now, not outside as much.”

The producer at Wanderlust told the audience the changing definition of the industry was a reaction to peoples changing lifestyles.

“It is a reaction to what is going on in our lifestyle and currently for us we love to see different things that pop up which are unique and authentic.”