This is the day when spontaneous dance broke out among commuters at Liverpool Street station. Ok, so it's a staged commercial by T-Mobile, but how inventive.
When I last looked, this had been viewed over 13 million times and more than 12,000 people had left comments. Now, that's what I would call brand engagement.
Enjoy:
Ps. My thanks to Armando from AGAP in Portugal for putting me onto this video.
Pedro Ruiz, the Chief Executive of Vivafit clubs, the Portuguese circuit-based gym chain for women contacted me this week to say they have just opened their 100th club. The expansion of smaller-scale club formats seem more resilient in recessionary times as sites are easier to secure and they require less development capital. Vivafit has added 15 clubs since November 2008 (in seven months). These are also franchise-operated clubs with shared commercial risk which is another reason why they can expand during a market down-turn.
The company is now moving overseas with its first clubs already trading in Spain.
Members and staff connected to Esporta will be pleased to read that Société Générale (Soc Gen) has now acquired the premium health and racquets brand. Esporta's 55 clubs now become a wholly owned Société Générale subsidiary company. The sale comes just before the August 2009 expiry of the administration order of Bell Leisure (Esporta's previous holding company). Readers may recall that it was Soc' Gen' who provided more than £300 million in bank finance for Simon Halabi's company to acquire Esporta back in 2007. The acquisition also means that Glenn Timms, Esporta CEO has left the business with immediate effect. Timms joined the company in June 2007, replacing Neil Gillis. It is too soon to say who will replace Timms, so for now we can assume that Richard Segal, the recently appointed Chairman is running the show.
Later this week, David Patchell-Evans will become IHRSA's new Chairman. Nothing really significant about that you may be thinking. However, this is the only the second time that the role has gone to an individual from outside of the United States.
Industry insiders refer to Evans as 'Patch' who is the Founder and CEO of GoodLife Clubs, Canada's most successful club chain and on a mission to reach 200 clubs by 2010.
The move signifies IHRSA's intention to become a genuinly global trade association - OK so Canada may be next door, but it is a step in the right direction!
Last week I was off to see a new client in Amsterdam and took the opportunity to stay at the new citizenM hotel. CitizenM is priced as a budget hotel, but is spectacularly different. Just take a look at the attached picture which is a screen-shot taken from the website, during the booking process. Every guest has the opportunity to customise their room so that on arrival you are welcomed by your preferred music and lighting scheme. Once in the room, you can use a wireless 'mood pad' to control lights, music, blinds and TV. Presently, there are two citizenM hotels with a third due to shortly open in the UK. If this is a glimpse of how budget propositions will develop, then mid-market companies operating in any sector, would do well to jump on a plane and experience what citizenM describes as 'affordable luxury'. Click on the images to enlarge.
Fitness First was once accused of preferring thinner people when recruiting for gym staff. The claim caused quite a debate at the time. So, here is a scenario for you. There are two candidates applying for a single role and they are both very strong with similar qualifications, experience and attitude. Candidate "A" has a lean appearance, while candidate "B" is clearly overweight. Who gets the job? Do they both stand an equal chance, or is the lean candidate advantaged? Harvard researchers are discovering that in many settings, the leaner candidate will prevail, and not just in health club settings, where physical appearance is so closely linked to the club's purpose. Is this rational? Perhaps not, but then many decisions are made at deeper, more unconscious levels. Today, I completed a Harvard test that measures the degree to which we associate "fat" and "thin", with "good" and "bad". After completing the "implicit association test", I discovered that I have a strong bias for thin people. I joined the 25% of respondents that held this preference. You can test your own preference by clicking on the Harvard link. The test takes around eight minutes. Please leave a comment and let me know your test result. Click on the image to enlarge.
This week, McFit opens three clubs in Austria. There has been tremendous speculation over the company's first overseas move, following its steller success in Germany.
McFit is Germany's largest club brand (by membership numbers) and is bound to cause quite a ripple around the European gym industry as competitors anticipate its next strategic move.
Recently, I was asked by IHRSA to discuss the research that I have been conducting on UK members opinions towards health and fitness clubs. For some time, I have been tracking the opinions posted by gym members on review websites. They also interviewed me about how pervasive this trend of publishing unprompted gym reviews will become.
The full interview is available on the IHRSA website and can be found at this link.
I recently received an invitation to present at this year's Sports Conference in Athens during early October. It seems that the Greek health and fitness club market is facing some challenging times. The number of clubs in Athens is growing rapidly which is putting severe pressure on monthly membership subscription rates. It means that some full-service clubs are now charging budget club prices. I have been asked to present two topics. The first is an overview of the budget club trend in Europe, followed by examples of how other clubs are insulating themselves from competition via product/service differentiation.
