Marketing in Fitness Post 7 - A Look Back at the UFC's Unique First Marketing Campaign

Hello again Jtrain Nation!!

It's another week, which means another blog post for my "Marketing in Fitness" series.

Recently, I've become a fan of mixed martial arts and combat sports. In particular, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). I've ordered a few pay-per-views over the past few months and have found myself absolutely enthralled by the characters, variety in styles, and aesthetic of the event. Seeing two people who have dedicated their lives to turning their bodies into weapons going at one another for bragging rights while forging their legacy and mark in history is something I'm definitely into now.

Source: http://www.beyondhe.com.au/media/media/cache/594x334/SH0248_UFC_main.jpg

I know that sports don't really enter the realm of fitness in the sense that it's not 100% about working out at the gym, but I still feel that sports are absolutely relevant to fitness, since we are dealing with world-class athletes who work endlessly in gyms to perfect their craft and be at their most optimal fitness level.

Recently, the UFC was legalized in New York. To be completely honest with you, I had no clue that it wasn't legal there but after thinking about it realized that there's never been a recent UFC event at Madison Square Garden or other New York venues despite them being among some of the most premiere locations in the world.

I was scrolling through articles for inspiration on what topic to discuss for this week, when I found an article on Yahoo! (link at the bottom) talking about the early years of the UFC and how their startup marketing strategy led to their negative stigma and eventual banning in the Empire State.

The UFC was launched in 1993 by four men, one of which was Campbell McLaren. Mclaren had an idea for marketing the UFC, which for the time would in my opinion be somewhat nontraditional. The UFC didn't have a fanbase that was passed down from generation to generation like a lot of other sports, and chose not to sell their product based on their athletes, most likely due to the fact that they were not as well known as the athletes in more popular sports. So, the UFC decided to use its unique and intense looking style of violence as a way to market their product.  They made it look and feel like some underground event was taking place where anything could happen, where rules and restrictions were minimal.

Campbell McLaren with Fighter
Source: http://i3.dailyrecord.co.uk/incoming/article3435421.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Campbell-McLaren-with-Emmanuel-Yarbrough.jpg

The UFC at that time even went so far as to say a fighter could lose by one of three ways: submission, knockout, or death. It marketed itself as the most intense sports could possibly get, and that you would see the ultimate in competition where anything could happen.

This campaign was very successful for the UFC. They sold many pay-per views and were doing well as a startup company. But it was a double-edged sword. The same no-holds barred, anything goes marketing campaign showcasing how intense the sport was also created a stigma with many traditional sports fans and led to the UFC being banned at certain locations. Personnel involved with the UFC had to also appear in court on a regular basis to defend their product.

Source: https://youmayormaynotknow.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_4942.jpg

This article made me think of different ways to market a product. While risky, perhaps some companies could benefit off of marketing their product as taboo and rare. The early UFC wanted to market their product as edgy and controversial, and I think it paid off for them in developing a niche fanbase to launch from. I believe that showing how your product goes against the establishment resonates with a lot of consumers today as well. I would be interested in seeing other companies take the risk the UFC did in their early years and see if "exclusive edgy" marketing pays off as a viable way to develop loyal niche consumers to launch your brand from. I also believe that having a little bit of controversy along with the product gets people talking about it more, giving the company free publicity.

Today, with better rules and regulations, the UFC has become a lot more organized and accepted at many places like New York. It may be hard to say, but the question arises as to whether or not the UFC could have become the multi-billion dollar company it is today without first establishing itself the way that it did with their unique marketing campaign to build an audience from. .

-Jtrain

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Marketing in Fitness Post 6 - Pact Fitness App Uses Monetary Rewards and Penalties For Motivation

Jtrain Nation! I'm sorry I'm late with this post. Rest assured I'm still going to make these ten blog posts. I'm just making sure I'm finding the best content I can to share with you!

Recently, while scanning through possible topics to talk about, I came across a fairly new app called "Pact". Pact started in San Francisco back in 2010, and was originally called "Gym Pact". After analysis, they discovered that the "Impact" pun they wanted associate with their brand wasn't resonating with customers and changed the name simply to Pact.

So what makes Pact different from other fitness apps? I'm glad you asked! Unlike most fitness apps, rather MOST fitness apps, Pact uses money to motivate you to work out and eat healthy. Through this app, you sign "pacts" or plans that you will get paid for for accomplishing. Each week, you can make anywhere from $0.30 to $5.00 depending on your level of commitment. You must check in daily and take pictures that Pact verifies to prove that you are adhering to your Pact.

However, Pact also PENALIZES you for missing workouts or not adhering to your nutrition plan. If you are unable to meet your daily requirements, you will be deducted $5 that will be dumped into a community pool to pay out Pact users who are staying on track with their fitness goals.

I personally think that this is a cool marketing idea by Pact. Money is a strong motivator. It's a unique service that nobody has really come up with yet. I believe that Pact does a great job at subtly challenging you, making you question if you  have what it takes to stay on track with your fitness goals and draws you in by showing you how much you could make. It shows you that the money is there, and that if you can be motivated enough you should be making free money. There's also a sense of competition against other people who you could be profiting off of for not meeting their fitness goals.

Pact also tries to build its brand by being compatible with other popular fitness apps like FitBit and My Fitness Pal. You can integrate data from those apps into your Pact app to show how you are meeting your goals and tracking progress.

One limitation I see to this app is that it doesn't really pay enough to really motivate someone to utilize the app. I'm not sure that a maximum of $5 weekly while being penalized $5 a day is really in the end worth it. Being a newer company also makes playing with other people's money potentially dangerous and a recipe for potential backlash that can sink the company before they get a strong hold on the market. If they can get a hold of that and have safeguards in place to protect that, I really see an opportunity for them to change the game and be very successful. The brand has recently seen some backlash in the reviews and hasn't really been growing heavily each year.

When I first saw this app though, I thought that this could definitely be something that catches on. If apps can find a good balance between paying people to workout from crowdfunded funds of people who don't, I can see this kind of model really taking off. It will be interesting to see if other fitness companies develop apps that use money to draw in customers. If there's an app with a strong model I believe in, I could definitely see myself utilizing such a service.

To learn more about Pact, please visit Pact's website .

See you soon with another Marketing in Fitness blog! Have an amazing day!

-Jtrain

Sources: 
http://www.gym-pact.com/#
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/01/pact/
https://sensortower.com/ios/us/gympact/app/pact-earn-cash-for-exercise-healthy-living-and-eating-right/456068701#review-history?reviews
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Marketing in Fitness Post 5 - United Healthcare Launches Fitness Trackers to Offer Discounts and Promote Being Active

Hello Jtrain Nation! I hope all of you have been well, dominating life and being the best version of yourself could possibly be. It's another week, and so here's another "Marketing in Fitness" post for you fresh off the press!

I was looking through potential marketing campaigns that I could use for this week when I stumbled upon something very interesting. Apparently,  United Healthcare is teaming up with Qualcomm and is developing a device that tracks the number of steps you take in a day and, in return, will offer discounts on your insurance deductible for meeting benchmarks in three different categories.

The program being launched is called "United Healthcare Motion" and gives individuals who enroll in the program fitness trackers that record the frequency, intensity, and tenacity of steps taken while walking. Frequency is defined as walking six times a day for a minimum of 300 steps, intensity is defined as taking 3,000 steps in 30 minutes, and tenacity is defined as taking at least 10,000 steps within an entire day. Qualcomm has developed the connectivity platform for which to capture an individual's data via United Healthcare's device and analyze whether or not they are meeting specified measures for which to receive financial incentives on their deductibles. Currently, the program and wearable device are being offered to companies with 101 to 300 employees and their spouses in 13 different states who have a fully insured health plan.

On average, a deductible costs the consumer around $1,318 for single coverage according to a 2015 employer health benefits survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Individuals enrolled in this program can receive up to $4 a day in savings, or $1,460 in total health reimbursement credit.

This marketing campaign in my opinion takes advantage of the popularity of wearable devices in fitness. Consumers have shown that they are welcoming to the thought of wearing devices that track their fitness. I think United Healthcare is doing something innovative and smart in creating incentives to stay fit while also promoting their own technology and discounts to potentially grab new consumers. It will be interesting to see if other health companies will jump on this bandwagon and develop their own wearable devices for consumers to use. Perhaps health insurance companies can find even more ways to further incorporate technology and healthcare while offering health plan incentives to market their services and show consumers that they really do care about their health and not just charging them money for expensive health plans.

For more information on the United Healthcare Motion program, please visit: http://www.uhc.com/news-room/2016-news-release-archive/wearable-devices-wellness-program

-Jtrain

Sources: 
http://www.mmm-online.com/corporate/unitedhealthcare-and-qualcomm-partner-on-wearable-fitness-program/article/480696/
http://www.uhc.com/news-room/2016-news-release-archive/wearable-devices-wellness-program

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Marketing in Fitness Post 4 - The Gold's Gym Challenge

Hello again readers of Jtrain Fitness! It is another week, and thus another blog post for my "Marketing in Fitness" series.

This week, I'd like to talk about the Gold's Gym Challenge. The Gold's Gym Challenge is a campaign put on by Gold's Gym that is exclusive to Gold's members. The challenge lasts for 12 weeks, and aims to successfully complete a client's fitness goals with the help of a personal trainer.

Unlike your typical personal training sessions, the Gold's Gym Challenge gives a competition aspect to Gold's' traditional personal training services. Clients who sign up for the challenge receive prizes which can include thousands of dollars. A winner from a male and female group, as well as age groups of 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 60+ are chosen as winners for prizes. 1st place in each group receives $6,500, 2nd place receives $2,500, and 3rd place receives $1,000.

As someone who used to be a personal trainer for Gold's Gym, I'm familiar with this program and have tried to market it to clients. Managers try to push this program hard when this campaign starts up during various times of the year, and incentivizes their employees to push the program hard for the gym by offering them bonuses for each new member they sign up for the program.

One marketing technique that Gold's uses for this campaign is making it feel like an event. They market the challenge before it even begins to make it feel like some special time of the year that people can participate in, and as if it's a big thing that you want to sign up for before it begins. They also call it a "challenge" and make it competitive by making groups compete against one another to see who will win the prize.

When looking at the imagery associated with the banners, flyers, etc, you see a poorly lit black and white photo of someone who looks sad and beaten down next to an (obviously more-edited and beautified) image of that person happy and in color with slim fitting clothing to make them look leaner. This taps into people's emotions and tries to connect with any kind of self-esteem and body image issues they may inherently have, and show the glowing fit and seemingly healthier individual they can transform into...in just 12 weeks! It's an eye-catching piece of imagery that effectively communicates the message and may inspire people to want to take the challenge in hopes of becoming a case like the one shown.

Gold's also does something both sneaky and smart by making this challenge exclusive to members only. By doing this, they force casual gym goers who are not yet members to sign up if they want to be a part of this seemingly special and exclusive event. It's a great way to generate new customers who will pay monthly gym fees on top of the price for participating in the challenge.

I'm not sure how well the challenge helps Gold's in marketing themselves and generating new customers. The fact that the challenge has been going on frequently makes me think that it is doing an effective job for the company. I think that companies that sell products like personal training could benefit from making campaigns that look like challenges and competitions to inspire their customers and potential future customers from investing in their products.

For more on the Gold's Gym Challenge, please visit: http://www.goldsgym.com/challenge-2016/

-Jtrain

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Marketing in Fitness Post 3 - MealDealers and Ready Made Meals at Your Local Gym

Hello again readers of Jtrain Fitness! It's another week, and so another week of me bringing to you another post for my "Marketing in Fitness" series. This week, I'd like to talk to you about MealDealers, a new ready-made meal service that delivers meals right to your door.

 

 

MealDealers is a new company located in Sterling, Virginia that is interested in getting into the fairly new world of prepared meals. Their business model revolves around preparing fresh, great tasting, and easily accessible meals delivered right to your door.

The appeal to MealDealers is simple. All of us enjoy food, but few of us enjoy the process of creating said food. With busy schedules, it's hard to find the time to dedicate to preparing food while keeping in mind nutritional and dietary needs.

So, MealDealers is filling a need in a realm that has not fully been explored yet. I've only really heard of and seen meal delivery services for world-class bodybuilders (which is why I chose this topic for this week's post). Supermarkets like Giant use their Peapod service to deliver food, but there hasn't been a huge market penetration or dominant presence in the meal preparation game, which opens up a big opportunity for small businesses like MealDealers to come in and carve out a place for them to compete in.

 

One way that MealDealers has tried to market their brand is by partnering up with Gold's Gym Manassas in Manassas, Virginia. The folks at MealDealers must have seen how prepared meals can assist and provide value for bodybuilders and weightlifters, who have to eat large quantities of quality and nutritious foods daily. So now, at Gold's Gym Manassas, MealDealers stops by weekly and stocks prepared meals for gym-goers to purchase in house.

MealDealers benefits from this marketing strategy in a number of ways. Being a new company, they have found a way to kickstart their company by becoming a part of a well-established brand in Gold's Gym, while benefiting Gold's Gym with new revenue and a variety of services in the process. Furthermore, MealDealers has a direct market penetration and presence in a community that is very receptive to their product to help increase the probability of sales and new customer generation without having to do it themselves.

I've tried MealDealers before. The food is really good and extremely convenient. For 3-minutes in the microwave you can enjoy a ready-made meal that tastes great and is nutritionally sound. For bodybuilders, it's an extremely convenient way to hit your macros without dealing with the draconian monotony that is bodybuilding meal preparation.

 

One downside, and way that I think MealDealers could compete further in the market is by bringing down their price a bit. I'm not sure how much it costs to run the operation, but the price currently being promoted may be a bit steep for someone who would use their products regularly. If they could find a price that customers would be willing to pay consistently, maybe even in place of their grocery bills, I could see MealDealers really taking off. It will be interesting to see just how far they will take this, and if marketing meals in this way will be the way of the future.

For more on MealDealers, please visit www.mealdealers.com

-Jtrain

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