In this series, we ask top industry execs and marketers across the country about their biggest fears and concerns. What is giving top marketers sleepless nights? This week, we caught up with Tammy Brazier, GoodLife‘s senior vice president of marketing and partnerships external relations. Brazier is responsible for leading its marketing team in addition to its partnership group, which includes corporate programming and health and wellness, and also its PR team. 

What’s keeping you up at night?

I thought about this question for a while. Honestly, the ability to reach as many people as we can in support of our purpose – to give everyone in Canada the opportunity to lead a fit and healthy life. We know that the power of fitness can change people’s lives through prevention of illness, helping recover from illness, and live longer and better as well as a positive impact on mental health. I think because we know that, the thing that keeps us up is how do we meet people where they are so they can have the benefit of fitness in their life.

Speaking of where they are, how has remote work affected Goodlife’s outreach and operations?

Great question. If we think about the corporate programs that we are responsible for leading, there was a time when everything would’ve been in person and what we would describe as “high-touch programming.” We’ve had to evolve to also deliver these in a virtual format, in addition to an on-demand format, where we will provide recordings of classes and workouts and make those available to corporate partners so that they can deliver them through whatever channel is convenient for their workforce. In addition, we have leaned into marketing primarily in the digital space, doing a lot of social, search and YouTube, in order to meet people where they are with the content they are looking to receive.

The industry is rife with fads that don’t necessarily become longer-term trends, whether it’s Tae-Bo or something else. How difficult is it to stay focused on your core business?

You’re right, the fitness industry certainly evolves with respects to trends and developments around new programming and equipment. And we do our best to bring what we believe is relevant to our members. For example, this year the Hyrox Fitness Challenge [a global fitness race happening in October]: it’s the first time it’s been brought to Canada, and we decided to title sponsor that challenge. Having said that, although we will lean into certain trends, we always underpin that with the importance of just moving your body and general exercise. Because although fitness trends will come and go it’s important people connect with exercise in a way that has them feeling good, thinking about it as something they get to do, rather than something they have to do.

Regarding foreign entrants, how does GoodLife handle competing with newer disruptors like OrangeTheory or more established gyms like LA Fitness?

The gym has evolved over the past 45 years that we have been in business. For instance, we now have boutique offerings within what would have been considered a big box gym, so regimen for high intensity interval training, hot yoga for those who love yoga, Les Mills classes and our group fitness studios. But we’ve also grown in the strength training area through lifting platforms and turf zones and evolving the gym space to match what the audience coming to our clubs wants to experience. I think weathering that storm has been about appropriately gathering info from our members about their wants and needs and providing opportunities for them to engage with that.

What about driving membership growth in an environment where everyday life has become more expensive?

From a marketing standpoint, the way we continue to grow our membership base is connecting authentically with those we are trying to reach. There’s nothing wrong with great abs, but we’re not leading with that as a reason to come into the gym. If you’re familiar with our “Always a Reason” campaign… we are about shining a light on the intrinsically good reasons to come, the way people feel, the positive mental health impact. If you’re a grandparent, you want to continue to play with your grandkids, if you’re a post-collegiate athlete, but you want to continue to push yourself, there are opportunities to do that. We try to shine a light on authentic reasons people commit to going to a gym or to keeping up an exercise regime that goes much further than physical appearance or a fitness trend.