ATN breaks down key takeaways gleaned from a consumer insights panel held at the recent invite-only Mindbody SA Summit, which brought together top executives in fitness and wellness
Longevity, personalization and community are redefining the fitness experience, founders and executives said at the invite-only Mindbody SA Summit, held recently in Missoula, Montana.
During a consumer insights panel held at the Summit, industry leaders shared how their brands are adapting to a fitness and wellness landscape that’s expanding beyond the traditional workout.
Moderated by ATN founder and CEO Edward Hertzman, the panel featured Solidcore vice president of strategy Gillian Almeida, Organic Bronze Bar founder Danielle Van Auken, F45 Training multi-unit franchisee Steven Sullivan, and CorePlus founder and managing director Michael King.
ATN breaks down some key takeaways from the discussion.
It’s About More Than Just Fitness
The panelists all agreed that even hardcore fitness consumers have come to expect more than just a workout at their gym or studio of choice.
“It’s important to focus on longevity…people are thinking about fitness as one puzzle piece of their overall wellness journey,” Solidcore‘s Almeida said.
King, whose CorePlus operates Pilates and Yoga studios in Australia and the U.S., echoed that sentiment, emphasizing connection as a key part of the experience.
“People want more than a workout now; they are craving connection,” he said. “They want to be part of a community — it’s not transactional, and it’s more than just showing up for a class.”
Sullivan added that F45 has adapted its offerings in response to this new consumer mindset.
“Now, people want to bring their friends, family, they want to try different modalities using ClassPass … so seeing that trend, we’ve adapted to provide more of an experience rather than just a workout,” he said.
Personalization Takes Center Stage
For Almeida, delivering a sense of connection across Solidcore’s 100-plus locations starts with data-driven personalization.
“Our clients are demanding more personalization at scale,” she said. “In order to do that, we have to deeply understand our consumers … and build experiences around them as individuals.”
One emerging form of personalization is pregnancy-friendly programming, with King seeing a demand among CorePlus members who “want to continue moving safely before and after pregnancy.”
“This has encouraged us to lean into working closely with the product teams and training education teams to create pregnancy-friendly classes,” he said.
AI Is Fueling Efficiency, Not Replacing Human Connection
As AI becomes more embedded in business operations and everyday life, panelists agreed that artificial intelligence’s biggest value lies in freeing up time for human connection.
“If we can get rid of 80% of tasks that are coming through … that frees (staff) up for the member experience so they can connect 1-1 with members,” Sullivan said.
Fitness and wellness brands can also leverage AI to help with long-term planning.
“I’m using it more for research and demographics and helping franchisees when we’re looking at different areas to branch out with our next location,” Organic Bronze Bar‘s Van Auken shared.
“We’re using AI … to understand what types of classes at what time should be on the schedule, who should coach those classes, getting really smart about schedule optimization,” Almeida added. “We’re using it in client experience, member retention and engagement, and then a small example that we have recently launched is AI-moderated client interview panels.”
“It’s certainly not a replacement for human insights, but for quick and dirty insights, it’s pretty powerful,” she added.
Word of Mouth Still Rules
Despite advances in tech, old-fashioned word of mouth remains the most powerful growth driver for fitness and wellness brands, the panelists noted.
The number one marketing channel for us is still referral or word of mouth…that doesn’t just happen by accident. Obviously, you need to deliver amazing experiences for that to eventuate,” King said.
Sullivan cautioned against relying too heavily on paid ads.
“Over the last five years, we’ve gotten sucked into this vortex of ‘all of our leads are going to come from digital ads,’” he said. “I’m more of a fan of going out and getting referrals, reciprocity, getting out into the community and talking to people.”
Almeida added that while word of mouth is paramount, it’s important that brands don’t neglect other marketing channels.
“Word of mouth is definitely number one for us, but when we think about other marketing channels, what we find is that when they all work in combination, there’s a multiplier effect,” she said.
Culture & Consistency Power Growth
As brands look to scale, the panelists stressed the importance of balancing local authenticity in new markets with maintaining brand integrity.
“We know and understand that the local partnerships are so important…but there needs to be some central system in process because we’re so protective of our valuable brand,” Almeida said.
A strong culture is key to striking that balance.
“When we’re selecting the owners, I make it crystal clear: this is what our culture is…it’s drilled so much (and) we have been very lucky that our owners just get it,” said Van Auken, whose Organic Bronze Bar operates on a franchise model.
King shared that CorePlus sent a team from Australia to help open its Phoenix, Arizona, location “to try and scale culture in person.”
Brands also must resist the temptation to expand too fast. Sullivan noted that F45 is taking a more measured approach to franchise expansion under new leadership.
“Back in the old days, we would just let anybody buy a franchise, whereas now we’re a lot more strategic with it and we understand that it’s a partnership, and not just a business deal,” he said.
