CMO Roundtable with Pure Barre's Cheri Tennill

“What are some examples of how your marketing programs benefit your franchisees?”

For 20 years, Pure Barre has been leading the way in the boutique fitness industry, with more than 600 locations in 47 states. One driving force behind the brand’s continued growth and success is its challenges for members. While other fitness brands rely on selling memberships because of high attrition, our strategy is different, turning almost all of our members into “super users” through unique challenges throughout the year. Over the past 5 years, they have become a cornerstone of the brand and will continue to be a longstanding tradition to help franchisees grow membership, as well as retain members.

The challenges can range from 30 days up to a year. Some are nationally promoted, and almost every location always has one active on the local level. In 2021, the brand executed several challenges on a national level, including one annual challenge, two 1- to 2-month challenges, and six mini (2-week) challenges. The corporate team provides franchisees with marketing assets to promote these challenges and execute them without a lot of hassle. Woven into these challenges are collaborations with brands such as Apple Watch and Free People Movement to amplify engagement and help owners uncover more local prospects.

For example, our Fall Fit Challenge of 2019, which tasked members with taking 30 classes in 60 days, was completed by 20,755 people who took a total of 767,917 classes. In 2021, the brand saw more than 30,000 members join one of our monthly challenges.

Challenges such as these have helped our owners stay active throughout the pandemic, and have helped people return to their studios and keep them coming back—during a time many fitness lovers are still skeptical about returning to in-person classes. To further heighten the sense of community and help franchisees create even more of a localized feeling in their studios, the corporate team empowers owners to execute their own challenges alongside our national ones.

It is far easier to keep a customer than to attract a new one, which is why our franchise partners love the friendly competition and accountability these challenges provide. We intend to continue this marketing initiative this year, starting with the Lift Tone Burn Challenge in January, during which each studio is assigned to one of three teams (Team Lift, Team Tone, or Team Burn). Members are tasked with completing classes, referring friends, and posting on social media to earn points for their studio and feel a sense of pride in their workout.