Two weeks ago I had dinner with my father, Mike Balfour, founder of Fitness First. We were debating the state of the fitness industry in London and I suggested big box operators should be concerned about the rise of boutique gyms.

He scoffed, saying the likes of Fitness First had been around for a long time and were too big to be concerned by the likes of little old 1Rebel. I responded that there are 400 boutique clubs in London and I felt millennials are leaving big box clubs in in search for more experience-driven offerings.

We agreed to disagree, as is often the case.
A week later my phone started to buzz with screenshots of a paid advertising campaign by Virgin Active. To my horror, but perhaps also a little delight, the Virgin marketing team had taken an ad in the Evening Standard subtly entitled “From One Rebel To Another”.

The cleverly worded ad took a swipe at the pay-as-you-go model, comparing it to their “everything under one roof” offering. Thinking back to the dinner, I immediately felt justified. It was a badge of honor for 1Rebel – a small, London-based boutique chain of just five clubs – to clearly be on the radar of the goliath that is Virgin Active.

Mike tried to persuade me to go on the counter attack, however, that was not how I felt.

I could, for instance, have mobilised my team to point out the various inaccuracies in the ad. How they inflated our top price from £22 to £25. I could have mentioned that they were missing the point and should be talking about ‘experience’ as opposed to price. I could have thrown in a comment such as “Rebels aren’t interested in working out with 40-year-old Virgins.” However, deep down, I was just disappointed they felt the need to do this.

Pulling together
With inactivity rates at their peak, and obesity a national crisis, I want everyone to exercise, wherever they go.

There’s plenty of room for us all to thrive and if I were to pick an opponent to attack, it would be fast food businesses or lack of government support or poor corporate fitness offerings – the list could go on.

But Virgin Active’s ad in the Evening Standard isn’t the only example of a lack of support we’re giving one another in the fitness industry. In the same week, a social media influencer, @Aliceliveing_, took a swipe at our new marketing campaign for our Angel club.

The campaign leads with the line ‘Pain is the remedy’.

With 50k Twitter followers, Alice tweeted: “Shitty messaging, has the fitness industry learnt nothing? Pain isn’t the remedy. It’s the surefire way to end up with a lengthy physio bill and injuries. Do better.”

Now, I don’t know Alice. I’m sure she’s a nice person. But I do feel that with a large following come certain responsibilities. Yet I’m not sure she took a second to really consider if a fitness chain was actually advocating injuring its customers. I’m no MBA, but I assume that would be bad for business?

In fact the campaign was inspired by a Karl Marx quote: “The antidote to mental suffering is pain.” The meaning being that in order to build character in the face of adversity we must overcome the mental fears we have.

We launched this campaign during mental health week, but rather than understanding this as a message of inspiration, we were now faced with being called a business which likes to injure customers. We politely pointed this out, but got no response.

So why do I mention this? In my view, if you’re passionate about the industry, you’re hoping to inspire people to move, get active and overcome adversity and the many insecurities that often plague us. Our clubs and our communities can help facilitate that.

Fundamentally, I’m simply ‘pro fitness’, and if you happen to choose 1Rebel, then that’s great, if not, that’s also OK – maybe we just have to work harder to win your custom – but as long as you’re moving, it’s a good thing.

The irony is that if Virgin Active wanted to embarrass 1Rebel, they only have to look at their membership list to find I’m a very happy member of their Kensington club.

I go because I live and breathe 1Rebel and occasionally need some space – and it’s a nice club and a great brand.

There’s plenty of room for both Rebels and Virgins in the market, and as Mike always reminds me, it all started with people wanting ‘fitness first’.

Virgin Active’s promotion ran in the London Evening Standard

Boutique operator, 1Rebel, has five clubs in London with more on the way and plans to expand in Australia