Chief Executive Officer & Director, PLANET FITNESS INC
Planet Fitness CEO on her first six months in the role and vision for growth
Colleen Keating, CEO of Planet Fitness, discusses her first six months as CEO, shares her vision for growth, and preparations for ...
About Colleen Keating
Colleen Keating, who became CEO of Planet Fitness in June 2024, outlined four strategic imperatives for the company in early 2025. She said the first is refining the brand position and marketing messaging around the theme "growing stronger together," noting that the company plans to increase the complement of strength equipment in its clubs while maintaining cardio availability. The second imperative is enhancing the member experience both inside and outside clubs, citing the Planet Fitness app as the most downloaded fitness app on the App Store. The third is format optimization, adjusting floor plans and equipment mixes to allow members to work out their way. The fourth is growth, with Keating stating the company sees an opportunity to double its domestic footprint to 5,000 clubs and has expanded internationally, opening in Spain in July 2024 with five clubs by year-end. Keating emphasized the company's "judgment-free, no gymtimidation" environment as a unique differentiator and said she spent her first six months visiting clubs and speaking with franchisees and team members. She noted that Planet Fitness would sponsor New Year's Rockin' Eve in Times Square for the tenth consecutive year to promote its brand during the January sign-up period.
Transcript (18 segments)
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Judy0:09
Colleen, welcome to Floor Talk. It's great to have you on the show.
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Colleen Keating0:11
Judy, thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
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Judy0:14
So Colleen, you joined Planet Fitness as CEO in June. Tell me about your first six months.
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Colleen Keating0:19
It's been a very fast first six months. I've really leaned into spending time in our clubs and getting to know our franchisees, talking with our club team members, and seeing how our members utilize our clubs. I call it 'feed on the street.' It's been really insightful, and we've also worked on our strategic imperatives and kind of codified our roadmap for our growth ambition.
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Judy0:42
So tell me about your growth strategy and vision for the future of Planet Fitness.
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Colleen Keating0:46
Our four strategic imperatives really start with refining our brand promise and then making sure we pull that through in our marketing messaging. We're also leaning into member experience to make sure that we're connecting with our membership and enhancing our relationship with our members, and delivering a format both inside and outside the clubs that's most meaningful for them and is going to enable them to accomplish their fitness goals. And then we lean in on format optimization and our equipment mix, and that's making sure that we've got the right mix of equipment for how our members want to utilize our clubs today. And when we get all of that right and we're thoughtful about unit economics and build cost for our franchisees, it enables us to turn up the afterburners on growth.
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Judy1:35
Now how will you redefine your brand strategy and communicate it effectively?
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Colleen Keating1:39
We're growing stronger together, and we're all strong on this planet. We're seeing cross-generational cohorts focus on utilization of strength in our members' workout routines and our prospective members' workout routines. So as we've done consumer testing and consumer surveys, as well as how we've seen members utilizing our clubs, we've recognized the opportunity to kind of shift our mix a bit and have a greater complement of strength in our clubs. So you'll see that pulled through both in the brand promise and how we're communicating that in our marketing messaging.
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Judy2:14
Now Colleen, fitness is a competitive industry. How are you enhancing the member experience to retain and grow membership?
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Colleen Keating2:21
Certainly format optimization and getting the equipment mix right is one of the ways. It's also that we're uniquely positioned because we have a judgment-free, no gymtimidation environment. So we welcome all fitness levels, all members wherever they're at on their fitness journey, whether you're joining a club for the very first time or you're training for your fifth marathon. So that's something that's quite unique to Planet Fitness. Also, with nearly 2,700 clubs across the US and now growing internationally, with the opportunity to reach most of America and offer them an incredible value at Planet Fitness.
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Judy3:03
Now with evolving workout trends, are you adapting your gym formats to meet these changing preferences?
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Colleen Keating3:08
Some of that is equipment, it's also floor plan optimization. People want a little bit of floor space to grab a mat, drop a mat, pick up a couple of free weights, and kind of do their workout their way. And we also see digital as an opportunity. Connecting with our members digitally enables us to really enhance our relationship with them even when they're not inside the four walls of our club. We've got over 500 workout routines on our app today, and the Planet Fitness app is the most downloaded fitness app on the App Store, so it gives us great reach.
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Judy3:41
And what's your approach to store growth domestically and internationally?
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Colleen Keating3:44
Domestically, we see the opportunity to essentially double our footprint, to grow to 5,000 clubs here in the US. And we also see a big opportunity internationally, although I'll say with international growth we want to be thoughtful and really not flag plant, but really grow in markets where we have an opportunity to get to scale and density and be a strong player in the marketplace.
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Judy4:09
And finally Colleen, how are you preparing for the end of 2024, which is the important January signup period, and carrying that momentum into Q1 of next year?
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Colleen Keating4:18
For the 10th year, we will be sponsoring New Year's Rockin' Eve, so we'll be in Times Square on New Year's Eve again as the sponsor. And that puts us on a global stage and really puts us top of mind for consumers when they're thinking about their New Year's resolutions and what they're going to embark on for their fitness journey in 2025. And then also we'll see our marketing messaging reflecting our new brand positioning and our brand promise, and really bringing that messaging of 'growing strong together' to life.
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Judy4:50
All right, well exciting times ahead for Planet Fitness. It's wonderful to talk with you, Colleen. Thanks for joining me on Floor Talk today.
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Colleen Keating4:55
Thanks for having me, Judy.