Fitness clubs make appeal to aging baby boomers
The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by Robert Mullins
"At fifty-three, Martha was the oldest woman in the class, perhaps the oldest customer in all of DefinitionAmerica, and already the young woman on her right . . . was giving her a certain look, as if wondering how she could have had the bad taste to turn up here in their midst at her age."
--from "A Man in Full," by Tom Wolfe
The Martha Croker character in Tom Wolfe's latest novel -- discarded at middle age by her ex-husband for a young trophy wife -- may feel out of place in her fictitious Atlanta-area health club, but real-life club operators don't want her to.
To reach a mostly untapped market, fitness clubs have recently broadened their marketing pitch beyond the finely-toned 20-somethings depicted in TV ads. Now national chains like Bally have begun running advertising that includes images of older members working out.
"We have an opportunity to expand our TV image to appeal to a wider segment of the public with ads that are less intimidating," said Lee Hillman, chief executive officer and president of Bally Total Fitness Corp., Chicago.
Bally operates 330 fitness centers nationwide, eight of them in the Milwaukee area. The average age of Bally members is 36, but the firm is downplaying its image as the destination for perfectly shaped young adults, said Hillman.
Bally's marketing shift follows baby boomers as they age, said Maeve McCaffrey, spokeswoman for the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, a Boston-based trade association for club operators.
"The message is that it's never too late to start exercising," said McCaffrey, citing U.S. Bureau of the Census statistics that the average age for Americans is 35.2 years.
But TV ads that feature fitness overachievers don't work as well as they used to, she said.
"For many people it is a turnoff and intimidating to see those young, perfect bodies in the ads," she said. "They have unrealistic expectations that they have to look like that to be able to join a club."
Bally's Hillman denied that the marketing shift was done to save the bottom line. The company continues to see double-digit growth in "membership revenue" and has a healthy 31 percent share of the commercial health club market in North America.
Bally is trying to attract mature adults like Jack Farrington who avoid youth-oriented clubs.
"I see the (previous) ads for Bally and I think, `Who would join that club but a 20-year-old?'" said Farrington, 73, of Milwaukee.
Although Farrington bought a lifetime membership to Bally, then known as Vic Tanny health club, he seldom uses it. Instead, Farrington works out at Highlander Elite Fitness & Racquet Club in Brookfield.
"I like those bodies but, for me, it's a thing of the past," Farrington said.
Another older Highlander Elite member echoed the sentiment.
"I've never been into the body beautiful," added Bill Glasgow, 68, a Highlander Elite member for 25 years. "I just want to stay in shape and tone up."
As Glasgow and Farrington worked out, children in summer day care programs scurried around the Highlander Elite club from the pool to the tennis courts.
Highlander Elite doesn't promote itself as the home of the 20-something hardbody look because the club wants to appeal to a broad cross-section of people, said general manager David Cress. Highlander Elite also operates a club in Glendale.
Highlander Elite offers programs to people of all ages, but some are of particular benefit to older members, Cress said. He mentioned stretching classes, yoga and water aerobics as examples.
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