This week, I was lucky enough to work with fitforgood to define their brand, marketing and communications strategy. One of the most rewarding aspects was working with like-minded people – passionate about health, with their focus on improving the lives of less advantaged Australians through providing access to health and fitness support – sportswear, memberships, personal training programmes and guidance etc.
Obesity in Australia is now higher than it is in the US. And mental health problems are on the rise year upon year. Both with higher incidence amongst the disadvantaged but also across the board. Research indicates that the adoption of an ongoing health & fitness routine improves the situation. So that’s the social challenge. The commercial side to that is the productivity lost through not addressing the ongoing health of the nation or of your people. Businesses can both benefit from and donate to the cause. If the health of your people is at all important to you and your customers (and I can’t think of any business where it’s not), then align your values and take action.
Apart from improving my understanding this business and brand (and loving it!), I took out two key learnings:
1) when it comes to CSR, don’t just take any opportunity for the sake of it, align values and pull it through your business, across brands – employer, corporate and consumer – and across touch-points; that way your altruism, and hence your brand, has meaning and authenticity to all your audiences.
2) similar to the HR selection process, when choosing your business partners, aligning values makes the experience more efficient, effective and enjoyable; values don’t have to be the same, but at least a healthy appreciation of each others’ values makes a positive difference.
If you want to find out more about fitforgood, please contact me via my website or fitforgood direct
