Six essential rules for operators in new white paper, The Fitness Future: Rules of Engagement

The Fitness Future: Rules of Engagement

Keepme founder Ian Mullane has released his new white paper, The Fitness Future: Rules of Engagement, available now for free download. In the paper, Mullane breaks down the overarching trends that are reshaping the way modern consumers approach health and fitness, along with six essential rules that operators must abide by to not only survive, but thrive, in the fitness future. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerating the digitization of fitness, along with the advent of paradigm-shifting technologies like 5G, fitness operators must re-evaluate their role in their members’ daily health and fitness routines. But this is easier said than done. Doing so requires a full understanding of the underlying trends, and an acknowledgment that operators must lean into – not fight – the flow of technology and advancement. In The Fitness Future: Rules of Engagement, Mullane lays these truths bare and shares clear, actionable guidelines that operators can begin to implement immediately.

While it is tempting to believe that the industry will soon return to “normal”, it is the operators who act now who stand to flourish in the fitness future. And though the solutions may seem futuristic on the surface, everything outlined in the paper is, in fact, available today to those who choose to act.

The Fitness Future: Rules of Engagement, is now available for free download via Keepme. Follow this link to claim your free copy. 

Reviews for the white paper

Herman Rutger
Co-founder & ambassador, EuropeActive

“I recommend all operators take note of the six rules outlined in this thought-provoking, insightful document. The concept of customer-centricity is music to my ears, and I welcome the call to embrace the changes taking place within our sector from an ecosystem point of view, rather than hybrid. The future isn’t two-dimensional. It’s multi-dimensional.”

Humphrey Cobbold
CEO, PureGym

“This white paper includes some very important thoughts and ideas that should challenge us all. As such, it makes a valuable contribution to the debate around our sector’s evolution and will, I hope, stimulate progressive discussion.

“The reader might not agree with every example being highlighted, nor every implication drawn out. I myself do not. But let’s be clear, that is the specific intention of author Ian Mullane: to provoke a response, challenging the status quo in a way that almost forces the reader to engage in the conversation.”

Emma Barry
Global Fitness Authority & Chief Creative Soul at Good Soul Hunting

“Ian Mullane is a provocateur who opens the kilt on the future of digital. With online platforms, connected fitness and at-home solutions in triple-digit growth, The Fitness Future: Rules of Engagement is an industry call-to-arms. The future is here, and we are behind.

“We are schooled in scenarios that exist today and adjacent industry examples we should heed. This white paper implores us to find and defend our place in the wellness ecosystem, automate processes inadequately fulfilled now, and consider the plunge into the holy grail of business acceleration: artificial intelligence. So, lean in, apply the six rules, defend your ‘club is hub’ and unleash the latent data in your business.

“Your future depends on it.” 

Carrie Kepple
Co-founder, Styles Studios Fitness & chair, IHRSA

“Ian’s insights into our industry’s new landscape – an ecosystem in which clubs must be OK with not owning the entire wellness journey – are both thought-provoking and full of truth. We have to find a way to be part of people’s ecosystems, focusing on experiences rather than the technology that drives those experiences. We also have to know when to walk away from technologies that create friction and don’t belong in our own ecosystems. Experience is king.”

Colin Grant
CEO, The PURE Group

“A thought-provoking projection into the future of fitness, with some reality checks and great consumer-centric insights. The well-crafted points around building ecosystems rather than hybrids, and helping customers curate their journeys around data, are critical. These are the call to arms for our industry’s future, and highlight how bright that future can be if we get it right. Ian nailed it!”

Justin Tamsett
Chair, REX Roundtables

“This white paper poses and answers all the questions you’ve been pondering subconsciously, but never been game to ask out loud.  
 
“The way Ian unpacks the industry into six well-illustrated rules makes the journey simple to follow, but the reality he presents will make you squirm if you are set in your ways. Nevertheless, if you want to explore new ways of doing business – indeed, if you want to stay in business – this is a must-read. Open your mind, allow yourself to think differently and begin shaping a business that’s built for the consumer.”

Bryan O’Rourke
CEO, FITC & Vedere Ventures

“Ian does a great job of addressing the huge risks and opportunities that lie ahead for gym brands. Fitness facilities are simply not the sole guardians of consumer fitness any longer: the consumer is the centre, and ecosystems will be the delivery mechanisms now and into the future. I would heed his warnings and embrace his advice.”

About the author

Ian Mullane is the founder and CEO of Keepme, a business dedicated to increasing operator revenue through AI-powered insights and tools. With a career that has seen him work with some of the biggest players in FinTech including as Chief Operating Office at Sungard, Ian was also the owner/operator of the fitness business Vanda in Singapore for more than a decade. An economist by training, Ian also holds a Masters in marketing.