Leading fitness brand SWEAT 1000 gained thousands of clients this year despite COVID-19. In just six months, their digital community has surpassed 150,000 online workouts.
While most other gyms around the world are battling to stay afloat, SWEAT 1000 has grown their business, turning a global pandemic into an opportunity for them and their community.
A massive HIIT
SWEAT 1000 is known for its calorie-burning classes at its studios in Cape Town and Johannesburg. These hour-long dynamic, high-intensity workouts are split equally between treadmill and floor intervals.
Famous for burning up to 1000 calories per class, it would have been easy for founders Paul and Andrew Rothschild to throw in the towel and give up when forced to close their doors as most people don’t have a treadmill at home.
The digital pivot
Determined to keep their 10-year old business alive and their community healthy and active during lockdown, Paul and Andrew launched SWEAT 1000 Live, a digital platform that has grown into a sustainable extension of the SWEAT 1000 brand.
During the tough Covid period, SWEAT 1000 has kept their community together and grown a new online client base.
SWEAT 1000 Live charges a monthly subscription fee of R499.99 for access to both live and on-demand HIIT, yoga, Pilates and spinning classes, which capture the energy of the in-studio sessions and transfer it online where users can follow at home.
SWEAT 1000 Live is now celebrating its six-month anniversary. During this time, users completed over 150,000 workouts all around the world, and the community has grown from a few hundred to several thousands..
Scale and reach
“Going digital has enabled us to reach a significantly larger, more global audience. Previously, we were limited by studio capacity and a customer’s proximity to our studio. By removing the constraint of time and space, we have been able to focus on additional marketing channels that have never before been open to us, which has played a significant role in our growth,” explains Paul Rothschild, SWEAT 1000 co-founder and co-CEO.
“Early into our digital journey we partnered with Sudor, who played a key role in helping us build and scale our digital business. They’ve taken care of the technology, enabling us to focus on what we do best delivering life changing workouts,” he concludes.
Author: Pedro van Gaalen
When he’s not writing about sport or health and fitness, Pedro is probably out training for his next marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s worked as a fitness professional and as a marketing and comms expert. He now combines his passions in his role as managing editor at Fitness magazine.
Leave a Reply