Les Mills increases market share by profiling and targeting ideal

Experian Marketing Services
Les Mills / Client Case Study
Les Mills increases market share by profiling and targeting
ideal audience segments using Experian’s customer
segmentation and lifestyle behavioural capabilities
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
In New Zealand, Les Mills is a household name synonymous with high quality and a
fun approach to fitness. In 2010, Les Mills engaged Experian to undertake a detailed
site analysis and review of the existing fitness market in New Zealand. More recently,
Experian was engaged for an extensive project to review its existing gym chain of 10
clubs, understand the competitor landscape and identify potential locations to open
further Les Mills gyms across the country.
Experian’s customer segmentation tool was used in conjunction with transactional
customer data to provide powerful insights into the lifestyle and behaviours of New
Zealanders. The site planning analysis performed by Experian allowed Les Mills to
gather deeper information on its membership base, and allowed them to identify
optimum locations that would have a high incidence of its target market.
This is in line with the company’s overall goal to expand its market presence and
build momentum following successful gym openings, which were influenced
by Experian. Since partnering with Experian, Les Mills plans to build four to five
additional gyms nationally, over the next 18 months and has already selected the
potential site locations.
Experian Marketing Services
Les Mills / Client Case Study
CHALLENGE
Les Mills gyms feature traditional high intensity workout areas with cardio and
weight machines, as well as the style of fitness it has become internationally
renowned for, group fitness. Its classes, including BODYPUMP® and RPM® are
now exported to over 13,000 gyms around the world and remain hugely popular with
the brand’s target demographic of young affluent professionals.
To identity new locations for gyms in areas that had a high incidence of their target
market, Les Mills engaged Experian and its customer profiling tool. This tool uses
geo-demographic factors to provide a deep analytical understanding of the social
and economic make up of an area – census data alone is unable to provide this kind
of deep insight. Les Mills wanted to better understand the localities which their
current gyms serve and to identify new locations for gyms, in areas with a high
incidence of their target market.
SOLUTION
Les Mills has now worked with Experian for four years and has used its customer
profiling tool to identify its target audience and access valuable behavioural insights
about them. Experian’s Consumer Insight & Targeting team used geo-demographic
and transactional customer data as well as additional analytical information from
Statistics New Zealand, to build propensity models. These models showed the
likelihood of specific target customers to visit the gym in that area. This allowed for
deep insights into existing memberships and locations. This approach addressed
the initial objective of understanding the existing gym catchments and quantifying
the people that they serve. The team further overlaid the data and considered
behavioural factors such as drive time, to further refine ideal locations with great
accuracy.
Using the information gained in this process, Experian was able to create an area
ranking tool to identify viable locations for new gyms that are based on Experian’s
site planning methodology.
The area ranking tool formed the basis of site recommendations that were nationally
scalable, allowing Les Mills to identify potential gym locations. Guy Needham,
Les Mills Marketing Director, explains the important role of the partnership with
Experian and the deep insights uncovered in the process. “As a result of our
partnership with Experian, we have been able to determine the best locations for
new clubs that will deliver us the optimum location and suitable members for the
type of gym we plan to put in that area,”
Guy said.
Experian Marketing Services
Les Mills / Client Case Study
RESULTS
Over the course of the partnership, two successful gyms were opened, in Hamilton
and Britomart, based on Experian’s recommendations. The successful Britomart
gym attracts young, aspirational professionals and Les Mills offers classes that are
specific are to this target audience such as office work hours and commuting times.
Les Mills is now confident that all potential sites have been identified using intelligent
analytical methodologies. Les Mills is able to utilise Experian’s recommendations and
deep insights to select a number of potential locations to perform a full analysis and
forecasting. “The work done by Experian will assist the company to further expand
its market presence nationally, building on the successful gym openings of Les Mills’
Britomart and Hamilton that were influenced by Experian’s work,” adds Needham.
BENEFIT
The insights provided by Experian are linked with the growth of the brand and have
helped to improve internal operational efficiencies in the site planning process. The
ongoing collaborative relationship with Experian has already enabled Les Mills to
achieve its objective of increasing its market share and has allowed Les Mills to plan
for the development of four to five new gyms in the next two years.
About Experian Marketing Services
Experian Marketing Services is a leading global provider of consumer insights, targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing. We help
organisations intelligently interact with today’s empowered and hyperconnected consumers. By helping marketers identify their best customers, find
more of them, and then coordinate seamless and intelligent interactions across the most appropriate channels, Experian Marketing Services’ clients can
deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximise profits.
© 2014 Experian Australia Pty Ltd | www.experian.co.nz/marketing-services

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