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Episode 5 of the Sun Tzu series brings us back to Beijing, China once again. This time we are introduced to a businessman by the name of Tomer Rothschild (“Tomer”), who has started up a chain of gyms called Ozone Gym around Beijing. It has been 7 years since Tomer set up the gyms and extended its branches around Beijing, but he is just barely surviving. James takes a visit to one of his gyms to see the facility, and also does some impromptu interviews with some gym goers around the area, and comes up with his conclusion on why the business cannot grow.
The main problem which James first notices is that China people like to do their exercise outdoors! This means that most of the Chinese will reject the idea of western style gyms as the climate and weather in China is generally conducive for outdoor exercise (generally cool and low humidity). This fact, coupled with Tomer not having a concrete marketing plan to draw in more crowds and advertise for Ozone Gym. James interviews Alejandro Angulo, one of the body combat instructors, who mentions that on a good month, there are about 100 joiners but on a bad month, as little as 30 people sign up. Considering there are 10 branches around Beijing, this translates to as little as 3 to 10 people per outlet per month. This is way below the optimal level required for operations to sustain themselves; James also brings in a venture capitalist and business expert called Cha Li, who commented that the gyms seemed to have lots of space but was simply lacking in crowds!
James went on to randomly interview some passers-by near Tomer’s gym, and one gym goer could not even recall the name of Tomer’s gym, displaying a lack of brand loyalty and non-existent brand awareness. Others simply did not even know a gym existed nearby, even though they had passed by the area umpteen times.
Armed with these facts, James and Cha Li met up with Tomer in the War Room and gave him advice on how to grow his business. James suggested initiating a marketing campaign (using traditional and guerrilla marketing) by tying up with a sports brand, in order to draw in the crowds and give membership a big boost. Read more...
[caption id="attachment_2979" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Photo by striatic"][/caption]
Episode 5 of the Sun Tzu series brings us back to Beijing, China once again. This time we are introduced to a businessman by the name of Tomer Rothschild (“Tomer”), who has started up a chain of gyms called Ozone Gym around Beijing. It has been 7 years since Tomer set up the gyms and extended its branches around Beijing, but he is just barely surviving. James takes a visit to one of his gyms to see the facility, and also does some impromptu interviews with some gym goers around the area, and comes up with his conclusion on why the business cannot grow.
The main problem which James first notices is that China people like to do their exercise outdoors! This means that most of the Chinese will reject the idea of western style gyms as the climate and weather in China is generally conducive for outdoor exercise (generally cool and low humidity). This fact, coupled with Tomer not having a concrete marketing plan to draw in more crowds and advertise for Ozone Gym. James interviews Alejandro Angulo, one of the body combat instructors, who mentions that on a good month, there are about 100 joiners but on a bad month, as little as 30 people sign up. Considering there are 10 branches around Beijing, this translates to as little as 3 to 10 people per outlet per month. This is way below the optimal level required for operations to sustain themselves; James also brings in a venture capitalist and business expert called Cha Li, who commented that the gyms seemed to have lots of space but was simply lacking in crowds!
James went on to randomly interview some passers-by near Tomer’s gym, and one gym goer could not even recall the name of Tomer’s gym, displaying a lack of brand loyalty and non-existent brand awareness. Others simply did not even know a gym existed nearby, even though they had passed by the area umpteen times.
Armed with these facts, James and Cha Li met up with Tomer in the War Room and gave him advice on how to grow his business. James suggested initiating a marketing campaign (using traditional and guerrilla marketing) by tying up with a sports brand, in order to draw in the crowds and give membership a big boost. Read more...
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Episode 5 of the Sun Tzu series brings us back to Beijing, China once again. This time we are introduced to a businessman by the name of Tomer Rothschild (“Tomer”), who has started up a chain of gyms called Ozone Gym around Beijing. It has been 7 years since Tomer set up the gyms and extended its branches around Beijing, but he is just barely surviving. James takes a visit to one of his gyms to see the facility, and also does some impromptu interviews with some gym goers around the area, and comes up with his conclusion on why the business cannot grow.
The main problem which James first notices is that China people like to do their exercise outdoors! This means that most of the Chinese will reject the idea of western style gyms as the climate and weather in China is generally conducive for outdoor exercise (generally cool and low humidity). This fact, coupled with Tomer not having a concrete marketing plan to draw in more crowds and advertise for Ozone Gym. James interviews Alejandro Angulo, one of the body combat instructors, who mentions that on a good month, there are about 100 joiners but on a bad month, as little as 30 people sign up. Considering there are 10 branches around Beijing, this translates to as little as 3 to 10 people per outlet per month. This is way below the optimal level required for operations to sustain themselves; James also brings in a venture capitalist and business expert called Cha Li, who commented that the gyms seemed to have lots of space but was simply lacking in crowds!
James went on to randomly interview some passers-by near Tomer’s gym, and one gym goer could not even recall the name of Tomer’s gym, displaying a lack of brand loyalty and non-existent brand awareness. Others simply did not even know a gym existed nearby, even though they had passed by the area umpteen times.
Armed with these facts, James and Cha Li met up with Tomer in the War Room and gave him advice on how to grow his business. James suggested initiating a marketing campaign (using traditional and guerrilla marketing) by tying up with a sports brand, in order to draw in the crowds and give membership a big boost. Read more...
