“Exciting News” the email headline screamed!
“From today, we are launching Les Mills On Demand – our online subscription service that will give users access to Les Mills workouts anytime, anywhere. It’s something we believe is going to help more people than ever fall in love with fitness.”
There’s more. A year ago Les Mills launched “Virtual Classes” in fitness clubs. Clients work out to a huge screen showing a Masterclass Video rather than being motivated and coached by a live instructor.
Les Mills have good business reasons for doing this. On Demand let’s them target the demographic of people looking for a fitness experience without the daunting prospect of visiting a gym. Virtual lets club put on classes during quiet periods when it’s not economical to pay an instructor.
The news of One Demand and Virtual has polarised opinion among instructors.
At one end we see comments like:
“Virtual classes .. taking away all the hard work, endless hours learning choreography and dedication us instructors put into our classes. I’m so sorry LMUK but I can’t help but feel we’re being belittled by this latest endeavour.”
And at the other:
“I don’t think some of you are fully looking at this with open eyes. Virtual Classes are a great way for some members of clubs to get access to our awesome programs at times they would never see them. Our brand moto is One Tribe Fitter Planet be Brave. Our aim has also always been to get the planet healthier. We can’t do that if we are only targeting people who go to the gym already.”
It’s an interesting debate and I can see why it’s caused controversy. Les Mills need to learn from this and scenario plan for their announcements and take care of any concerns in advance. Otherwise they’ll experience the fall out they have seen here next time.
In reality, Virtual and On Demand will have little or no effect on the Live Class Instructor. They target a different demographic and will create through traffic back into clubs.
But I think we are also in danger of swallowing too much Les Mills Koolaid here and believing the PR.
“One Tribe Fitter Planet Be Brave” are marketing slogans. The Les Mills equivalent of “For Mash Get Smash”. It’s a laudable mission but be under no illusion, Les Mills designed Virtual and On Demand to generate more profit.
They are a commercial organisation and profit is their primary reason for existence – if they were a non-profit, a charity or instructors owned the company in some sort of mutual arrangement, I’d have more sympathy for the hype.
On Demand is all about making more money out of Les Mills’s investment in cover music and using their back catalogue of videos. Virtual is all about squeezing money out of clubs by playing the “off-peak card”. Instructors just need to hope that some bean counter somewhere doesn’t decide to switch to Virtual classes all the time.
I’m not criticising Les Mills for doing this – it’s an amazing business model. But Les Mills has form for launching new initiatives with ablaze of hype without scenario planning potential fallout. They should have anticipated the reaction to On Demand by some instructors who don’t think it is “exciting news”. Taking care of the unhappy segment is a key marketing principle. Les Mills needs to learn from this.
Virtual and On Demand let keep Les Mills in control of the cash flow.
What we haven’t seen from Les Mills is individual instructor licences (instead of venue licences) which would let instructors take the programs out into community venues like church halls or community centres. Under the current venue licence structure individual instructors can’t make it work because the venue licenses are too expensive and the instructor needs to be able to teach in several venues.
Those instructors getting upset about Virtual and On Demand should be more vocal about the individual licences issue. The one route which would allow the instructor to make more money and not continue to be paid peanuts by clubs.
They won’t do that because they would not have access to the full revenue stream. And in fairness they haven’t built direct to consumer brands in the same way as Beach Body have with Insanity and PiYo.
If Les Mills was truly dedicated to Fitter Planet then the community route to the mass market is the obvious one to go for. But that would mean lining the pockets of the best entrepreneurial instructors out there – and we all know that lining instructors pockets is not something the Les Mills model is about.
Now it’s your turn:
What do you think of Les Mill Virtual and On Demand? Please leave a comment below or share a link to your own blog.
I am only a gym member, but I cannot imagine standing in front of a screen doing a class, it is the mix of music , moves and also the instructors that make the class
Thanks Pat.
Well written, balance and thought provoking x
Thanks for that Cath.
Look at how Netflix demolished the movie rental store model or how iTunes relegated CDs to the annals of history. As I see it, Les Mills has no choice. If they don’t offer OnDemand, they risk losing their role as global fitness leaders and innovators and ignore a library of wonderful material that makes them stand out versus competitors. I would rather know that there will “always” be Les Mills programs being beamed out to fanatics like me and risk losing my newly attained instructorship than see the whole movement die due to a commitment to a small fraction of admirably loyal instructor-followers. For now, I’m choosing to believe that OnDemand and Virtual will increase recognition and demand for “the real thing”, and if that doesn’t turn out to be true, I will at least take comfort in knowing that I’ll be able to stay with the fight, regardless of what small communities I travel to or new gym models that become enacted. Les Mills is and has always been my friend through thick and thin, and I’m willing to grow with them.
This is a great concept for those who travel regularly and are not able to get to a gym, or find a gym that offers classes at times that see accessible to them. Great idea! I would do it! I love my classes and instructors, and live classes will always be my first preference, but I would much rather do them on video when I can’t make it to class!
I am over the moon that this has arrived!!! My husband works away from home during the week, I work during kids school hours, which leaves me no time to get to the gym or exercise. I’ve always loved the Les Mills classes, and to now be able to do them from home is an absolute winner!!
I love all that is the Les Mills brand. I have been a member of the tribe for over 10 years through my gym memberships. However, when I relocated to another state, the variety and available of classes were limited. Then, I discovered Les Mills on demand and signed-up in November 2016. I am thrilled. I purchased a bar bell and weights, a resistance band, and a step w/risers. I now have all that I need to workout everyday at my leisure. There is Grit, Body Attack, Body Pump, Body Flow, Cxworx, and Sha’bam. Plus the online site provides related fitness information. Emailed questions are answered promptly. When and if Body Step is added to the on line offerings, my exercise routines will be further varied. The on demand classes are motivating and as enjoyable as being in a gym class. The instructors are perfect! Thanks Les Mills for thinking outside of the traditional setting.