On-demand fitness “a home run” for field sales

A world renowned pharmaceutical company producing a COVID-19 vaccine piloted Wellbeats with employees at two locations when the pandemic struck and their fitness centers, managed by a third-party provider, closed.

“The company asked our team to expand our services from 1,000 employees to the entire U.S. population,” says Ryan, manager of the fitness centers. Adding the field staff increased their reach to 14,000 employees.

“We kept hearing feedback from the company that we were missing their largest employee group, field sales, who needed something super convenient and pocket-sized because they’re on the road a lot,” explains Ryan. The chance to test Wellbeats was ideal. (Wellbeats offered corporations free access in early 2020 in response to the pandemic work-from-home orders. Many did so and usage surged.)

Ryan and his team took advantage of the opportunity. “We started with the free code,” he explains. “We felt it fit the field sales demographic very well. We tested it with employees and we got great feedback.”

The team is known for creative promotions. “The main platform we use for promotion is Workplace by Facebook (a version of Facebook for corporations),” says Ryan. They also post updates internally on the company’s wellness page. “Every Thursday is Wellbeats day. We highlight a class, a challenge, or a feature of Wellbeats.”

Ryan leverages his experience in TV and film. “Our team likes to post funny and engaging videos, like a spoof of a movie, to grab attention and get people laughing. We always have a tie-in to wellness.”

The success of the pilot convinced the company to add the Wellbeats benefit. Ryan’s team jumped into action. “We had a highly successful Ninja Warrior Challenge last October,” he explains. “We had so many participants at headquarters that we overloaded our onsite classes and group exercise studio. This year, because it was 100% remote, we used the Wellbeats platform. We used classes like TKO kickboxing to tie into the Ninja Warrior theme.” They were pleased that 40 participants took part virtually in the challenge.

Record high class play minutes in December

Ryan’s team did not want to lose momentum over the holidays. “We wanted to make sure we were keeping members engaged,” he says. “Throughout the break, each day we recommended a different Wellbeats channel. Wednesday would be nutrition, and we’d hear, ‘Oh, I didn’t know there were recipes on Wellbeats.’ Then another day would be running, or strength training.” Ryan attributes the extra exposure and the ability to add links in their digital communications directly to specific Wellbeats classes with the record-high class play minutes. “We used themes and were able to reach people at a time when they could relax and get away from their regular work routine.”

Ryan’s team was pleased with the results. “We were expecting the number of class plays and total minutes to drop over the holidays but they actually went back up to match our mid-quarantine numbers. Seeing those numbers go up by using Wellbeats was a real nice surprise.”

Virtual on-demand fitness “a home run”

Adding Wellbeats to the company’s benefits has been “a home run,” says Ryan. “For the longest time we weren’t officially serving field sales and the company wanted something convenient they could use (to stay active). Having Wellbeats available on a cell phone app has helped that demographic so much.”

And for Ryan’s team, “Having the Wellbeats platform with professionally produced classes takes a huge weight off our shoulders. We don’t have to recreate the wheel and film classes on our own. It adds an extra layer of value and gives our team as coaches more tools to offer our members.”