Innovation at 24-Hour Fitness Innovation Is Important

Innovation at 24-Hour Fitness

Innovation is important for any business in any industry, yet it is easy to become complacent and to forget about the needs of innovation as long as the money keeps coming in. If a company continues to make sales, pay its employees, and turn a profit for shareholders, investing the time, energy, and resources into effective innovation can be difficult. In a highly competitive industry like that of health and fitness clubs, however, forgetting about innovation can mean losing market share, losing revenue, and eventually closing up shop (Carlson & Wilmot, 2006). The following paragraphs briefly outline some innovative strategies and processes employed at 24-Hour Fitness, a well-known national brand of health and fitness clubs/gyms, clearly demonstrating the impact on the bottom line and on overall organizational success that innovation has (and the damage that avoiding innovation can cause).

One of the major innovations that 24-Hour Fitness has recently implemented is a change in their national telecommunications system, making it cheaper, more efficient, and more effective than it previously was (Ecova, 2012). By hiring an outside auditor and consultant to review their telecommunications architecture and processes, 24-Hour Fitness was able to save more than one and a half million dollars in annual operating expenses -- fifty percent more than the company's initial goal for the telecommunications overhaul, which was targeted at a one million dollar annual operational savings -- by cutting more than two thousand lines that were no longer necessary (Ecova, 2012). In addition, the innovative restructuring of these lines and other telecommunications components includes ensuring that all information is communicated through a common system, making the tracking and maintenance of communications and of system performance much easier and more efficient than it previously was (Ecova, 2012). This demonstrates how effective innovation can be even when it is hidden from the consumers; though the telecommunications changes 24-Hour Fitness employed did not directly affect the member experience at all, the savings it generated for the company and the improved communications are major benefits. This also illustrates how much waste the company carried before the innovations were put into place, and how much waste would have continued if the innovation never happened.

Innovation can also be seen in the branding and marketing opportunities that the 24-Hour Fitness company has attached itself to. From helping to sponsor the London 2012 Olympic Games to its long-running participation on the competitive reality show The Biggest Loser, 24-Hour Fitness has truly extended the reach of its brand name and image in ways that no other competitor has imagined -- or at least, in ways that no other competitor has successfully pulled off (Liebert, 2012). Due to the complexities of the marketplace and of marketing itself, it is impossible to determine what the direct effects of these marketing innovations have been on the company in terms of membership increases or revenue changes, however it can be stated with relative certainty that these efforts have increased the prominence and level of brand recognition that 24-Hour Fitness experiences, and this certainly cannot be a bad thing when it comes to generating sales and revenue for the company. It also shows a deeper innovative spirit at work in the company, not simply directed towards revenue and sales generation but truly reimagining what a gym or health and fitness club can mean to its members and to the public at large. 24-Hour Fitness has been able to establish itself as the premier health and fitness clubs through these innovative efforts, and this has impacted the consumer experience in abstract as well as direct ways, providing a different perspective and internal experience of membership with 24-Hour fitness and increasing revenue due to the increased prominence of the brand. Failing to take such innovative action would have left 24-Hour Fitness in the same crowded sea of competitors as every other gym.