Brand Associations

The associations that a consumer forms in his mind with a brand and shares with his social network are the second asset of CBBE. Participants describe a combination of functional values and emotional values when they elaborate on the associations with their current or past gyms.

9 out of 12 consumers mention a certain atmosphere that they connect to their past or current gym. On one side, Hannah describes the atmosphere through feelings, as the gym’s atmosphere is influenced by her belief that the gym is “[…] available and reliable”. On the other side, attributes of the gym can constitute the atmosphere as Apolline points out that “The view is literally the motivation”. However, the atmosphere is mostly dependent from the people at the gym, including other customers and staff. In fact, 8 out of 12 consumers affirm not only the strong contribution of the people to the overall atmosphere in the gym but that the people are also representing another independent association with the brand. Hereby, the people at the gym can either be positively impacting the atmosphere or deteriorating it. On the positive side, David points out that the people at the gym can shift the purpose of visiting the gym from only

89 working out to a social event, as “[…] it was more about, like having community and actually wanting to go there and being with friends”. On the negative side, Csanád reports from an experience where he visited a gym chain on a trial day, and “[…] the people they attract just totally ruined the whole experience to me”. As a result, several consumers are able to identify differences in the people that are present at their past and current gyms. Andreas, a current customer of the RSG Group, has a membership that allows him to visit both McFit and John Reed studios, depending on his location or preference. Most interestingly, he reports that for the respective gym chain, “[…] you can see definitely see the difference between the people who are going there”. This has such a high impact on the atmosphere of the gym, that he feels “[…] directly there's a different vibe”.

The facilities are another crucial association the consumers have in mind when thinking about their gym, especially the cleanliness and extra services such as a sauna or hammam. These extras form an association of luxury in the consumer’s mind, as Charles states that his gym is “[…] very modern, very bright - it looks nice and luxurious”. However, 2 out of 12 consumers associate the terms “decent”, “not fancy” and “basic” with their current gyms (Annika, Hannah). Nevertheless, Hannah adds that her gym

“[…] offers everything that I need”. It becomes clear that the associations consumers have in their minds mirror their distinct needs as gym chain customers, which might require more “luxury” or “reliability”.

However, consumers who associate positively intonated terms with their gym chains also state a higher preference for it. Because of the luxurious extras such as the view, sauna and modern facilities, Apolline declares that “for me this gym is the best I ever had”.

6 out of 12 consumers affirm that it would have a strengthening effect on the associations that they already have in mind if the gym also communicated these associations on social media. However, it is of great importance that the associations made during offline experience are coherent with the associations the gym chain wants to communicate on social media. As an example, Andreas criticizes that there is an obvious discrepancy between the atmosphere at McFit gyms offline and online, as “[…] this specific atmosphere is totally the opposite of what McFit is trying to show us on their Instagram page”.

In general, 12 out of 12 consumers create their associations to their gym based on functional values as well as emotional values. Whereas the price, the facilities, cleanliness and quality of equipment are

90 mentioned on the functional side, the people and the entire atmosphere are crucial emotional aspects that impact the associations in the consumers’ minds. Accordingly, the consumers are asked whether they would like their gym chain to focus their social media communication on either functional or emotional values. As a result, it becomes evident that there is no uniform support for functionality or emotionality.

Rather, each consumer would like to see his own associations and values communicated over social media. In order to depict the complexity of consumers’ different associations with gym chains, David argues that “[…] this really depends on the situation I am in”. Since 11 of 12 participants are students, their living situation is often impacted by changes of residency. Accordingly, David mentions that it depends on his current living situations whether he values functionality over emotionality. Hence, if his residency is short-term, a low-cost and flexible gym chain is preferred. If looking for a long-term option, emotional values such as atmosphere and the feeling of support by the gym’s staff is more important for his purchase decision. Considering the gym chain’s social media presence, David would therefore like to see high flexibility and convenience communicated when he is looking for a short-term solution.

Contrastingly, if looking for a long-term membership, facilities and community-feeling should be emphasized in the gym’s communication on social media.

However, both Sandra and Annika strongly favor a focus on the emotional side. Regarding functional values such as cleanliness or facilities itself, Sandra opinions that social media could not be trusted because “[…] in the end I don't think any gym, even if they're dirty, they would show a picture where their equipment looks dirty”. Accordingly, it is assumed that gym chains always represent their facilities in a polished way. Instead, she favors a focus on the emotional values because this does not only “[…]

really well convey the atmosphere that the gym ideally has and the kind of people that go there” but also because the way emotional social media content is created from the gym chain’s side is “[…] really important and just showing what kind of atmosphere you can expect in the gym”. In addition, Annika argues that the functional, hard facts such as price and location are easily looked up through an online search. However, “[…] when it comes to these emotional things, you don't really know that unless you sign up and enter the gym multiple times”. Still, gym chains should communicate their emotional values on social media in order to create a first positive impression and therefore positive associations the potential customer creates in his mind, as it is beneficial for the brand in the consumer’s final decision process.

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