Richard and the Virgin team take on Australia's top swimmers
- Feb 24, 2009
Richard made a big splash in Sydney today to celebrate the arrival of his global health and fitness business, Virgin Active, in one of his favourite countries, Australia. Together with son Sam, Richard's Virgin Active team swam to victory in a nail biting relay against some of Australia's elite Olympic swimmers.
Swimming legend and Olympic gold medallist, Ian Thorpe, coached the Virgin Active team to victory on the sideline of the 25 metre pool in Richard's new Virgin Active health club in Frenchs Forest – the first of its kind in Australia. Swimming superstars, Geoff Heugill, Andrew Lauterstein, Garth Kates and Matt Abood put up a good fight, but some major disadvantages, including having their feet and hands tied to them down, proved too much!
"Unlike what my competition in the pool faced today, there are no disadvantages when it comes to starting a relationship with Virgin Active," said Richard. "Thousands of Sydneysiders have already discovered the completely new way that Virgin Active approaches health, fitness and wellbeing since our first club opened in Frenchs Forest three months ago."
Challenging the industry like never before; from its holistic approach to health and fitness through to championing consumer demand for flexible and transparent contracts, Richard is confident Australians and Virgin Active are going to work out.
"Australia has waited long enough for a fitness club that puts people first," Richard said. "I guarantee that the positive experience consumers will have at Virgin Active is going to cause some members of this industry to break into a sweat! What's on offer at the moment is simply not good enough."
Beyond the great value for money offering that consumers expect from every Virgin business, Virgin Active is out to challenge the health and fitness industry in many other ways, including:
Flexible contracts – We have looked at the market here and overseas and created a concept that not only offers great value for money, but also provides an experience that people actually want to keep coming back to. Unfair contracts are a major issue for this industry. Virgin Active's flexible and transparent contracts, that put the consumer's needs first, have been a huge success at Frenchs Forest and are expected to cause a ripple of change across the whole industry.
Leading customer service – Customer service was another area the Virgin Active team felt needed a major overhaul in the industry. The friendly and helpful Virgin Active staff will set themselves apart in the market and create a fun, non-intimidating atmosphere where everyone feels welcome.
Reduced waiting times – Overcrowded facilities and long waiting times rate very highly on the frustration scale for consumers. So, we have designed our clubs to be larger than our competitors with more space, more equipment and more fitness studios.
Industry innovation – What is truly exciting about Virgin Active is the company's innovative and holistic approach. Beyond the traditional equipment, our members get to experience so many other new and exciting ways to improve their health and fitness. From swimming, through to dedicated mind/body studios, members can even get some well earned rest in one of our sleep pods after all that exercise!
Virgin Active in Frenchs Forest also caters to member's children under 16 years, with a fun-filled section within the club called Club-V. Here, kids can participate in fully supervised, structured activity programs, while Mum and Dad are free to enjoy their work out.
"The response and feedback from our members to Club-V has been nothing short of extraordinary, exceeding all our expectations. Our forecast was to have 400 Club-V members by the end of 2009 and we have already reached that number! This isn't a dressed up crèche, nor is it a kids 'gym', Club-V is a completely unique, fun filled activity centre within the club designed to stimulate and educate children on the importance of regular exercise. The only tears we see here are when the kids are told it's time to leave!"
Virgin Active is currently developing sites across Australia. Frenchs Forest was the first Virgin Active club to open in Australia in December 2008. A second site in Melbourne's CBD is scheduled to open at 138 Bourke Street in May 2009.
Those who are keen to 'work out' with Virgin Active can visit www.virginactive.com.au or call on 1300 WRK OUT (ie: 1300 975 688)
