Colenso BBDO tasked to take NZ fitness group Les Mills International more international
Les Mills International has announced the appointment of Colenso BBDO to support their international expansion, with a particular focus on growing the US market.
Nick Garrett (below left), managing director of Colenso BBDO says the agency is thrilled have the opportunity to work with a brand like Les Mills International: “It’s an exciting business to be part of, and the chance to work on an iconic Kiwi brand and success story, facing the challenge of expanding into dynamic and competitive markets, is fantastic.”
“There was an instant chemistry with the LMI team from day one. Their enthusiasm and passion was infectious and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.”
The work for Les Mills International will touch on most disciplines, with a heavy business-to-business focus for a network of international instructors and health clubs, and obviously consumer facing communications in the mix.
Andrew Young, marketing director of Les Mills International, says it was important to find an agency with global presence and insights that could provide creative expertise in key offshore markets: “Our global marketing team is based in Auckland, but our collateral needs to reflect our very different consumer groups. That means providing sales and marketing resources that meet the needs of 14,000 licensed clubs, 90,000 plus instructors, and millions of gym members across 80 countries.”
Young says his team is looking forward to working with the creative talents at Colenso to help ensure Les Mills remains a world leader in group fitness, with its export of group fitness pre-choreographed programs: “The fitness industry is highly competitive, so we need to show club owners and club members that our programs deliver amazing results, based on innovation and on-going creativity. Our brand is all about challenge and inspiration – that’s the magic of Les Mills that we need to showcase to the world,” Young says.
14 Comments
Haha… Have fun with that one Colenso.
You wouldn’t put out a press release to say you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, so why PR this?
Quite the worst client I have ever had the misfortune to work with in NZ. Colenso must be D for Desperate to get into bed with these clowns.
Looking forward to seeing a similar post in about 6 months time, probably with a another agency mentioned though.
Be prepared for lots of meetings that follow this script:
Client: “We showed the team those 14 ideas you produced. Nobody liked any of them.”
Suit: “Any feedback? Maybe we can revise…”
Client. “No, just get us another round of ideas. The deadline is tomorrow. Hire another writer or something.”
Fired from Draft. Fired from DDB. Now Colenso annoucne it as a win?!
Poor wee Nick, thinking this is something to crow about. It’s astounding how such an amazing business and brand can be so poor at marcomms. It’s like they have to spend every second second guessing what the boss with arbitrarily like or dislike based on a whim that day…
Hey Andrew (and Nick),
Que? What’s this all about? Things have been fine up until 5 minutes ago, or so Vaughn told me.
Colenso…..excited about the opportunity to milk the client until reality awakens you and you too will fire LMI…..watch this space
stop with the slagging, it’ll just make Colenso try harder to make you eat those words winning some gold somewhere.
There are some new bods at Les mills now and a new agency so who knows, might actually work out
Actual client quote: “We need another 50 headlines to choose from.”
Quick question; is it possible that previous ad agencies have been a little seduced by the cool factor some associate with the Les Mills brand and have overlooked one really simple thing; Les Mills International is, ultimately, just another B2B account.
Having grandiose creative award winning Cannes-like visions ahead of working on a B2B account is the equivalent of walking into McDonald’s and expecting the most amazing meal ever.
B2B is what it is, even when it’s Les Mills.
Oh, and Mr ‘Glad to see the back of them’; is a client wanting to see more headlines really such an unreasonable request? It’s what ad agencies get paid to do.
Pete at 11.29 – I’m not Mr ‘Glad to see the back of them’ but thought I’d respond to your point.
“is a client wanting to see more headlines really such an unreasonable request?”
Not necessarily. But when the client repeatedly trashes dozens of on-brief concepts and asks for a never-ending supply of more, you have to ask what’s going wrong with the briefing and approval process. Do the agency suits and writers have good track records in briefing and delivering good work? Yes? Then maybe, just maybe, this client has developed some bad habits.
But good luck to Colenso – they could be the one to change all that. We’ll see.