The Potency of Cult Brands
In today’s hyper-competitive, universally-connected and crowd-driven business climate, standing out among a herd of competitors relies heavily, if not entirely on your ability to create a unique and compelling brand. Unfortunately, most brands are like drops of water, they appear eerily alike from the consumer’s perspective. One approach that businesses take to to stand out and make impression is to cultivate what is called a “Cult Brand.” Cult brands are those that generate a shared consciousness among the evangelists, espousing a mesmerizing mantra and supporting that ideology through ritualistic behavior. In this White Paper we explore the potency of Cult Brands and the principles that drive their success.
Published: November 6, 2015
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2015 Fitness Studio Operating & Financial Benchmarking Report – Abbreviated Version
The 2015 Fitness Studio Operating & Financial Benchmarking Report is a collaboration of the Association of Fitness Studios (AFS) and ClubIntel. The report identifies for the first time ever key data pertaining to the operating and financial performance of boutique fitness studios. This Whitepaper is an abbreviated version of the full report and provides a glimpse into the type of information contained in the full report. The full report can be purchased directly from AFS or by clicking here.
Published: September 25, 2015
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2015 International Fitness Industry Trend Report – What’s All the Rage? – Executive Summary
In 2015, the American Council on Exercise, the International Health, Racquet and Sportclub Association and ClubIntel collaborated on a global study of fitness industry trends to determine what’s all the rage. The study looked at over 90 different industry practices across three broad categories: programs, services and training protocols; equipment and facilities and technology. This executive summary paints a general picture of trends that are emerging, growing, mature and declining, as well as what trends are niche versus mainstream. A complete report will be available on the ClubIntel store in early September.
Published: August 18, 2015
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The Financial Power of the Crowd – Part II
In Part II of our two-part series on crowdfunding we explore the three fastest growing offerings that allow entrepreneurs and small business to leverage the power of the crowd to raise capital for funding their business. In this white paper we look at debt-based crowdfunding, also referred to as peer-to-peer lending, equity-based crowdfunding and royalty-based crowdfunding. These new financing approaches are positioned to become significant sources of capital to entrepreneurs and business over the next decade.
Published: June 21, 2015
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The Financial Power of the Crowd – Part I
Raising capital has never been an easy task for entrepreneurs and for most it is the greatest challenge they face in launching their business vision. In just the past few years the landscape for financing start-ups has dramatically changed due to the introduction of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding leverages the power of social connectivity, investing democracy, government regulations and technology to offer entrepreneurs an innovative approach to raising capital. In Part I of this two-part series on crowdfunding we will introduce donation-based and reward-based crowdfunding. In Part II we will introduce the newest forms of crowdfunding: equity-based, royalty-based and debt-based crowdfunding.
Published: June 20, 2015
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