Lessons from Cult.fit on "ecosystem" play

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As per a recent news report, Cult.fit seems to have found a sustainable growth lever in Cultsport- a direct to consumer, fitness related shopping platform selling fitness equipment, apparel and accessories. Cultsport was launched in 2019.?

In an interview with Mint, Cult.fit CEO Naresh Krishnaswamy claimed that Cultsport is already generating 30% of the company revenues- a number that could rise up to 50% in next two to three years.

The vertical is expected to grow 40 to 50% year on year and is particularly finding traction in hardline product categories like treadmills, spin bikes, outdoor cycles, etc. So very likely this vertical can outperform the core gym business.

Overall, Cult’s journey offers some interesting lessons on the much touted “ecosystem” ?play.

In a bid to build the ecosystem play, the brand initially launched in 2016 as cure.fit with many verticals like Mind.fit, Eat.fit, Care.Fit, etc. ranging from diagnostics to diets in a bid to cater to the entire gamut of health and fitness needs of consumers.

Honestly, many of these verticals never took off as intended. With covid further adding to the woes.

?Long ago, I read advertising legend Maurice Saatchi’s interview. Something he said stuck with me and is very pertinent for any brand hoping for an ecosystem play.

He said:

“The strongest brands are defined by their ownership of one thought; the very strongest by one word.

The nature of this thought or word predetermines the breadth of the brand’s activities.

This is why companies need to think very carefully about the dominant association they wish to create for their brand

It is essential to remember that choosing the word involves sacrifices, the relentless editing out of the superfluous and the irrelevant.”

The lines above perfectly summarises the problem at hand when it comes to building the ecosystem playbook.

Brands often have a misplaced belief that just they can own adjacencies (like health and fitness) rather naturally and seamlessly just because they appear to be interlinked and so close to each other.

Though, health and fitness seem like complementary to each other. They have a world of difference.

While Cure.fit might have wanted to own the entire ecosystem around health and fitness and hurriedly launched many verticals- it appears that in consumers’ minds the brand has earned the license on the word “fitness”, courtesy its expanding chain of gyms that are both visible, popular and truly disrupted the category.?

?It thus made sense that the organisation renamed its umbrella brand Cure.fit to Cult.fit after its flagship fitness vertical around 2021.

This license or association with a single word is earned after years of respectable, demonstrable execution.

?Contrary to the popular belief, when it comes to brands ?“less is more”.

Owing one sharp attribute, is far better than your brand loosely associated with many things.

No wonder, the CEO is bullish that “there is a customer acceptance and improving market share because Cult’s brand is lending credibility to the Cultsport vertical".

With all the work that the brand has done by disrupting the fitness space with its chain of gyms, the success of Cultsport seems to be a great validation that it has rightfully and deservedly earned an attribution with the word “Fitness”.

Hopefully the brand stays the course and continues to reinforce its commitment to fitness.