NZ
NEWS
News and views from the New Zealand fitness industry.
A new direction for Exercise New Zealand
Recently Exercise New Zealand hosted over 1,200
exercise professionals, managers, yoga teachers and
individuals involved in supporting New Zealanders to be
more active at three major events: the FitEx Conference,
The Exercise Industry Awards, and the Hauora Yoga
Conference.
At these events a new direction for ExerciseNZ
was shared with the industry. The new direction is
underpinned by our recent work with the World Health
Organisation (WHO), and by the fact that New Zealand
ranks 13th in the world in terms of physical inactivity
(while at the same time being rated 10th best in the
world in terms of gym membership penetration rates).
While there are many elements to the changes that
we will be instigating, the two most obvious will be:
• a complete re-brand (and possible re-naming) of
ExerciseNZ and all our initiatives, projects and
events
• a public-facing message around ‘be more active’,
with a simple and clear message about how to do
this and where to get support.
While still very much in the early stages of development,
each time the new direction was discussed, it was
apparent that the industry strongly supported it,
particularly with regards ‘cutting through’ the multitude
of messages around exercising and what do to, how
much to do, why to do it and – most importantly – how to
get started. Many people commented that ExerciseNZ
was in a unique position to deliver a singular clear
message to the public with regards the benefits of
physical activity and the steps needed to achieve this,
without showing bias to any one product, brand or
training philosophy.
In my 30 years in the exercise industry, I have never
encountered an idea with such potential to positively
affect the wellness of New Zealanders on such a large
scale. The good news is that, while there is lots of work
to do to make this a reality, we already have many pieces
of the puzzle in place. Our new partnership with Com
Marketing has enabled us to cost-effectively produce
professional marketing videos which, together with our
proactive media engagement resulting in regular TV,
radio and newspaper interviews and quotes, positions
us well for when we start to engage directly with the
public.
Of course, all this doesn’t change one very important
underlying fact: ExerciseNZ does not deliver exercise
services to the public, and as such is not limited in its
messaging with regards ‘product’. Our message will
be about the benefits of increasing physical activity
by engaging with a wealth of providers from New
Zealand’s diverse exercise, activity and movement
community – the vast majority of whom are registered
exercise professionals or members of ExerciseNZ.
It’s certainly an exciting time to be part of the
exercise and movement community in New Zealand,
and we look forward to the opportunity that this new
direction opens up for us all into 2020 and beyond.
Richard Beddie
CEO, ExerciseNZ
[email protected]
NETWORK SUMMER 2019 | 69