Orangetheory Fitness has a new CMO—a chief music officer, not a chief marketing officer. Steve Aoki was named to the role as the company tries out new approaches to retain and attract members.

Typically, the coach leading each class in one of the chain’s 1,500 studios picks the music that plays during the workout. Now, once a month, every Orangetheory class will listen to the same tracks pulled together by Aoki.

“It’s all about motivation,” said Kevin Keith, the fitness chain’s chief brand officer. 

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A survey of 35,000 Orangetheory members helped cement the decision to enhance the chain’s music: “91% said music was really important to their workout, with 94% reporting that music motivates them to push further within the workout itself,” Keith said on the latest episode of the Marketer’s Brief podcast. 

The first of 10 “All Out with Aoki” classes, put together by the DJ known for songs such as “Waste it on Me” featuring BTS, is scheduled for March 26.

“As a producer and a DJ he knows how to score the beats per minute to the workout template, the design of the workout,” Keith said. 

While the celebrity partnership is clearly a marketing tool, Aoki learned about Orangetheory’s branding and how it designs workouts in order to build the playlists, Keith said. 

“We actually did a briefing just like I would brief an agency,” said Keith, who was Orangetheory member before he was recruited to join the company in 2017. 

Aoki will also work on scoring the track to the brand’s next wave of “More Life” marketing due out later this year. That campaign and the brand’s performance marketing come from lead agency Tombras. 

Other plans this year include a collection with apparel brand Vuori, said Keith, which follows a collaboration with Lululemon. 

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After two years of pandemic restrictions—studio shutdowns followed by the release of online videos, then reopening with mask and vaccine requirements, depending on the location—Orangetheory is eager to win back those who opted for other workouts. Brands such as Peloton, offering online classes and at-home equipment, did well when hitting a gym wasn’t possible.

“People got used to it but they didn’t necessarily want to stick with it,” Keith said of at-home workouts.

Demand was there as studios reopened months into the pandemic, he said. Orangetheory also saw a recent surge after COVID-19 mandates were lifted, Keith added. “As time wore on people just really realized what they were missing,” said Keith. 

The bulk of the company’s marketing is done digitally, and much of that was moved to Google properties after seeing a decline in performance on Facebook following Apple’s iOs privacy updates in 2021. And its email newsletters are opened at almost a 50% rate, said Keith. 

The brand also works with influencers, those with a few thousand followers who feel like authentic brand promoters. “We never do things where we pay people just to post, that’s just not us,” Keith said. “We find people who the data tells us that they are a good fit for us.”

Orangetheory’s membership has started to trend a bit younger, with an average age of 39. Roughly 75% of members are female. In some places, such as Spain, the gender split is more even.

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