Luxury fitness chain Equinox has hit the headlines with a new year membership campaign that barred new members from joining on 1 January. “It’s not you, it’s January” read the caption published across its social media channels, which accompanied a poster with a message in poem format.

“January is a language we don’t understand,” it declared, describing the month as a “fantasy that wants you to start something when you should be in the middle of it”. “Why does January always want to start next week?” read the Equinox campaign boards.

“Equinox will not be accepting new members on new year's day,” said Will Mayer, Equinox’s VP of creative and brand and executive creative director. "January 1st is one of the largest sign-up days for fitness clubs as people prepare for a ‘new year new me’ – but for our members, it’s just another day.”

“You're not a new year’s resolution," continued Mayer. "Your life doesn’t start at the beginning of the year. And that’s not what being part of Equinox is about. Equinox is a lifestyle – not a trend. We speak the language of fanatical dedication. We don’t speak January.”

Equinox worked with strategy and experience design company Collins on the campaign. While it underlines the importance of fitness consistency, from an industry perspective it also takes an unusual stance against the industry’s all too familiar churn rates.

According to IHRSA the average health club has an attrition rate of 28.6 per cent – through this campaign Equinox identifies individuals who sign up on new year’s day as being among those most likely to drop out. Yet rather than encouraging sign-ups for revenue purposes, the company appears to reject this strategy. It even goes one step further, adding that: “It needs a new outfit before it can begin – stalling, short-cutting and giving up.”

The campaign was widely shared and the approach caused a stir among the public and from industry commentators regarding brand perception and campaign efficacy. “I don’t think it’s a particularly good business strategy,” commented Andy Greenaway, chief creative officer and founder of Australian creative agency Rumble on LinkedIn. “Feels like a gimmick . Doesn’t feel sincere. This could backfire spectacularly.”

Whereas Jonathan Anastas, chairman of the board at Alpha Metaverse Technologies in Canada, felt that brands try to cast the net too wide and that this strategy could be beneficial. “Equinox is not 24 hour Fitness,” he wrote. “It's US$250-US$500 a month and most gyms are US$50 a month. They only need to speak to a small sliver of the market and at that premium need to do everything possible to differentiate.”

Equinox operates over 100 full-service fitness clubs globally in the US, the UK and Canada and began accepting membership applications again on 2 January.

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