Concord Flower Shop is targeting shiny, happy people (i.e. hard core exercisers) through a partnership with Orangetheory Fitness.
What do a flower shop and a fitness studio have in common?
For starters, a visit to either reaps proven health benefits.
They also both contribute to a creating a vibrant, local community.
The way Helen Halloran sees it, more businesses that open in her neighborhood — and thrive — means more potential name recognition and foot traffic.
So when Orangetheory, a boutique fitness center, opened around the corner earlier this year, the owner of Concord Flower Shop in Concord, Massachusetts, stopped in to introduce herself and offered to help get the word out. She put Orangetheory literature on her checkout counter, along with a raffle bowl, where people could drop in a business card for the chance to win a free heart rate monitor—a major component of the company’s high-intensity interval training format.
In return, the Orangetheory manager proposed running a free ad for Concord Flower Shop in the studio’s e-newsletter. “I decided to make it an offer for 10 percent off when you show your Orangetheory membership card,” Halloran said. So far, she’s seen a few people take advantage of the discount, but expects the number to grow throughout the year. “The gym’s still pretty new and building its clientele,” she said. She also plans to make floral designs for Orangetheory’s front desk so exercisers will see some lovely flowers (and catch a whiff of something fresh!) on their way in and out of the studio.
“It’s always fun to cross promote and help a new neighbor,” Halloran said. “But I’m also interested in attracting younger clientele, which Orangetheory definitely has.”
Orangetheory instructors lead one-hour classes that alternate between cardio and strength training segments that guide participants’ heart rates through various target zones (fat burning, cardio, peak). Group workouts like Orangetheory’s are on the rise, particularly with millennials, who find value in the grueling workout, the professional guidance and the social atmosphere that comes from panting and sweating next to familiar faces multiple days a week.
