SoulCycle devotees who frequent its Manhattan studios are sure to recognize Melanie Whelan. At least four days a week, the exercise chain’s CEO can be found pedalling alongside her customers. Whelen is ardent in her dedication not only to the brand she oversees, but also, like so many of her customers, to its marquee experience—inspirational, music-driven, candle-lit spin classes. When Whelan has a meeting with a colleague or an interview with a reporter, she’ll suggest they join her for a class. On weekends, she and her husband do what they call the “SoulCycle hand-off,” taking turns watching the kids so both can take morning classes.
SoulCycle has grown from a single New York studio in 2006 to 62 locations in 12 American markets, 2,000 employees and a celebrity-loved apparel extension with 14 annual collections. Next year, as Canadian Press and others reported on Friday, the brand’s footprint will extend outside the U.S. for the first time when SoulCycle opens two Canadian locations.
Whelan’s challenge has become ensuring this success and growth remains sustainable for years to come, avoiding the parabolic rise and fall of fitness fads like Tae Bo, jazzercising and the Thighmaster. To do that, she must find consumers in new markets aspirational enough to set down $34 (USD) or more for a single class.
The brand’s customers, including no small number of celebrities, are a fiercely loyal breed. They see SoulCycle as not just an exercise class but a way of life and source of motivation outside the studio. When Whelan talks about building the SoulCycle brand, the word she uses most often is community. Instead of mass advertising, the company focuses its communications on its people, telling the stories of its instructors and customers via blog posts and Instagram videos. The studios themselves are designed to foster socializing between riders who, Whelan says, come for a workout but “stay for the connections they make.”
The profile of her super-loyal customer is something Whelan won’t speak about on the record, but she does say that psychographics are just as important as things like household income. The company targets consumers who are willing to invest in their fitness and well-being, regardless of how deep their pockets are.
“We view the brand as something that’s accessible, welcoming and experiential,” says Whelan, who first announced the Canadian openings at Marketing‘s recent Marketing Evolution Summit. “Our price is premium, but we think when you pay for something and commit upfront, you bring a different energy to the room. What that creates is something magical.
“What we’ve seen is that people are willing to pay for a great experience,” she continues. “In this economy, as people are moving away from traditional retail, they’re investing in themselves and their experiences.”
Can SoulCycle find its next set of devotees in Toronto? Cheri Brandish, research chair in sport marketing at Ryerson University in Toronto, has little doubt the brand’s “cult-like following” will extend north of the U.S. border. Like Lululemon before it, Brandish says SoulCycle has found a powerful mix of lifestyle and sport branding. It has built a world around the brand and steeped it with meaning. By turning its studios into community hubs, the company has made classes not unlike visiting a members club like Soho House (a business, it’s worth noting, that surely shares customers with SoulCycle). It’s not just a spin class, Brandish says. “It’s an experience.”
SoulCycle’s constantly evolving merchandise line, sold in the bright, airy storefronts of its studios, is another huge marketing engine for the brand. Of course, it may also help that the skull-and-bones branding is worn by SoulCycle’s many celebrity fans (Oprah, Lady Gaga and Lena Dunham are just a sampling). Whelan is hesitant to discuss the impact celebrities have had on SoulCycle’s success, stressing the company treats celebs like any other customer, doesn’t pay for endorsements and doesn’t even track their impact on the brand.
Fame-assisted or not, the SoulCycle brand is booming. Last fall the company’s revenue increased more than $30 million to $99 million for the nine months ending Sept. 30. This year, it will open in five new markets in the U.S. before its Canadian launch. And when Whelan flies out to visit the first studio here, it’s safe to say you’ll find her alongside its staffers and fresh SoulCycle devotees, sweating it out in yet another new market.
