The staff at the Excel Fitness Center realized that one of their target markets, the deconditioned adult, would use any excuse not to exercise — including their children! To combat this, they created The Jungle Club, designed to be a place that children would beg to come to, thus getting their parents into the fitness facility.

Using a Walt Disney-type approach, The Jungle Club was designed with the idea that children would have an “experience,” not just a babysitter. A huge fantasyland, children enter a rain forest and proceed through a three-stage check-in which assures parents that their children will be safely returned to them.

The Jungle Club also uses mats as flooring for additional safety, and has separate areas for playing, eating and sleeping. Each hour features different activities which are posted on a board for parents to see.

To increase retention, The Jungle Club offers one hour free for every 15 hours a child spends there.

Using children as the marketing strategy to lure adults has been a successful marketing approach, and has helped to not only bring in new members, but also retain existing members.