In 2020, Newcastle University saw the necessity to pivot to digital to keep its student population active as the pandemic changed the landscape for physical activity.
“Before lockdown, we had nothing in the way of digital, everything we offered was in-person training experiences centred around the gym,” says Denis Murphy, participation and events manager at Newcastle University.
“We’d always planned to incorporate a digital journey in the future and these plans were accelerated by launching a digital platform, offering an enhanced service to our students, with a channel to interact and exercise.
“As the landscape of fitness has changed in the past 12 months, we’ve learned that fitness demands more of a hybrid model. In the past, we thought by providing an on-demand service, we would be devaluing our gym membership, as students would no longer need to come to the gym. We’ve since realised this really isn’t the case, and what people want now is a combination of experiences.
"We’ve seen fantastic engagement, with 20%
of our members downloading and using the Mywellness App. These figures are incredibly positive, as they reflects the percentage of members who attended our classes pre-lockdown" – Denis Murphy, Newcastle University
“The strategy and launch of Technogym Live and On-Demand have worked for us and we’ve seen fantastic engagement. Since we launched to members just before lockdown 2.0, we’ve already seen 20 per cent of our existing member base actively download and start using the Mywellness App. These figures are incredibly positive, as this reflects the percentage of members who attended our classes pre-lockdown.”
