YMCA Silicon Valley - Customer Story

How YMCA Silicon Valley use ScreenCloud to automate group exercise schedules and push marketing content to all its branches from one central location.

YMCA Silicon Valley is a non-profit organization with 10 branches in the valley that provides services for local families and kids to enrich their lives and help build a stronger community. They needed a digital signage solution to promote high-level marketing messaging for group exercise class schedules. 

Promote exercise class programmes and other marketing material in a prominent way to visitors 

Find a system that could be managed from one central location

Ability to upload content that is consistent with the YMCA brand

Here, we speak to Rik Nicholson, Director of Creative Services at YMCA Silicon Valley on his experience using ScreenCloud digital signage.

We have 10 gyms in our Silicon Valley association of YMCA gyms, all running different activities and exercise class programmes. I needed a digital signage solution that would allow me to push out different content to screens in different locations without having to visit each branch. We also needed to be able to keep control of the branding, and ensure the content that was going out across each screen was consistent. 

We have screens in 10 different branches. Because the class timetable and other activities vary from branch to branch, I created individual playlists for each location and each screen. The interface was easy, flexible and a joy to use. I could get each screen up and running in a matter of minutes. 

ScreenCloud also created GroupEx PRO app for us, to ensure that we could easily translate our class schedules to screen without having to manually create these a second time around.

Our customers are now receiving relevant and up to date information at their local gym. ScreenCloud is a solid solution for the challenge of networking lots of screens in different locations. It’s saved us time and effort while being affordable and a joy to use.

How ScreenCloud helped YMCA Silicon Valley push marketing content from one central location to 10 of their local gym branches.

“ScreenCloud has saved us the time and effort of having to visit all our gyms just to manage the many screens we have. It’s allowed us to broadcast information relevant to each gym but from the comfort of our central office.”

How YMCA Silicon Valley Saves Time by Using ScreenCloud to Manage Digital Signage in Multiple Gyms from One Central Location 

How MonLeisure increased sales of services and cut paper print costs using digital signage.

MonLeisure recently launched Monmouth’s Premier Leisure Facility, a new leisure centre in the UK, offering leisure activities to improve the health and wellbeing of its community. 

To pilot a digital signage system for a newly-launched £7.4 million leisure centre. 

To be able to share important messages in both English and Welsh, without having to double up on printing costs.

To unify the content shown and ensure a high standard across all centres and buildings. 

Here, we speak to Dale Evans, Marketing Officer at MonLeisure, on his experience using ScreenCloud to power their digital signage.

We were in the process of launching an £7.4 million leisure development for Monmouth Leisure centre so we wanted to move away from the traditional marketing and advertising methods used within the sites. With four leisure centres, three attractions and an excess of 12 buildings, we found that people weren’t taking ownership of the way they were producing content and displaying it at the right standard.

We wanted to look at digital signage from a central point of view to improve how we communicate. 

Previously, we had TVs displaying content but staff had to use USBs to upload images, some of the TVs were old, they didn’t display very well and they weren’t commercial, so they would turn off after three hours because of the eco settings. We also had some difficulty in downloading or uploading files because of local authority anti-virus measures so there were a few difficult things for us, just to get some simple posters up onto some TV displays.

Using ScreenCloud we now have seven TVs, ranging from 52” to 75”, in high footfall locations and for different target audiences. For example we have a TV in our play centre where we display birthday party information for parents, child swimming lessons and so on. Then upstairs, in the gym, we’ll show fitness classes, sports hall bookings, health suites and beauty facilities.

We have zoned screens and use video to display our services like, for example, the fact that we partner with Les Mills fitness. We’ve got a brand new facility which is bright and vibrant so we’ve been filming our classes like Body Pump and we’re finding that it has such a big impact on promoting it, especially because people don’t really understand what the product is. They know it’s a fitness class but not what it entails so these videos really help and it promotes the instructors and that they’re a friendly face.

What we love about ScreenCloud is on each individual screen you can have different messages to target different audiences, whereas before you’d just have a blank poster that you’d put up and hope people would see it. Now people get to see what’s relevant to them.

The digital screens are having a big impact that we’ve noticed already. It means campaigns are easy for us to track now too. Whereas before we would meet with the Centre Managers and we’d have to send the communications to print, wait for them to be delivered and by that time they’d already have eaten into the campaign time, now we can just put the information up on screen. 

Being part of a local authority in Wales also means that every piece of content has to be bilingual, in English and Welsh. Whereas before we would had to have posters and leaflets printed twice in the different languages, with digital displays we can have each version shown and it doesn’t take away from the design aspect as many Welsh words are much longer than English words.

We can also control the time, so in Monmouthshire 80% of people probably don’t speak Welsh so we can justify that the English version will be shown for a longer duration and we’re still compliant. 

We’ve also recorded results through point of sale. For example, last week we decided to do an after school special offer for the play centre, with a meal deal. We’ve already seen an increase in people coming and ordering the product through our till system. 

Next, we’ll train the Duty Managers so they can manage the screens and be more reactive. For example, if we have a technical problem with the pool we can change all of the screens to display this message, or to show cancelled fitness classes if a teacher is sick. The managers will then know they can just click a button and change all of the screens across the premises. 

The staff are all really happy, they love how eye-catching it is and how easy it is to use. 

How Monmouth's Premier Leisure Facility uses ScreenCloud digital signage to share posters, services, fitness classes and to provide parents and visitors with promotions.

"Now people get to see what’s relevant to them."

How MonLeisure Increased Sales and Cut Paper Print Costs Using Digital Signage

How Burn Boot Camp fitness gym remotely controls communications with members using digital signage. 

Burn Boot Camp is a fitness franchise of no-equipment gyms throughout the USA. Comprised of high-intensity camps that focus on using bodyweight or free weight rather than treadmills or weight machines, the sign on their wall reads “I don’t use machines, I am one”. 

To replace the method of placing important communications on whiteboards.

To be able to manage announcements, promotions, deadlines, and client highlights remotely.

The ability to share information regularly and to update messaging in response to emergencies, or member notices. 

Here, we speak to Stephanie Drew, franchise partner and owner of Burn Boot Camp North Durham, on her experience using ScreenCloud to power their digital signage.

I own one of 150+ Burn Boot Camp locations, a franchise of boot camp gyms open in the US. My location in North Durham, NC is two hours from where I live so I’m considered a remote owner. I have a full-time staff onsite, but I handle all of the marketing, client communications, and promotions behind the events.

What we had been using in the gym was a whiteboard which staff had been writing announcements and updates on, but it was really hard to keep track of that from a distance and for me to get what I needed on the board in real time. Placement was also an issue because the whiteboard needed to be reachable for staff, but then it was in the way and taking up valuable wall space (clients do handstands and human chairs against the walls taking up every square inch in the more crowded camps). 

I knew there had to be some sort of digital solution where I could update a screen from afar. Our Director of IT said he had heard of ScreenCloud so I decided to give it a try.

I’ve been using ScreenCloud for four months now and it’s been amazing! I can put announcements and events up on the board at any time day or night. I can update camp times, announce any changes to the schedule, run ‘flash’ sales on retail items, congratulate clients and staff - basically any communication that members or trial members need is on the screen. 

In the gym there’s a small lobby, but people don’t really linger there. So I have a 65” screen in the main gym area which is around 4,000 sq feet. We have 9 camps throughout each day, so between 200-250 people view the screen daily. The screen is mounted 8 feet up (no interference with wall handstands or human chairs) and is positioned on the wall that everyone faces for at least 10 minutes per camp during the warm up and cool down. 

I create custom graphics scaled to fit the screen using our company’s branding software and can also include promotional videos from Burn Boot Camp headquarters. Since participating in ScreenCloud’s free webinar recently, I’ve also added the apps for Countdown Timer, Clock, Facebook Reviews, Weather, Facebook Page Likes and Yelp Reviews to my playlists. I schedule content into playlists by month.

Everyone loves the screen. As soon as I put it up I had rave reviews from the staff who work onsite and are in touch with the clients every day. The clients love to have something to focus on, and since it’s playing throughout the workout they’ll look at it during the warm-up or during different stations and they really enjoy having the information up there. I’ve found that it is a great complement to our other communication methods (email, text, social media, and end-of-camp announcements) and catches those who don’t follow social media regularly but attend camp daily. 

We just had Hurricane Florence that was going to hit the coast, so before the hurricane we put a graphic up that told people to text their name to our gym text line for updates on weather emergencies. We had 50 people text their name from seeing it on ScreenCloud. 

Next, I’d like to use polls to get some more interaction from our members and also use the screen for different seminars and presentations. 

I’ve shared my experience with the other franchise partners at Burn (a large number of which are remote owners like me) and several have implemented or plan to add ScreenCloud to their gyms as an alternative to iPads mirroring or dry erase boards. To have a system they can use from afar is exciting. 

How Burn Boot Camp gym created communications for members using digital signage that updated in real time to show announcements, schedules and social media.

"I’ve been using ScreenCloud for four months now and it’s been amazing! Any communication that members or trial members need is on the screen."

Booming Fitness Franchise Burn Boot Camp Ditched Their Whiteboards for Digital Signage to Better Communicate with Members