Thanks to the offer of a free trip for four to Disneyland, Servus Credit Union Place saw a higher-than-predicted jump in annual memberships between December and January.
According to documents provided to city council as part of an information request, Servus Place sold 2,200 new annual and monthly memberships in December and January as part of a membership blitz. That raised total memberships to 6,108 in January, more than 1,000 beyond budget expectations.
“It’s not the first time we’ve done [a membership drive], but we thought we would try something new,” said Servus Place business and marketing director Kathy Morin. “We came up with the trip idea for new members.”
The number of memberships budgeted came from membership trends over the last three years, according to Morin. However, she added that the number of new members showed that efforts to publicize the contest bore fruit.
“In terms of branding and stirring up the city, it went very well,” she said. “That’s exactly what the numbers are saying.”
The contest was open to anyone purchasing or renewing a membership, Morin added.
City manager Bill Holtby said the success of the blitz went beyond the city’s expectations, leading them to assess the draw and see if they want to use it again in future years. He added that it also brought the complex further into the mainstream as a contender for fitness of St. Albert residents.
“Your standard municipal marketing department doesn’t do this sort of thing,” he said in a separate interview. “What it did for us is take us into the common marketplace.”
While the draw brought in the customers, he said that now Servus Place has to ensure they are able to hold on to new members. Holtby believes the facility will be able to match the customer service and facility abilities of any other fitness centre, helping them keep their newfound clients.
In a financial report presented to council, Servus Place reported making more than $207,600 on memberships in December 2009, more than the budgeted $191,400 expected for the month. Financial reports for January are expected to be part of the city’s quarterly report for council in May.
Holtby said Servus Place is hoping to build on their success by continuing to come up with new strategies to draw in more users. The current objective is to get that number up to the centre’s maximum capacity of 10,000, according to Holtby.
“In order for the facility to have less of an impact on the taxpayer, this is what we need to do,” he said. “What this campaign did is help us get there.”
For Morin, the membership drive is only one of several ways the recreation centre is seeking to make money and develop a high level of cost recovery for the city. She added that staff and administration would be working on other ways to help generate revenue over the course of the year.
