Why Partnerships Are Key to the Fitness Industry’s Growth

As the fitness industry evolves, strategic partnerships will become an increasingly important growth lever for brands of all sizes, executives say

In today’s evolving fitness and wellness landscape, collaboration is just as crucial as competition. It might actually be more important, especially as brands from outside industries seek to gain a foothold in the fast-growing world of fitness, health and wellness. 

“The fitness industry is booming right now, brands want to get involved,” CrossFit vice president of global partnerships Greg Schwartz said during a panel discussion on the “Power of Partnerships” at the ATN Innovation Summit 2025. 

Schwartz was joined on stage by executives from Zumba, FIT House of Brands (F45 Training) and CityPickle. In a conversation moderated by Brandt Creative’s Tatum Brandt, the executives discussed how their companies are leveraging partnerships to drive brand awareness, what separates a good partnership from a bad one and how executives can position their brands as attractive partnership candidates.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Partnerships 

The right partnership at the right time can completely transform your brand. That was the key message from Alberto Perlman, the co-founder and CEO of Zumba.  

Zumba has become one of the biggest brands in fitness thanks to its popular dance-fitness workouts, but the South Florida-based company might not even be around today if it weren’t for partnerships. 

Perlman said he and his fellow co-founders “essentially funded the company through partnerships,” growing awareness in Zumba’s early days by aligning with popular brands in other industries. In the early 2000s, for example, Zumba ran a now-famous promotion with Kellogg to put its dance-fitness DVDs inside boxes of Special K cereal. That partnership helped drive sales of Zumba DVDs, turning the brand into a household name. 

“The flywheel of awareness for Zumba was created through partnerships, and to this day, we still do that,” Perlman said. “It doesn’t make sense to (always) pay for (customer) acquisition. It’s better to partner with like-minded brands and combine our forces.”

F45 Training, meanwhile, might be the most partnership-happy brand in fitness right now, having recently done deals with everyone from Red Bull to Whoop. A partnership with Samsung, which made F45 at-home workouts available on over 100 million Samsung TVs, has been highly effective in growing brand awareness, noted Brian Killingsworth, the chief marketing officer for F45 parent company FIT House of Brands. 

“In the first three months, we already had over 50,000 QR-code scans for the free-trial offer,” Killingsworth shared. 

Why ‘Alignment Is Everything’ in Partnerships

A truly successful partnership is about more than just dollars and cents. While financial metrics are obviously important, they’re not sufficient to ensure both brands get everything they want out of a deal, the panelists said. 

“Brand alignment is everything,” said Mary Cannon, the co-founder and co-CEO of CityPickle, a leader in New York City’s fast-growing pickleball scene. 

Under Cannon, CityPickle has struck partnerships with everyone from Zumba to Equinox to Chase Bank. 

“A partner, they don’t want to just slap their logo on the side of a building, or on, in our case, a pickleball court,” she said. “They really want to engage with your customers to then become their customers.”

For example, CityPickle has worked with Mount Sinai Health System, its official hospital partner, to stage strategic activations that focus on sports medicine and preventive health, including a series in which medical experts give advice on stretching and injury prevention for pickleball players. 

Schwartz noted that brands need to be aligned throughout the entirety of a partnership, not just when the initial contract is signed. He shared that CrossFit has implemented “quarterly check-ins” with its partners to ensure both sides remain aligned on KPIs and other key objectives. 

“In 12 months, businesses and objectives can change …. Alignment on KPIs, on objectives, and how those may change (over time), is a critical piece to the success of a partnership,” Schwartz said. 

How To Position Your Brand as an Attractive Partnership Candidate 

Fitness and wellness brands of all sizes can benefit from partnerships, although smaller brands have to be more strategic in the way they position themselves, the panelists noted. 

While a fitness studio with one or two locations might not have a huge member base with which to woo potential partners, smaller boutiques can still be an attractive partnership candidate, particularly if they lean into their close relationship with the members they do have. 

“You have to position what the (partner) brand is getting access to,” Killingsworth said, offering advice to smaller studios. “They’re getting access to an incredibly sticky consumer who’s incredibly loyal, that’s probably going to your studio on average three and a half times a week or more … if you package it all together the right way, it becomes a really exciting proposition.”

Cannon encouraged fitness and wellness founders to share the story of “why you created a brand” when pitching to potential partners, as this creates a human connection and increases the likelihood of getting a deal done. 

“You might not have as many earned media stats, or your engagement on Instagram might not rival a very established brand, but you can get pretty far down that road,” she said. “So you might not be selling seven-figure sponsorships on day one, but quickly, the $50,000 becomes six figures, and you can get there.”