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Boston Sports Club Offers Free Pool Hair! All You Can Eat!
Companies spend a lot of time on what their messaging should be — although truthfully, I think this is still an afterthought relative to the time they spend on the visual aspects of a brand. However, as I have stated in numerous other blog posts, in the end, the brand experience the consumer has will always say more than any words the company chooses to put in print. The company messaging can act as a catalyst to get peeps to try the brand, but if you fail to deliver on a positive brand experience, you might as well have just said “we suck” in your messaging.
So what does Boston Sports Club (BSC) say to me based on my brand experience? It says “Free Pool Hair!” and unfortunately that overshadows everything else about the brand.
I joined the Westborough Boston Sports Club last winter when I started training for a triathlon. The facility was brand spankin’ new and quite simply, stunning. It was huge, well lit and featured all new equipment. The pool was phenomenal with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that ran the full length of the pool. Ed, the man who signed me up, was a great personification of the brand. He was super attentive, physically fit, and genuinely engaged in hearing about my fitness goals. I walked away thinking the company had done a fantastic job in creating a brand experience that would prompt me to be a “repeater” and tell all my friends. After all, positive word of mouth marketing is nirvana for any brand in any segment in any country. However, it can be a double-edged sword. Negative word of mouth communication can stop a brand dead in its tracks.
So what happened? Unfortunately, it was a deja-vus experience because it had happened to me once before and involved the same person. Last night I went for a swim. It was late, so nobody else was in the pool when I started — quiet, peaceful and meditative. About twenty minutes into the swim, I could see someone entered the lane next to me. No big deal, it’s better than having to share a lane and playing bumper car swim with that person. I continued doing laps and noticed the woman kept stopping after she swam one length of the pool. Then the epiphany hit me like a knife in a low budget horror movie — it was her — Hair Woman! This woman has long, thick, dark, unruly, black hair. Her routine was to swim a length, take her hair out of the elastic band, dunk it in the water, squeeze the water out with her hand, put the elastic back in, swim a pool length and repeat. I swear on my four kids’ lives that I am not making this shit up. I lasted about 3 more minutes and after seeing floating hair through my goggles I felt too ill to continue. I got out of the pool and went to talk to one of the pool attendants. I was calm and respectfully explained the situation knowing full well she wasn’t in the conference room at corporate headquarters when BSC decide to offer all you can eat, free pool hair. The pool attendant said, “That is disgusting. I agree with you. Unfortunately, the corporate policy doesn’t require bathing caps.” I told her that I appreciated that she was not responsible for making policies and promised to try to leverage Web 2.0 to try to get this resolved.
I began a spew of tweets on the subject:
boston sports club: allowing peeps w/ long hair swim w/out bathing cap is disgusting. change ur policy. if not, i’ll put video on youtube.
boston sports club: woman pulls long hair out of elastic after every swim lap, runs fingers thru it & puts back in. youtube video will rock!
boston sports club: a pool filled w/ long hair is terrific. it’s effing awesome to have someone elses hair in mouth when swimming.
boston sports club: since u don’t require bathing caps, why require bathing suits? no suits will help promote more floating hair. wtf peeps?
boston sports club: suggest ur ceo write blog post on all the compelling reasons why u don’t enforce swim cap policy. is floating hair #1?
Now one of the things I love about the world is that almost always, there are two perspectives on virtually every subject on the planet: sports teams, healthcare, politics, religion…you name it…but not when it comes to floating hair. Aside from those acid-tripping hippies in the musical Hair, I think the perspective around the world is that other people’s hair in your pool or food is not a desirable experience. I received a tsunami of responses on twitter and Facebook on my BSC hair tweets. Without exception, everyone thought it was nasty. Not one person said, “Really? I love pool hair. It takes me by surprise and tickles my skin as it floats over my body. And I find it tasty. I will actually play a game and try to catch as many floating hairs in my mouth as possible. My personal best is seven in one lap!”
Now, if you go to the BSC website, the About Us section has messages about:
- a multitude of option
- wide range of group exercises
- fully equipped
- innovative programs
…all that is effing great, but you know what I think of when I think of Boston Sports Club — pool hair! You know what most people who read my tweets, Facebook status and blog will think — pool hair! Even if their brand experience to date has been positive, they will always have “pool hair” as one of their many references.
The good news is that BSC has a simple fix: institute a bathing cap policy. It won’t take a long time, it’s not expensive, and customer satisfaction will go up.
The moral of this story is that that companies need to own the brand right through every aspect of the brand experience. Even overlooking one, little part of the brand experience can derail and overshadow every other branding initiative.
What are your thoughts?
September 16th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Did BSC pick up on your tweets and respond? A simple search in twitter and response to you would have saved them a bit of a PR headache. Whether or not companies are on social media, or use social media themselves, they have to acknowledge it exists and needs management.
I think the only people who might appreciate hair in the pool would be the bald
Great post as always.
Johannes
September 16th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I noticed your tweets–and agree–Yuck. Funny– the irony that a “Health Club” is allowing a practice widely perceived as “Unhealthy.” There are hats & hairnets in foodservice, I figure the same logic would apply for a pool. You should have a bathing cap on unless you’re in a natural body of water or in a private pool. Well stated!
–Karen
September 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
No doubt gross. But, I’ve seen some hairy dudes who would need a full body cap.
September 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I’m a member of the BSC-Westborough. Haven’t been in the pool, but am really surprised that they do not have a bathing cap policy. Especially since they have a policy requiring swimmers to shower before entering the pool.
BSC-Westborough is a beautiful facility. I hope it stays that way. But I also hope it isn’t just a “corporate” gym. I see the same women every day in the locker room. There have been a lot more complaints of late – broken hair dryers, missing clocks. Little things that aren’t related to exercising but can make the entire gym experience must less enjoyable. I think BSC-Westborough benefits from its location and due to the fact that there aren’t a lot of similar venues in the area. But, with a premium price tag, they need to consider the little things or else members will move onto experiences.
September 16th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
So funny! I swim at the Boston Sports Club in Wellington and fortunately have not had a similar experience. I am more disgusted by the amount of bandaids that seem to find their way to the bottom of pools.
September 16th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I can’t get over the mental image of hair plastered to your goggles.
There’s this local Manchester food joint that the BizUnite boys love, but I refuse to go there since I saw the sweet cook wiped her nose and then assemble our food. Gross. Now, when I think of their food, I think of snot.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
johannes, they didn’t respond. you are right — a simple monitoring of twitter would have turned this into a post about how a brand addressed an unhappy customer and nipped the issue in the bud. instead it has turned into a hairy mess.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
kaen, you bring up an insightful and witty point. how could a brand so aligned with health make a corporate decision not to mandate bathing caps? love your comment!
September 16th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
ben, you always make me laugh. while we aren’t close enough for me to know whether you are one of these hairy men, i do know you are way too metrosexual to not address the issue. see my tweet about the mangroomer. ha!
September 16th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
amen sista’ jenn! i agree with everything you said. for the record, while there is a sign requiring a shower before swimming, that policy is rarely enforced. for the record, i love the peeps that work there. with one exception, they are great faces of the brand. corporate owes it to them to help deliver the brand experience the member is expecting, so the employees don’t have to deal with these types of issue. btw, how come i never see you over there?
September 16th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
christine, funnily enough there was a band-aid in the pool. all things being relative, i was happy it wasn’t something that floated out of a diaper! haha!
September 16th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
sonciary, that is so nasty. why am i not surprised the bizunite boys still eat there! sorry ben. tee-hee.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Hey Kel,
Great post! I hear what you’re saying, but how is this different that any other body hair… like armpit hair, unruly eyebrows, and hair… well elswehere? Surely we can’t expect people to put caps on all of those areas. Although you could argue that my brows are bushy enough to warrant little bathing caps.
In addition, what about the multitude of bodily fluids likely circulating through most pools? It’s probably more common than clumps of hair. Pools are a nasty environment. You’re essentially marinating in a cesspool of primordial soup. Some pools are a lightning bolt away from creating new life. But most of this stuff isn’t visible, so out of sight out of mind.
That said, I still agree that clumps of hair floating in the pool is nasty. And your description of that woman gave me the willies. Do you think she was bathing?
September 17th, 2009 at 7:42 am
mike, after your description of “marinating in a cesspool of primordial soup” i think i will switch to duathlons that don’t involve a swim! seriously though, i agree with you. however, to me there is a certain risk associated with any action you take in your life. eating sausage, peppers & onions from a street vendor at 2:00 a.m. has a high risk factor, but sometimes it is just too damn good to pass up. i think the difference here is that there is an element of minimizing an unhealthy situation that can be controlled by bsc. they certainly can’t guarantee no hair will be floating in the pool, but they can completely remove the risk associated with the biggest hair source on a body by requiring bathing caps. it all goes back to owning the brand experience beyond messaging on a website. as far as the question on bathing — i have no idea. i actually don’t even blame her. i doubt she had any idea that what she was doing was nasty.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Kel -
I have to workout in the morning or else I’m likely to bail on exercising. So I’m usually there in the pre-work hours or on the weekends in the morning. Love the facility, minus a few minor things.
Jenn
September 18th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Kel, this is just so, so gross. Personally, I don’t think I’d swim in a pool that didn’t require a pre-shower and bathing cap. Let the YouTube video roll! Reprehensible that in today’s climate, no one at BSC has caught on to “that Twitter thing” long enough to see that they’re being exposed for grossness. Next time, I’ll RT for you!
September 18th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
jenn, maybe i will see you there this weekend. note: i will not be in the pool, but on the treadmill. haha!
September 18th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
meagan, i have thrown my flip in my gym bag. i am ready to roll if “hair woman” shows up for a repeat performance.
September 19th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Hey Kel! Just to add to the gross factor of this public pool hairtastrophe…I used to be a synchronized swimmer. In order to keep our hair in those cute little bun thingys (accompanied by the requisite sequined hairpiece) we brushed on coats of Knox gelatin to seal the hairdo. So post-competition, the pool was a sea of bobby pins, sequins, rhinestones, hair, and yes, gelatin.
I’m sorry, world!!
But onto that gyms/branding topic…I’ve belonged to several gyms throughout my life and I’ve never once noticed one that really made an effort to include “clean” in their branding. I’ve seen “family-friendly” (YMCA) and “down to earth” and “cheap” (ala Planet Fitness, my current place) but I’ve yet to see anyone make that much of an effort to say, “hey, this is a really clean place and if you follow some rules we can all keep it that way.” Considering all of the sweaty, hairy, nasty possibilities of filth at health clubs, I feel like putting that sort of branding out there could actually be helpful!!
Oh well. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to that YouTube video!!
September 20th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
janet, your “hairtastrophe” comment made me laugh abruptly! seriously, that is too funny. ok, can we start with the fact that you used to be a synchronized swimmer! how cool is that? and how does someone get into that? the next time i see a rhinestone playing marco polo with a bobby pin, i will now know who to blame!
sometimes it’s amazing that brands will ignore the obvious when it comes to messaging. long ago, hotels got wind that cleanliness matters and now it is so over-messaged that it becomes white noise. however, i think you bring up a good point with health clubs. if they put a little effort into it, they could create a new category of club around cleanliness — i would choose better wording, but that is not likely to happen in the three minutes it takes to respond to this post.
happy swimming…
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Hi Kel! I laughed and gagged while reading this. Other people’s hair is definitely one of the grossest things to do deal with…and swim in. I belonged to BSC over the summer and I loved it, especially compared to my school’s gym. The one I belonged to didn’t have a pool, and now I am glad it didn’t. I honestly think hearing about your experience will make me think twice about using a BSC pool in the future. Eating someone’s hair is one situation I actively try to avoid. If BSC instituted a swim cap policy they could sell them at the gym and make even more money!..I think they should do it!
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:25 am
kara, i like your thinking: take a problem and turn it into an opportunity to make money! bsc are you listening? bueller…anyone…
October 6th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Hey Kel!
Love this story (although it sounds like a hideously gross experience) because it really shows how influential a consumer can be through social media. Because your own personal tweets (and blog post!) have brought this grossness to our attention, I doubt anyone who read them will be grabbing a membership at BSC in the near future. As a matter of fact, I’m looking for a new gym, and this is DEFINITELY no longer an option, regardless of the fact that I would probably never even use the pool. It proves that the consumer has power in the Web 2.0 world. If you had made a call to customer service or dropped a note in a suggestion box, not only would you have gotten lost in the clutter of complaints, you wouldn’t have been able to get the word out like you did. I hope hair lady got herself a cap…gross!
October 8th, 2009 at 9:37 am
veronica, the sad part about this is that if bsc used social media as a monitoring tool, they could have addressed the problem and nipped it in the bud. right now if you google “boston sports club swimming” my blog post shows up above the fold. i would be happy to provide an update to my post if bsc chnged its policy. still waiting to hear from them…bueller…anyone…
October 13th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
As someone with very long hair, I have to wonder how I’d possibly GET my hair into a swim cap. Also, how do you propose to deal with those people who do have a LOT of body hair? How long is too long? I can understand your displeasure and truthfully, I have no idea why she’d do what she did, but I think this campaign you waged is a little bit… much?
Just my .02
October 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
dawn, thanks for posting a comment. see my comment above regarding other body hair. my belief is that i have opened the door and given bsc valuable customer feedback. if bsc was a smart, customer-centric brand they would address the issue. if they are a brand who thinks social media is just a medium for complaints, they will ignore it. i am happy to post an update to this blog as soon as i hear from them. still waiting….