Giving Influencer Marketing A Good Name
Gymfluencers Jonathan Lundy
For many brand owners and marketing teams, the very thought of working with preening influencers fills them with dread, a manic minefield of, empty promises, questionable reach numbers, exorbitant quotes and lazy, predictable executions.
The Gymfluencers agency born back in 2023 couldn’t be more different, connecting brand owners, athletes and influencers, a hard-working, all-encompassing business that in its young life can already include brands like Hello Fresh, Hunter & Gather, The Body Shop, Tenzing, The Curators and Jimmy’s Coffee amongst its enviable customer base.
This is an avant-garde business that stood proud from the pack since Day.1! In a sense Jonathan Lundy’s business was deliberately built backwards so that brands were the real winners. This is a fairly-priced agency that charges by task not time, that completes campaigns within seven days of receiving product and will initiate unlimited edits and iterations until the client is happy at no extra cost!
This is a snowballing business model providing instant access to a diverse demographic gathering of 6000+ ‘on top of their game’ influencers to ensure that brands with all-manner of loyalist heartlands are well accommodated, with 200 more profiles joining on a weekly basis. A flexible payment system means that you only pay half upfront and the 2nd half within 60 days, the perfect prolonged payment structure for any bootstrapped yet ambitious SME.
- THE ORIGINAL GYMFLUENCERS VISION – DISTINCT BEGINNINGS
A few years earlier a 30 stone asthmatic Jonathan with a back catalogue of heart issues and damaged foot ligaments had been told in no uncertain terms that his life expectancy potential was very pessimistic unless some big ‘life changes’ took place promptly.
Jonathan knew he needed a committed personal trainer to turn his life around. He had two simple requests:
- a) To train at a time of day when no-one else would be in the gym, to avoid judgemental o
- nlookers
- b) To work with a personal trainer at all times. Many enquiries were made, followed by countless rejections but thankfully Sarah stepped forward and within one year Jonathan had shed 15 stone.
It was during this personal life journey that Jonathan first imagined a business that would become the original Gymfluencers brand; a trusted one-stop, free access online pitstop tasked with curbing needless life friction; a site where progressive gyms are showcased and lists of meticulously vetted personal profiles can be vetted at no cost. Better still, it’s a health-conscious hub where enticing free day gym passes and substantial membership discounts can be unearthed and healthy living brands wanting quality independently reviews can be showcased for a small, affordable commission.
Essentially Gymfluencers began as a well-intentioned business whose single-minded mission was to provide sparks for gym absentees and avoiders so that they could be reacquainted and reconnected with the manifold benefits of gym life.
- Today Gymfluencers operates in 12 countries including Australia, India, Dubai, North America and Brazil
- Over 100,000 brand collaborations are forged every year
- THE GYMFLUENCERS AGENCY WAS A COMMONSENSE NEXT STEP
The aforementioned Gymfluencers agency was an inevitable brand extension because the original business found itself inundated by inquisitive health-conscious brands determined to pick Jonathan’s brain about how best to engage with UK’s blossoming, healthier living community.
In less than 2 years Gymfluencers agency has established close to 500 brand partnerships and for now operates for the most part in the UK and North America (with expansion on the cards in 2025).
- A LOW-PROFILE FOUNDER
Curiously for all the business’s undoubted success, Jonathan until recently stayed very much in the background, with even founder images in short supply. “For too long I was fearful of hearing phrases like ‘that fat guy who owns Gymfluencers, an irrational fear that had me avoiding photo shoots, keeping Zoom calls to a minimum and even skirting around telling people I met what I was doing.”
“Then a few months ago it dawned on me that the very point of Gymfluencers was to help people of all shapes and sizes and so who was I to hide in the shadows. Today I am happy to be the fat guy who owns Gymfluencers because the truth is I was once near death, I remain on my health/fitness journey and my company gives everything it can to those who need it!”
NEXT STAGE WISH LIST
For all the undoubted success that Jonathan and his growing team have achieved in such a short space of time they still harbour big plans for the future, namely one day creating a self-funded free-to-use gym called ONM, OBESE NO MORE. This concept gym would be run in a private space by personal trainers with expertise in obesity, in collaboration with the NHS (pilot scheme) courtesy of altruistic investors, go fund me’s… REMEMBER Today 30% of the population (16.8m people) are living with obesity
- Gymfluencers.com
- Gymfluencers.agency
