How BoxUnion Revolutionized Fitness: Building a Digital Studio for Cult-Favorite Classes

BoxUnion began as a fitness brand built to meet a need in the marketplace. “There were plenty of places where somebody could box for fitness, but the offerings were intimidating and not accessible,” says co-founder Felicia Alexander. “We took our time to reinvent the category.” Over the past three years, Felicia and her co-founder Todd Wadler have developed a fitness brand incorporating beat-bumping music and an inclusive atmosphere that spans multiple studios across southern California. But when the pair were forced to close their doors earlier this year, Felicia and Todd knew they had to innovate fast. Luckily, they’d already begun small movements towards video. “Digital was always part of our plan,” says Felicia. “The day after shelter in place started, we were on Instagram Live testing the receptivity to our at-home offering.” The response was immense, and Felicia and Todd quickly got to work building out a platform that would allow BU devotees to access their favorite classes at any time. Operating as a team of 11, BoxUnion uses Vimeo’s live streaming to beam into homes three times a day, and uses Vimeo OTT to host their digital library of classes. Felicia and Todd also leverage Vimeo Create as a fitness video maker, creating and sharing announcement and promo videos made to get hearts pumping and clients subscribing. We reached out to BoxUnion to find out more about how they built out their digital studio in less than a month, and how they’re leveraging video to keep their customers updated on social media and beyond.

What made you decide to launch BoxUnion digital?

We knew we needed to develop a business model that had the potential to survive and thrive in this environment. The day after the shelter in place started, we hopped on Instagram Live and tested the receptivity to our at-home offerings. The response was amazing, and even surpassed our own expectations. We quickly sprung into action to build a scalable digital offering. Within three weeks, we launched BoxUnion Digital with web-based, iOS, and Android offerings. In conceptualizing BoxUnion Digital, we didn’t look through the “COVID” lens, but instead thought about what a consumer would want five months ago or two years from now.

What was your strategy for launching your channel and attracting subscribers?

Community is at the heart of everything we do at BoxUnion. We built an amazing community through our studio business that was eager and excited to join BoxUnion Digital. We made thousands of phone calls to our members, leveraged our expansive email database, promoted BoxUnion Digital to attract subscribers, and partnered with some incredible brands to give their audience a taste of BoxUnion Digital. Utilizing “teaser content” via video is very important in spreading the message beyond our current subscribers. After all, we are providing an amazing workout experience via video. The best way to appeal to subscribers is to show them what your business is all about.

How does a tool like Vimeo Create help your business?

Vimeo Create gives us the tools to create stylized video content on our own. It’s a great asset to our business because it allows us to easily create videos. With video templates, we instantly have a video that can be posted on our IG stories, feed, and website! It makes creating videos simpler and less time-consuming.

What are the benefits of live streaming a workout class?

With Vimeo Live classes, we can reach consumers anywhere. We already have subscribers across 5 different continents, and the numbers grow every day. Another benefit of live classes is that customers like showing up for a certain time. It creates a sense of accountability and routine. Our users are engaging with comments in real-time before and during the class. It’s motivating and fun for people to know they aren’t working out alone. We’ve created a private Facebook group for the BoxUnion Digital Community, and members are messaging each other to take classes together. It’s wonderful to see relationships develop and blossom in the virtual world.

What advice can you share for small business owners, founders, and entrepreneurs?