Ex-Chelsea chief becomes David Lloyd Clubs' first CMO

David Lloyd Clubs has appointed former Chelsea FC top marketer Claire Cronin to newly created role of chief marketing officer at the fitness chain, which has just returned to profit for the first time in over a decade.

Cronin had joined Chelsea from McLaren Racing in August 2023 to oversee the brand, creative, growth marketing and fan engagement teams at Stamford Bridge, having previously worked at Barclays and Virgin Atlantic.

However, she quit last October after just 15 months in the role and less than a month after chief executive Chris Jurasek announced he was stepping down.

In July last year, Cronin spearheaded the launch of Chelsea’s home kit for the 2024-25 season and enlisted Uncommon Creative Studio to help formulate the “We burn blue” campaign that rebranded the club as “CFC LDN”, in an attempt to position it as the capital’s definitive football club.

At the time, she said: “This is the fans’ energy. The players’ energy. The city’s energy. We Burn Blue.”

Cronin, who joined David Lloyd last week, posted on LinkedIn: “What an incredible first week. Started at the Hatfield HQ where we celebrated the milestone of achieving 800,000 members and securing accreditation in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers… I’ve never had a better incentive to get fit!”

It is not known how Cronin’s CMO role with affect current marketing director Andrea Dearden, who has been with the company nearly nine years.

David Lloyd won a bronze at the 2024 IPA Effectiveness Awards for a seven year transformation strategy which saw it reinforce its premium positioning and pricing against the category trend of growth in low-cost gyms.

This case described multiple phases, from establishing new data foundations to demonstrating a hybrid brand response model, which helped the company recover from Covid’s impact and enjoy long-term brand growth and enhanced pricing power.

Econometrics estimates that between 2017 and 2023, these activities generated £137m of incremental revenue.

Last month, the company revealed a healthy leap in revenue for 2024, rising from £756.3m to £860.7m, hailing 2024 as a “record-breaking year both operationally and financially”, attributing its success to a focus on premium offerings.