Wellbeing platform Gympass has rebranded to Wellhub to emphasise its expanded, holistic approach that goes well beyond physical workouts.
The news came as the firm also revealed it will be available in more countries.
The app started out offering gym passes, hence the name, but in recent years has added support for mental health, nutrition and sleep.
Luke Bullen, VP of UK and Ireland at Wellhub, said there has been a “sea change” in the last five years, especially since COVID, as people have started to think about their health more holistically. People are now much more interested in mindfulness, nutrition, and how all those things fit together, he said, adding that last year there was a 77 percent increase in the use of mindfulness tools on the app.
“For the past few years we have been ‘Gympass’ but have been much more than that. The pivot to the name Wellhub is to capture that,” Bullen said.
Alongside the rebrand, Wellhub has unveiled three new wellbeing categories, which it is offering with a range of fresh partners.
The nutrition category will offer personalised guidance with registered dietitians and nutritionists through partners including Lifesum, MyFitnessPal, Nutrium and StrongerU.
App users will also have access to a sleep category to support improved sleep quality with resources from partners Rise Science, SleepCycle, and Sleep Score.
There will also be a dedicated women’s health category in partnership with the period tracking app Clue.
Mission critical
The provider also has a global digital expansion plan. Bullen explained: “We’re physically present right now in 11 countries. So you can use all the gyms and you can use all the apps and willing partners. We’re now going out to another 35 countries purely digitally.”
He said that in-person venues would not be expanded into more countries yet but that that was a development the firm was working on with its partners.
“Previously our mission was about making wellbeing universal and we still want to do that by making it accessible, easy and affordable for everyone. Now, our mission has changed to make every company a wellness company. That means we want to make every company put wellbeing first.
“We know that people are the biggest expense for any company, but also the most important thing. If there’s something wrong with your culture or your people it’s not going to work. So the idea of making every company a wellness company is that every company we work with is a company that puts wellness at the top of their agenda,” Bullen said.
To support this mission, the provider had rolled out a completely new app. Bullen said that this new app will enable companies to integrate its wellbeing services with their payroll and auditing systems to make it much easier for subscribers to use.
The app is also piloting challenges which enable companies to set up challenges for their own employees.
“We are starting this month with step challenges with integration with Apple health that allows us to do that. Challenges will eventually evolve into how many different venues can you use in a month, how many times can you check in on your mental health app and other different things.”
Wellness coaches are now available through the app to support people through their wellness journey. “They’ll be able to give you advice on where to go for nutrition, where to go for therapy, how to use venues near you, all those kinds of things. If you are someone at the start of your health journey who has no idea what to do, which gym to go to, these are people you can speak to to guide you through that.”
