The History of Our Brand: A CMO’s POV 

By Cristine Kao, ABC Fitness CMO  

43 years.  

That is the length of time ABC Fitness has been serving the fitness industry as the premier technology provider.  

As the CMO of a brand with so much heritage, I am a firm believer that to move forward, you must look back. 

It’s a privilege to be able to lead marketing for an organization with a rich narrative. Storytelling is more robust when there is a historic underpinning that illustrates a business’ ethos over time. 

To that end, ABC Fitness’s deep–rooted history started as ABC Financial in 1981 – true to our original name, our humble beginnings were based off the most important line item to gyms: supporting member billing. 

As the fitness industry evolved to include the needs of not just billing—but also revenue growth, member management, and automation to better scale business—so too did ABC.  

Building upon our legacy of excellence, we evolved into ABC Fitness and dedicated our company to empowering fitness businesses of all sizes, anywhere in the world, transform their fitness visions into seamless reality.  

We further penetrated the wellness space by building and investing in innovations that fueled boutique studios, international franchises, regional club chains, local gyms, as well as personal trainers and coaches throughout the 2000s by welcoming ABC Glofox, ABC Trainerize, and ABC Evo alongside ABC Ignite into the ABC Fitness portfolio and unveiled a new look just a short year ago.

More than just a new set of designs, our brand represents the new ABC Fitness, with aligned mission, vision and values. The most powerful brands are authentic and represent our best asset – our people. It has been most rewarding to see our brand recognized in various ways such as America’s Greatest Workplaces 2023, America’s Greatest Workplaces for Job Starters, and America’s Greatest Workplaces for Parents and Families 2023 by Newsweek, Built-In 2024 Best Places to Work winner, and most recently we were certified as a Most Loved Workplace.  

Our brand also needs to reflect the dynamic fitness industry we serve.  

In our annual active consumer research study, we found that our customers are now faced with a very different member than in year’s past: They are more knowledgeable about fitness, investing in multiple membership types, and define the very idea of fitness as more than just physical exercise – expanding into mind, body, and spirit. This “Wellness IQ” as we like to call it, means that fitness businesses have a bigger job to do. And true to our mission, we believe that it is our job to better facilitate doing just that.  

It is with excitement and tremendous gratitude to my team of marketers (who did not bat an eye when I mentioned website redesigns earlier this year) that I reintroduce you to abcfitness.com  – the digital hub for fitness and wellness businesses of any size, anywhere.  

I hope you enjoy browsing around our many offerings that truly cater to this industry’s expansion. As fitness continues to grow, we are dedicated to staying agile and helping our customers stay one step ahead.  

Cheers to new beginnings and more to come!