WorkFitness
Pure Athletic Club: zero to 104 members in four months.
Pure Athletic Club opened in Barrie with no members, no systems and no pipeline. Four months later: 1,314 leads at $4.46 each, 104 new 12 month memberships, and $47,668 in cash collected.
104
Members signed to 12 month terms
1,314
Leads generated in four months
$4.46
Cost per lead on $5,859 total spend
$47.6K
Cash collected in the campaign period
At a glance
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Campaign period | Jun 19 to Oct 14, 2025 (4 months) |
| Ad spend | $5,859 |
| Leads | 1,314 |
| Cost per lead | $4.46 |
| New members | 104 twelve month members |
| Cost per member | $56 |
| Cash collected | $47,668 |
| Return on ad spend | 8.1x |
The challenge
Building from zero is the hardest start there is.
Pure Athletic Club comes from the team behind Pure Muscle + Fitness in Burlington, one of Canada’s best known bodybuilding gyms and a training spot for creators like Jeff Nippard and Will Tennyson. The Barrie location opened with zero members.
The new club had everything a gym needs to succeed except members. No existing community. No database of past clients. No referral network. Just a new facility in a new market, in a city that didn’t know it existed yet.
Without a system to generate and convert leads at scale, most new gyms rely on launch promotions, word of mouth and hope. PAC didn’t want to hope. They wanted a machine.
What we built
A ground up launch in a brand new market.
Lead generation (Meta and Google)
Targeted campaigns reaching Barrie residents who matched PAC’s ideal member. Meta drove awareness and volume; Google captured people actively looking for a gym in the area.
Content production
Scripted, filmed and edited content introducing the facility, the culture and the community being built. In a new market, content builds the trust that experience hasn’t had time to earn.
Instagram management
Built and managed PAC’s organic presence from the ground up with a consistent, credible local voice.
Custom CRM and lead funnel
Every lead captured and tracked. With 1,314 leads in four months, a system was the only way to make sure no opportunity was lost.
Automated nurturing and appointments
SMS and email sequences launched the moment a lead came in, moving prospects toward a booked consultation while the team focused on members.
Email and SMS marketing
Ongoing campaigns across the full pipeline, from brand new inquiries to prospects who needed more time.
Website
A conversion ready website built to turn curiosity into consultations and memberships.
The Stellr Growth System. One partner. Every channel. One goal: members.
Why it worked
Make the first visit easy.
- A free pass gave people an easy first step into a gym they’d never tried
- Fast, consistent follow up turned leads into booked visits
- Once people walked in, the facility sold itself
The results
$47,668 collected. And that’s just the beginning.
From June 19 to October 14, 2025, four months:
- 1,314 leads generated at $4.46 per lead
- 104 leads converted to 12 month memberships at $56 per member, against an industry norm of $100 to $150
- $47,668 in cash collected in the campaign period, boosted by members who chose to pay their full year up front
- An 8.1x return on $5,859 in total ad spend
The math
Every one of those 104 members is locked into a 12 month commitment. The $47,668 collected in four months is only the beginning of the return on that $5,859.
The takeaway
It doesn’t matter where you start. It matters what you build.
Opening in a city with no reputation, no community and no pipeline is hard. With the right system, a cold start doesn’t stay cold for long.