THE BEING BESTTM GLOBAL ALLIANCE Ltd. TEAMS UP WITH HDD GROUP B.V. to kick-start the transformation of the fitness industry in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
BBGA, based in Dublin, Ireland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dynamic Life SA (Athens Stock Exchange, ASE: Dyn), a company that engineers operating systems and develops membership programs for the fitness industry. The Alliance is solely dedicated to the growth and fulfillment of the Being BestTM promise worldwide and this agreement marks the beginning of the activities in the Benelux market.
BBGA and 'Club Support Benelux B.V.i.o.' a wholly owned subsidiary of the HDD Group, have signed an agreement that authorizes Club Support Benelux to monitor, assess and select the health and fitness clubs that will become the affiliates for the application of Dynamic Life's unique product, Being Best'.
The Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg markets total EUR 950 million in annual membership sales and a further EUR 55 million in annual additional in-club-sales and employ 16.000 people. There are 1600 clubs in the territory and Being BestTM will endorse 10%, i.e. 160 clubs. Being BestTM will change the way people feel about fitness - in a territory where fitness club ex-members outnumber present members 3 to 1- and can raise turnover in selected clubs by 96 Million Euros annually when fully deployed, whilst fi nally providing the service members are searching for.
'Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are important regions and we consider them a significant pillar of our strategic expansion and international investment for 2004.' said Natasha Bougiatioti, CEO, Dynamic Life S.A.
HDD has founded Club Support Benelux to offer and apply Dynamic Life's international product, Being BestTM, in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The founding team consists of dedicated specialists who have already screened the market and will make the selection of the health and fitness clubs that will become part of the Being Best Global Alliance, Dynamic Life's international network of affiliated clubs. Club Support Benelux will act as a Being BestTM 'Country Operator' that will handle Dynamic L ife's international product and brand in the specific markets.
'We are very happy that our negotiations with Dynamic Life had a successful conclusion. The Being BestTM product is precisely what the fitness industry needs to go to the next level, providing members with a unique fitness product that they will not want to cancel. This is not just another retention program, this is the future of fitness', said Derk van't Sant, Managing Director of the HDD Group.
HDD is a leading company in the Benelux fitness market and is a premier distributor and licensor of fitness products to end users, club members, and fitness clubs. Their product lines include two leading global brands, Reebok Fitness and Les Mills.
'We have selected HDD Group as the strategic partner in the Benelux not only because they are the key players and local experts in that given market. They simply have a great team of dedicated people that are making a difference and that is precisely what we look for in our partners', commented Jan Lokhorst, Managing Director, The Being BestTM Global Alliance Ltd.
Club Support Benelux will oversee the process and will ensure that H&F club employees are trained according to the Being BestTM standards and that Being BestTM is made available only to the clubs that meet the prerequisites and possess the relevant infrastructure for product's application and member satisfaction.
Ramon Klaassen, Operations Director of the HDD Group, commented: 'Being BestTM is the evolution of the fitness industry. We are excited to be the ones to be introducing this innovation that shifts the market in the direction of increased consumer rights and personalization.'
Jan Middelkamp, Sales & Marketing Director, of the HDD Group, commented: 'The potential of this partnership is absolutely tremendous. Being BestTM ensures fitness club members no longer lose money on club memberships that they have not used. It ensures members get what they want out of fitness, regardless of the time, place, or way that suits their individual needs.'
About Dynamic Life SA (ASE: Dyn)
Dynamic Life, founded in Greece in 1996, engineers operating systems and develops membership programs for the fitness industry. Dynamic Life is constantly monitoring consumer needs, researching markets, developing innovative systems, creating brands, producing content and proprietary media, building software, providing training and education and offering customer care in its quest to serve the industry. Its systems are exclusively delivered through its subsidiary, The Being Best Global Alliance Ltd. based in Ireland that provides an extensive and sophisticated infrastructure to support member interaction with Being BestTM. Dynamic Life has operated in Greece a network of 120 clubs that has served as a test bed for its international expansion.
Dynamic Life S.A., listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), is one of the few fitness companies to be listed in any stock exchange worldwide and its current market capitalization stands at EUR 172.7 million (9/1/2004).
About HDD Group B.V.
The HDD Group, a long-standing and leading company in the Benelux fitness market, concentrates on distribution and licensing of fitness products to end users, club members, and fitness clubs. Amongst the product lines that HDD handles are Reebok Fitness and Les Mills. HDD founded Club Support Benelux B.V.i.o. as a separate entity with the sole mission to be the Being BestTM Country Operator in order to assure that a dedicated team of specialists is concentrated on deploying Being Best? in the Benelux mark et and that other HDD products will not interfere with Being BestTM.
For further details, please contact:
Bettina Battaglia, Dynamic Life International
Email: bbattaglia@dynamiclife.biz
Biographical Notes
About Natasha Bougiatioti, CEO, Dynamic Life S.A.
Natasha Bougiatioti, CEO of the company, is the architect of the development of Dynamic Life and one of its founders. She graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in economics. She comes from a banking background and has been active in the fitness industry as an entrepreneur since 1985. During her long and successful tenure in the fitness industry, she invented and described in detailed manuals an innovative system called the "Club by Natasha" that was awarded intellectual property rights in 1992. Since then, she published new editions of the system as it was constantly improved to keep up to date with evolving market conditions. Her latest invention -the innovative Being Best system- is a major breakthrough that is described in an extensive selection of manuals called the "Omnibook" that were intellectually copyrighted in the beginning of 2003.
About Derk van't Sant, HDD Group.
Derk is one of the three founders of HDD Sports Import in April 1992. HDD Sports Import B.V, grew to one of the premium companies within the HDD Group. The HDD Group is certainly one of the major players in the local market in terms of revenue, size and number one in market penetration. Derk studied Science of Movement at the University of Amsterdam (VU). During his study, he managed a small up market health & fitness club in the centre of Amsterdam, which became the first start in his successful fitne ss tenure. Although Derk?s study helped him a great deal in setting up his own business, nowadays his day to day "business" is all about managing people and financial control of the group. Also he is very involved in developing new strategies in the fitness industry in general. The Benelux fitness market is becoming much more professional with universal key chains and local groups that have entered the market. The potential of the Benelux market is enormous due to a small size and 27.500.000 inhabitants .
Derk foresees a substantial growth of the fitness market as soon as members can choose a personalized membership that enables them to pay for the real use of a club.