Caitlin Bancroft leverages her 20 plus years of marketing, innovation and strategy experience with her love for health and wellness to construct brands to cut through a crowded and fragmented fitness market. Expanding on her passion for the health industry, her impressive portfolio includes roles at Blackmores Group, Revlon and Vitaco Health Group.
As the group chief brand and marketing officer for the Collective Wellness Group, Bancroft is responsible for optimising brand positioning, member engagement, and marketing performance across the Australian and UK markets. Under the Collective Wellness Group banner falls Anytime Fitness and Xtend Barre, all of which Bancroft does all the marketing heavy lifting for.
Now into our second season of B&T’s CMOs To Watch, presented by Zenith, Bancroft joins the ranks of visionary marketing leaders redefining the playbook. This series celebrates those who balance bold ideas with business impact and have a whole lot of fun along the way.
B&T sat down with Bancroft where she lifted the lid on her love and passion for health and wellness, Collective Wellness Group’s marketing mix and the challenges of tackling a crowded fitness market.
B&T: Let’s get to know you… What three things would you take to a desert island?
Bancroft: My Thermomix—for gourmet survival. My weights and yoga mat—for strength and sanity. And my journal—to turn the whole experience into a growth retreat!
B&T: What is your passion outside of work? If you weren’t a CMO, what would you be doing?
Bancroft: I’ve always been passionate about health and wellness—it’s just part of who I am (and I am a lapsed naturopath). If I wasn’t a CMO, I’d probably be running a women’s wellness studio with pilates, yoga and strength classes, and a healthy café next door offering nourishing goodies. It would be a space designed to help women move, connect and feel good—mind, body and soul.
B&T: What was your favourite campaign of all time?
Bancroft: It’s a tie for me. I’ve always loved Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. It has stood the test of time and continues to evolve, especially now as it tackles digital distortion, AI and aging. Twenty years on, it’s still one of the most authentic and purpose-led campaigns out there.
The other is Channel 4’s 2012 Superhumans campaign for the Paralympics. It was bold, raw and game-changing—and actually inspired parts of our 2022 Any Body Any Time campaign at Anytime Fitness, especially the energy and emotion of Public Enemy’s Harder Than You Think soundtrack.
B&T: Now let’s talk shop. What is your brand’s top priority for the next 12 months?
Bancroft: Our top priority right now is member retention. The fitness industry is notorious for high attrition—on average, clubs lose around 50 per cent of their members each year. For too long, the focus has been on constant promotions and acquisition drives. We’re flipping that mindset and helping our franchise network see retention as the ultimate growth driver. The data is clear—clubs with strong retention enjoy greater stability, less pressure on acquisition, and a higher member lifetime value.
Over the next 12 months, we’re doubling down on two key areas:
Member onboarding – the first 90 days are the biggest predictor of long-term retention, so we’re redesigning that experience to build connection and confidence from day one.
Club Staff wellbeing and growth – motivated, supported teams create exceptional member experiences, and that’s what drives true loyalty and advocacy.
B&T: What channel is exciting you the most and how do you split your marketing budgets between long/short and channels mix?
Bancroft: The channel that’s really exciting me right now is gaming—it’s still under-leveraged, but it gives us a chance to own space in a media environment where attention is high and audiences are deeply engaged.
In Australia, gaming ad revenues have just overtaken news media, and with ~80 per cent of adults gaming in some form, the scale is there. For a fitness brand, there’s great synergy: many gamers care about health, performance, recovery, balance. We can bring wellness into that world—native in-game content, branded experiences, fitness and mindfulness moments inside a gaming ecosystem. It’s a great differentiator for us as no other fitness brands are playing in this channel.
When it comes to budget allocation, we’re playing by the rule of 70 / 30 with about 70 per cent going towards brand building and long-term equity, and 30 per cent towards activation, offers, and short-term promotions.
On channel mix, our segmentation work is our north star. From our segmentation study and data (including Experian), we’ve defined three core audiences—Strength Enthusiasts, Weight Loss Strivers, and Active Wellness Seekers. Each of these have distinct mindsets and media habits. That means we don’t just push “fitness” broadly but we tailor messaging and media touchpoints:
To Strength Enthusiasts, we lean into expert content, deeper stories, performance messaging.
To Weight Loss Strivers, we speak to guidance, transformation, confidence building.
To Active Wellness Seekers, we emphasise consistency, variety, lifestyle harmony.
That segmentation lets us lean heavier in channels and formats that match each group’s mindset – whether that’s gaming, CTV, digital audio, social, or out-of-home – helping to make our media spend more efficient and effective.
B&T: What is the biggest challenge you currently face in the marketplace?
Bancroft: The biggest challenge right now is navigating an increasingly crowded and fragmented fitness market. The lines between traditional gyms, boutique studios and digital-only platforms are continuing to blur—consumers want it all: flexibility, community and value. At the same time, we’re seeing a major influx of low-cost competitors, which puts real pressure on pricing and differentiation.
For us, it’s about staying focused on what makes Anytime Fitness unique: accessibility, community and genuine human connection. While others compete on price, we’re doubling down on value and creating experiences that feel personal, supportive and consistent across every club. That’s where long-term loyalty and growth will come from.
B&T: What are you most excited about in the marketplace?
I’m genuinely excited by the incredible growth of the health and wellness movement—and Australia’s leadership in it. According to the Global Wellness Institute’s 2025 Report, Australia now ranks #10 globally for total wellness spend and #9 for physical activity, outperforming every other country in the Asia-Pacific region on a per-capita basis.
As a brand, part of our ambition has been to redefine what ‘being healthy’ means and it feels like Australians are doing the same. It’s no longer just about fitness—it’s about feeling good, mentally, physically and socially. The lines between fitness, wellness and lifestyle are blurring, and that opens up amazing opportunities for brands like Anytime Fitness to support people in more holistic ways. We’re leaning into that evolution—creating spaces and experiences that inspire movement, connection and belonging, wherever someone is on their wellbeing journey. A great example of this is the piloting of recovery areas and saunas in some of our clubs.
B&T: Where do you see yourself in five years time?
Bancroft: In five years, I’d love to still be with Anytime Fitness, continuing to inspire healthier lives. There’s so much more potential to help people move more, feel better and live well—and that’s what gets me out of bed each day. I also hope I’m still learning, growing and leading with impact, helping our team and our members feel supported, connected and proud to be part of a brand that genuinely makes a difference to people’s lives.
B&T: Speaking hypothetically what’s one brand, product or category you’d like to sink your teeth into right now as a marketer?
Bancroft: If I could sink my teeth into any other brand right now, it would definitely still be something in the health and wellness space—maybe a start-up or lifestyle brand like Deliciously Ella (UK-based founder led brand) that’s seeking to make wellness feel real and accessible rather than not perfect and preachy. Whether it’s creating better-for-you products, community experiences or content that genuinely helps people feel good, being part of a purpose-led brand is key for me.
B&T: Zenith believe there is untapped media potential we need to uncover. What is your prediction for media this year?
I’ve tried to bring this back to Anytime Fitness and some potential untapped opportunities for us. Zenith’s 2025 media outlook identified retail media networks, commerce-linked channels and attention-based planning as growth opportunities. So, it feels like a potential unlock for us could be retail media—and meeting people where they already make health and lifestyle decisions. For a fitness brand like Anytime Fitness that represents an opportunity to be part of everyday wellness choices, not just gym moments.
