This week, I dive into a new partnership between Ouai and Barry’s, including the opportunities and goals for both companies.
Ouai and Barry’s fitness have teamed up to offer Ouai amenities in Barry’s studio locations worldwide.
This is the first time Ouai has had a partnership in the hospitality and fitness space. The Ouai team was looking for an amenities partnership that was “deeper” than the typical, by engaging in co-marketing opportunities, influencer gifting and co-branded social content, said Hannah Beals, chief brand officer at Ouai. Throughout their initial two-year contract, Ouai and Barry’s plan to hold quarterly meetings focused on their marketing strategies. So far, a co-branded launch video released at the end of February announced the partnership. Barry’s has partnered with multiple beauty and lifestyle brands before, for its amenity offerings, its smoothie bar and its storefront. They’ve included Dyson and the Factor nutrition program.
“Barry’s has a passionate customer base of people who love fitness, and love investing in themselves and wellness, and that’s the perfect customer to try our products,” Beals said, adding that increasing Ouia’s exposure to Barry’s male clientele is a big focus. She said that Ouai’s DTC e-commerce customer base is about 80% female, but its social following is close to an even split between men and women. According to the L.A. Times, about one-third of Barry’s customers are men.
According to Glossy’s previous reporting, Barry’s surpassed $100 million in revenue in 2022 and expected a 40% year-over-year increase in 2023. According to the L.A. Times, roughly 20% of Barry’s clients take three or more classes a week, and 3 million people have tried Barry’s workout since its inception 25 years ago. Vicky Land, svp of brand at Barry’s, said anecdotally that the studios’ amenities inspire more frequent visits among clients. Barry’s has 84 studios worldwide, and Ouai products are now available in all U.S. locations with an intended global rollout.
Ouai, founded by hairstylist Jen Atkin in 2016, was sold to P&G in 2021 for an undisclosed price. Industry sources at the time pegged Ouai’s annual net sales at around $50 million. In 2022, sources estimated that its sales had grown to $80 million. Both brands declined to share the terms of their two-year contract.
The partnership provides a testing ground for Ouai’s first venture into the skin-care space, with the placement of a branded Detox Face Cleanser featuring its Cape Town scent in Barry’s bathrooms. At retail and via DTC e-commerce, Ouai sells body care via body washes, scrubs and moisturizers, and has dabbled in candles, pet care and laundry detergent. There are plans to sell the cleanser on Ouai’s DTC e-commerce site in the future, but for now, the team is focused on gauging Barry’s customer reactions to the product via social listening. A landing page on Barry’s website allows customers to sign up to receive brand emails and be the first to know when the cleanser launches.
“[This cleanser] was one of the more interesting levers we wanted to explore with this partnership. There is a fleet of instructors who sweat every day and wash their hair often, plus members who are highly engaged in fitness and working out often,” said Beals. “We wanted to tap into that for testing future product development and seeding future new products.”
The partnership occurs amid a renewed interest in prestige amenity partnerships and a dynamic shift for boutique and upscale gyms post-Covid-19. A theme of 2023 was gyms and fitness brands adopting new membership benefits programs to supplement their members’ lifestyles. For example, they began providing exclusive or preferred access to various services focused on facials, food, travel and clothing, similar to the way credit cards offer perks. Increasingly, there is a focus among fitness and hospitality industries on the broad-reaching wellness industry, as is evident in United Airlines’ partnership with physical wellness brand Therabody. Since May 2023, Barry’s has offered select “recovery stations” in partnership with Therabody. It has also relied on its pre-existing juice and smoothie bar offerings to build partnerships with companies, including the Ritual vitamin brand and Pressed juices.
Outside of social listening and email sign-ups, the Ouai team will review its Barry’s partnership on a quarterly basis, with a focus on whether there are resulting lifts in DTC traffic, what percentage of customers redeem a Barry’s-exclusive promotion and which products they choose dusting that transaction. The Barry’s team views this as a “branding exercise,” said Land, and they are looking for positive reactions and brand affinity from their clients.
“Ouai has a cult following like Barry’s, but their cult following may not have been to Barry’s and we have the opportunity to get in front of that audience and get them into the [studio]. A lot of the partnership is surprise and delight for each other’s audiences to capture their attention and convert [customers for both brands],” said Land.
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