We Are California campaign aims to make 96 million dreams come true
Xem Tiếng Việt 
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 18 August 2020: California Fitness & Yoga Centers today announced an ambitious target to drive Vietnam’s health and wellness ecosystem as it unveiled plans to double its membership base in the next three years.
California Fitness & Yoga, which was established with a single Club in Ho CHi Minh CIty’s DIstrict 5 in 2007, currently has over 250,000 members working out 1.2 million times per month. Under its new We Are California banner it plans to increase that to 500,000 as part of a committed program that will touch the lives of millions.
Set against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 pandemic makes the plan all-the-more remarkable. Vietnam has bucked the global trend, both in its management of the virus at a national level, and in the responsiveness of its people toward their own health and wellness in its wake.
“Most nations have seen a reticence to return to fitness centers,” said California Fitness & Yoga Chief Executive Officer Mr. Dane Fort. “Yet in Vietnam – we have seen the exact opposite. We took extensive measures to ensure the hygiene of our clubs throughout the pandemic, and people in Vietnam have responded enthusiastically, with our daily check-ins exceeding previous years.”
“The Covid pandemic has lit a fire under the wellness dreams of people in Vietnam,” he explained. “People all over the nation are recognizing that the best way to protect themselves against the pandemic is to bolster their immune systems to help both ward off infections and fight off the infections that we do contract.”
“Vietnamese people are quickly recognizing that there are two sides to a healthcare system – a curative side led by hospitals, doctors and medicine; and a preventative side led by healthy life-time habits including fitness, diet and adequate sleep.”
WIth the nations’ average life expectancy adding more than a year per decade since the turn of the century, California’s focus is firmly fixed on ensuring that Vietnamese peoples’ health-spans rise concurrently.
“People here are dreaming of longer, healthier lives for their parents, themselves and their children,” Dane explained. “So about a month ago, I told our entire team that our focus as a company is in making these health dreams come true. We want to be Vietnam’s Dream-makers.”
Underpinning this ambition is a year-long campaign that aims to put these words to the test.
“Our new We Are California campaign aims to have everyone in Vietnam strive to become a better version of themselves. We want to encourage and empower those looking to conquer a fear, overcome a physical barrier or simply doing better for their community”.
The campaign calls upon people to register their dreams online, which California’s Dream Squad – comprising both Cali staff and members, will help them achieve. “Virtually anyone in the country can go to www.calidream.vn and declare their goal”, Dane says. Based on that, applications get shortlisted and submitted to a vote.
“We will be empowering dreams to send out a clear message: no matter how distant it may seem, becoming a better version of yourself is within reach”. This campaign also runs within the confines of California Fitness Gyms, where existing members are being engaged to pay-forward and help their friends and family achieve their own health dreams by inviting them to experiencing different fitness & wellness experiences. This movement will culminate in an event to celebrate the company’s 13th birthday, where the group plans to set a Guinness World Record for a group fitness class category. “We have plans to create the first ever National Movement Day, which we hope will become a day Vietnamese look forward to celebrating with all their friends and family”.
This event will look back over the group’s long legacy of improving lives. Cali is not new to fulfilling these kinds of promises. The group has grown from a single center in Saigon’s Chinatown to a ten-brand group with 55 fitness and wellness centers spread across seven provinces and employing over 4,000 people serving over a quarter million members and clients and commanding a market share of almost 60 percent. 2019 saw it become part of the Fitness and Lifestyle Group – the third largest fitness group in the world.
“California’s customers include all kinds of people, from models aspiring to their first international movie roles, to housewives just looking to reduce some inches from their waistlines or set better examples for their children. Our commitment is towards everyone looking to improve themselves and their health”, says Dane.
The groups’ recent inaugural Body Transformation Challenge Scholarship typified this, where hundreds vyed to be one of the final ten people selected from around the country were offered fitness and training packages each valued at over 500 million VND to make their own fitness and wellness dreams become realities.
Not one to shy away from sharing his own dream, Dane took the opportunity to announce his own vision and ambition for the number of lives he wants to touch in his adopted homeland: “Ninety six million,” he said proudly.
“We aim to extend the influence of fitness and health to all of Vietnam’s 96 million people. These are the kind of discussions we are having within our group and also with the Government who looks at successful companies like us to drive the country’s health agenda.”
The charismatic CEO is aiming for the group to impact the lives of literally every person in the country. So where to start? Dane says “change comes in small steps. Start by stating what you want to achieve and pledging to it. That’s what you can do at www.calidream.vn”.
