Mainstream wellness industry built ‘on idea that you sign up, but never show up’: Equinox President

Equinox President Scott DeRue joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the luxury gym’s ‘We Don’t Speak January’ campaign, committing to the soul, core values, and beliefs of Equinox, being the opposite of the mainstream wellness industry, membership pricing rates, creating an inspired environment, and the outlook for Equinox moving forward.

Video Transcript

- Luxury fitness company Equinox has a message for newcomers to its gyms. Don't try and join. On January 1, Equinox banning people from signing up for a new membership on New Year's Day. It's part of their new campaign that they call We Don't Speak January. The company writing in a message, quote, "January is a language we don't understand. It wants you to start something when you should already be in the middle of it."

Here to discuss that and more, we want to bring in Scott DeRue, president of Equinox, joining us now. Scott, it's great to have you. This certainly has sparked a lot of conversation about Equinox. Some people are in support of it. Others have taken a massive issue. There was a headline from the "Miami Herald" that I want to bring up saying, quote, "stop gatekeeping fitness." So let me give you the floor. Explain this We Don't Speak January campaign and why you made the decision not to let members or new members join your gym on the 1st.

SCOTT DERUE: Thank you. And first of all, Happy New Year, and thanks for having me. This is driven by a core belief of who we are as a brand. And it's really about-- we all have positive change that we want to see in our lives. We all have goals. We all have results that we desire. And what we understand is that it requires commitment to achieve those goals and achieve those results. And commitment is the soul of our business. It's the soul of Equinox.

And the idea that our community really harnesses is that to achieve these goals and achieve our results that we desire, it's not a one day thing. It's an everyday thing. And that's really the message, the point of view, the brand philosophy that we're sharing with the world and that our community really resonates with.