A Healthy Brand

Sometimes the conflicting ad and edit messages are more subtle. And the magazine’s LOHAS readers, true to their discerning, authenticity-craving form, routinely identify snafus and voice their displeasure. For example, an appearance by an advertisement for a morning-after hangover remedy inspired letters from unhappy readers. The author of one letter noted that the ad was “incongruous” with the magazine’s slogan of “Healthy. Happy. For Real.” Another letter-writer described herself as being “extremely disappointed” that the magazine would accept an ad that offered a quick fix for an unhealthy indulgence.

“It’s inspiring and terrifying at the same time,” Gerasimo says of the degree to which the magazine’s readers have become brand loyalists and hold the editorial staff accountable for the quality and continuity of the finished product. “But I’m continually impressed by the extent to which our consumers are right there with us, and often saying, ‘Thank you for meeting me here, because I want you to be here.’”

Not Standing Pat

Like most healthy brands, Experience Life continues to diversify. In 2005, Gerasimo adapted Experience Life to the radio with “Get a Whole Life,” a one-hour show that’s broadcast Saturday afternoons on FM 107. Gerasimo hosts the show, which covers quality of life issues—everything from health and fitness, to relationships, money matters, and social and cultural topics.

Moving forward, Gerasimo says she plans to create more opportunities “to take what’s succeeded within the pages of Experience Life and appreciated by its readers and make it available off the page as an experience itself, along the lines of education, resources, and online coaching.”

Gerasimo has developed a six-week group-coaching program called Whole Life Coaching. Experienced life coaches at a handful of local Life Time Fitness centers, as well as at the company’s Tempe, Arizona, facility, already have conducted prototypes of the program. The feedback from participants has been encouraging, she reports: “We got back just beautiful, wonderful evaluations from people saying that it really changed their lives and reorganized them and helped them figure out what was standing in the way of their ideal life, their ideal self.”

Gerasimo hopes that the fledgling program will be just the first of several educational and support offerings available at Life Time Fitness centers across the country. “It’s the feeder course of what I’d envision being a whole experience-oriented division [of Life Time Fitness],” she says. “I think people need more than just reading an article, they need more than just seeing an ad. They need support and a community around them of people who also are challenged by the same things and trying to make changes.

“The content is kind of spilling out of the magazine into these other formats,” Gerasimo adds, “which makes it feel like it’s coming alive.”