Gladstone and Mediablaze launch new suite of digital products to serve the future of the leisure industry

LONDON, Tuesday 30th March: Today Mediablaze, the digital experience agency known for its expertise in combining digital product design and engineering with genuine content marketing, and Gladstone, the leading supplier of Leisure Management Software in the UK and Ireland, unveil a brand new and ambitious digital product to the industry.

Over the last 18 months, Mediablaze, as product strategy, design and engineering partner, has brought to life the creation of a new membership purchasing, booking and member profile application for Gladstone’s more than 400 leisure operator clients. “This project is an example of an enterprise-level solution. It is solving the wide, varied and complex needs of the leisure industry for operators of all shapes and sizes. It was made possible not only because of the close collaboration between the Mediablaze and Gladstone product teams, but also due to the invaluable contribution of the operators making up the Special Interest Group, representing the needs of the industry.” explains Tim Dodd, Mediablaze’s Head of Digital. “We have worked closely with Gladstone for more than six years to create a series of custom user experiences using their APIs. That relationship coupled with our experience in the active lifestyle space has really served us well for this product launch.”

What makes this launch outstanding is the vast number of venues, facilities and outlets it services. Gladstone, as a partner of hundreds of operators and owners of leisure centres, sports facilities, universities and health clubs across the country, required a product that could adapt depending on what is required of it at any given moment. Dodd says, “It has to meet the needs of any leisure operator in the industry; it could be a single site, a university gym or a large chain of publicly operated facilities. All of those wants and needs are very different so we needed to create a product that was going to be flexible enough to scale and fit the operator landscape.

Phil Davies, Chief Technology Officer, Gladstone commented “The idea is that the customer can connect with their centre via the digital application. This enables them to quickly and efficiently discover and book from a wide range of options which creates a stronger customer experience. This approach reduces friction and administration overhead for repeated day-to-day tasks. The member profile bridges the experience of a prospective new member joining and a regular booker. It allows the user to self-service, helping to reduce this administrative overhead on the operator. They’re able to administer their personal details, check the status of their membership, see what their Direct Debit collections are and link-up with their family’s profiles.

Of the working relationship with Mediablaze, Davies added “Over the past six years we’ve built an extremely strong and collaborative relationship which is paramount when creating a digital experience that truly works and serves our customers. The digital experience will continue to play an ever increasing role and I’m looking forward to building on these foundations in the months and years ahead.”

The innovation doesn’t stop with this initial launch: “Gladstone’s clients have a crucial role to play here,” explains Claire Rollins, Managing Director, Gladstone. “By collaborating with Gladstone, they have the opportunity to help prioritise features and guide the direction of these customer-facing products and how they will evolve over the course of the next 10 years.” Mediablaze is excited to continue to support Gladstone as the product successfully rolls out and new features are added.

For further enquiries please contact:

• Mediablaze

• Emma Potter

• emma.potter@mediablaze.com

• +44 (0) 7739 902473

About Mediablaze

Create deeper connections.

Founded in 2010, Mediablaze is a digital experience agency for brands who are serious about helping their customers get the most out of life.

We believe that combining digital product innovation with genuine content expertise is the only way to keep your customers coming back - time and time again.

Our offering spans three key areas: Strategic Consulting, where we deliver data-led insights to identify business and customer challenges that unlock for measurable growth; Content Marketing, where we support every step of your customer journey with meaningful storytelling that drives awareness and action; and Product Design & Build, where we craft and optimise personalised web and native apps that are brilliantly useful and deliver real business results.

With a vertical focus on Fashion and Beauty, Sports and Active Lifestyle, Financial & Investment, and Technology, our clients include Speedo, Merrell, Jaguar Land Rover, Timberland, Volvo UK, Sport England, Everyone Active, England Athletics, Swim England, Go Tri, RNIB, Shiseido, Coty, DALI, ESET and LG UK to name a few.

Moreover, as part of the Hearst family we have unrivalled access to audience insight across some of the world’s most influential media brands.

Find out more - mediablaze.com

About Gladstone

Gladstone Software has been providing innovative Leisure Management Software for more than 35 years. We take pride in understanding and interpreting the leisure industry’s ever-changing needs. The result? We deliver state-of-the-art solutions to leisure centres, universities and health clubs across the UK and Ireland.

Just ask our 400+ customers. Our advanced software puts the operator in control – enhancing customer experience, streamlining administration and helping to identify key trends in data via our unique business intelligence technology. This enables operators to attract and retain a loyal customer base whilst increasing revenue and reducing customer attrition. More than 30,000 licensed users rely on our end-to-end leisure management solutions every single day. And we are constantly adapting to our customers’ changing needs - our new live streaming platform, payment services and end-to-end cloud native solution ensure that our operators can stay one step ahead by offering the ultimate member experience.

Find out more - gladstonesoftware.co.uk