What’s The Deal With Health Fairs: An Interview With Jasmine Manalo, Employee Experience Manager of FitPros
Here at Parsnip we love partnering up with like-minded organizations that also work with brands, and with a female founder, FitPros totally fits the bill! Read on for more about one of their primary ways of connecting brands to their clients – Health Fairs – and a few tips on how you can stand out at the sampling/demo table!
1
Tell us a little about FitPros!
FitPros is a holistic workplace wellness provider. We work with HR Teams of corporate companies to organize and implement effective wellness programs to inspire employees to live a happier, healthier lifestyle. Reflecting on her own experience working in Corporate America, FitPros CEO & Founder discovered a passion and need to bring health in the workplace to support companies retain and recruit high caliber employees, while positively impacting their bottom line savings through wellness programs at their location.
2
What kinds of events does FitPros host? What exactly are health fairs? How are they mutually beneficial for brands, employees, and employers?
We have a wide range of holistic health offerings, including fitness classes, health talks, health fairs, cooking classes, massages, wellness coaching, finance workshops and more. Our Health Fairs are specifically curated for corporate companies. Meaning, we take the traditional corporate benefits fair and bring in the fun! In addition to working with the company’s benefit providers, we also work with local health and wellness businesses within the company’s geographic location so that we can connect employees to the many health and wellness options within their own neighborhood/community.
Some benefits for working with us include logo inclusion on marketing materials, your product and offers included in event prize giveaways, and cross promotion through our social media. A huge benefit that most brands that work with us comment on is that unlike sporting events where people grab swag and run, in the workplace you'll actually have the chance to talk about your product benefits and these employees will listen!
The benefit for employees is that they are connected to health and wellness brands that are easily accessible to them. The benefit for the employers is that companies are always looking to stock their kitchens with food and beverages and are also constantly throwing fun events for their employees. If our client is interested to purchase your product or service to include in their workplace, we will pass along your sales contact details.
3
Quite a few Parsnip brands have already participated in FitPros, what are some of those brands?
CompletEats, Chippin, Creation Nation, InnovEAT, Wild Planet Foods, From the Fields... just to name a few :)
4
Are there certain attributes or values that you look for in the brands that support your events? Why is that?
FitPros is a holistic health company that strives to inspire people to uncover their highest potential by motivating health and happiness! We really look for brands who are aligned with and reflect our mission. For example, InnovEAT creates healthy, tasty and quick to prepare meals that are perfect for the everyday working person who’s on the go, and CompletEats who believes plant-based eating should be easy and convenient for everyone! We also work with brands like Columbia Sportswear, Lululemon and New Balance who promote a healthy active lifestyle.
5
What are some ways that a brand participating in an event like FitPros can stand out to event attendees?
We always encourage our vendors to incorporate a fun engagement piece at their table. It can be as simple as a spin wheel game to win some awesome swag, it can be as extravagant as having some type of physical demonstration of your product at your table, or it can even be as fun and wacky as having a photo booth with props at your table!
We also include a Wellness Passport Game at every fair. Employees will receive a passport with all the participating vendor logos. The name of the game is for employees to visit all the vendors on their passport, collect a stamp from each vendor as proof and return it to FitPros to enter in the big raffle prize! The big raffle prize includes donated prizes from each vendor. This acts as an incentive for employees to engage with each and every vendor at the fair, which guarantees foot traffic at each table.
6
What are some of the biggest mistakes that brands make when showcasing at an event similar to a wellness fair?
The biggest mistake I’ve seen brands make specifically at our fairs is not having an engagement piece at their table. Adding an engagement activity at their table enhances the experience of the fair and is part of why companies want FitPros to organize their corporate fairs. When we see little to no engagement from a brand, it doesn’t look good for both us at FitPros and the brand itself and ultimately leaving the client disappointed. It especially doesn’t look good for the brand when every other vendor has an engagement activity- employees will be less engaged with your brand representative. They will just pass by your table, eager to get to the next vendor who has something fun.
7
Anything in the pipeline you are looking for a partner on that our members might be able to help with?
Absolutely! As mentioned before, FitPros has many other holistic wellness programs we provide for companies other than our fairs. We are always brainstorming ways our brand partners can help enhance our other current programs. For example, a healthy beverage brand can be included in our fitness classes, our cooking classes can include a healthy food product, vendors can donate product for our wellness programs as incentives for employee participation- the possibilities are endless!
8
What wellness, food, or skincare trend are you most into right now? And what can you just not seem to get into?
Ever since my friend gave me Wendy Rowe’s “Eat Beautiful: Nourish Your Skin from the Inside Out” I’ve been really into being mindful of the foods I eat and how it affects my skin’s appearance and overall health. Something I can’t really get into are juice cleanses. I have nothing against juice cleanses and have seen great results from others who accomplish their cleanse. Personally, I just don’t have the willpower to substitute my whole foods in juice form over a long period of time- but maybe someday I will!
9
Share with us your:
- Fave household cleaning brand: Between Love Home & Planet and Method.
- Fave beauty brand: SO MANY! But as of recent discovery, I Dew Care.
- Fave night time activity: Cuddling with my dog right before bed.
- Fave wellness activity: Yoga, pilates and being outdoors going for walks/hikes
To learn more and engage with us, follow along! FitPros website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube.
