By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Known as the brand that brought “everything you need and nothing you don’t” to running watches, Soleus Watches is adding to its brand DNA this year by expanding into the gym fitness channel, including dance fitness.
In line with this thrust, the Soleus company is set to launch a series of fitness watches in the country over the course of 2017 that will count steps and lift counts as well as monitor the user’s heart rate for maximum overall training monitoring.
“Based on our parent’s global market research, here in the Philippines and Asia as well, there is a big potential in the growing market of the dance and fitness community. These are the people who want to look good when they go to the gym and they want to perform. And Soleus feels it’s a great opportunity to match this fashionable fire with fashionable watches that will not only make you look good but make you feel the fun as well,” Judith Staples, Soleus Philippines brand manager, told BusinessWorld in an interview as she related the reason behind the company’s decision to extend its portfolio of products beyond running watches.
To serve as a prelude to the product line expansion this year, Soleus Philippines hosted a series of dance events last weekend, with world-renowned Zumba fitness presenter and Soleus brand ambassador William Flores spearheading them.
Highlighting the events was the first Soleus Dance Fest at SM By The Bay at the Mall of Asia Grounds in Pasay City last Saturday, where Mr. Flores led participants in dancing his brand of Zumba that incorporates a lot of Latin music and various styles of dancing like modern dance, jazz, salsa and hip hop.
“William is a perfect guy for us in the direction we are going at. Zumba is very popular because the moves are easy to follow but the amount of energy you put in it is so much. You have to work it out doing it but it makes you happy after, much like what Soleus watches are about,” said Ms. Staples on enlisting the help of the Peruvian coach.
The Soleus official said that since bringing the brand to the Philippines some eight years ago, reception to it has been great, owing to the nature of the products.
“We are happy with the way the brand is performing here since the day it started, mainly because the brand knows what the watch users want. The watches are not complicated and you have everything you need. It is easy to use and easy to follow,” said Ms. Staples of the brand, whose parent was set up by the same people who worked on the Nike watches before global production for them halted nearly a decade ago.
Ms. Staples said they are expecting the new Soleus fitness watches to be released in the country sometime in July or August and that they will make sure that Mr. Flores, who is in the middle of his Asian Tour, will be in town for the full launch.
“Our DNA will always be running, but expanding to a new line of fitness watches is about the right time. It’s an exciting time for the Soleus brand in the country and Filipinos who love watches should expect great things ahead from us,” Ms. Staples said.
