Top Franchise Marketing Leaders: Chad Waetzig — Chief Marketing Officer, Crunch Fitness

Name: Chad Waetzig

Role: Chief Marketing Officer

Brand: Crunch Fitness

With more than 450 locations worldwide and a brand known for making serious fitness fun, Crunch Fitness has built a loyal following. Leading that charge is Chief Marketing Officer Chad Waetzig, whose career spans iconic companies like Procter & Gamble, Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. At Crunch, Waetzig brings a strategic yet lighthearted approach to franchise marketing that balances national consistency with local creativity.

Waetzig believes the secret to great franchise marketing lies in collaboration. His team sets the vision, builds the brand and leads storytelling around Crunch’s “No Judgments” experience while empowering franchisees to bring that story to life in their own communities. By combining clear data-driven insights with humor and human connection, Waetzig has helped make Crunch’s marketing both highly effective and deeply relatable, proving that when franchisors and franchisees work together, the total is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Q&A With Chad Waetzig, Chief Marketing Officer, Crunch Fitness 

1851 Franchise: How did you find your way to franchising and franchise marketing?

Chad Waetzig: After spending the first decade of my career at Procter & Gamble, I shifted gears and took a brand strategy role with Marriott International. That was my first experience with franchising and franchise marketing. I couldn’t have had a better opportunity to learn about the power of franchising and the close relationship the franchisor and franchisees have to have to drive great marketing results. Those five years deeply involved in franchising certainly left a positive impact on future franchise company roles with Starwood Hotels & Resorts and here at Crunch Fitness.

1851 Franchise: What makes franchise marketing uniquely challenging (and rewarding) compared to corporate-only marketing?

Waetzig: There is a real power in franchise marketing, where the total is far greater than the sum of its parts. Working closely with our franchise partners, who are in the best position to know each local market’s dynamics, allows us to collectively win at what is a very hyperlocal business.

Our role is to set the vision, build the brand, generate demand and lead the storytelling that defines Crunch’s “No Judgments” experience, but we need our franchise partners to deliver tactical campaigns that resonate with their local consumers to capture that demand. The challenge is speaking as “One Crunch,” maintaining brand consistency while giving owners the freedom within a framework to connect with their communities. When done well, this approach builds authentic engagement and provides insights that strengthen the brand overall.

1851 Franchise: What is the single most powerful lever a marketing team can pull to directly impact franchisees’ profitability at the unit level?

Waetzig: We believe strongly that our role is to help our franchisees maximize their enterprise value. Giving franchisees the right data, tools and guidance on where, when and how much to spend to drive lifetime value is central to their profitability at a unit level. Without that, franchisees may suboptimize getting the right message to the right consumer at the right time. Marketing is an investment and providing clear data and strategic insights help owners understand the returns they should expect for those investments at each location.

1851 Franchise: What is an untapped marketing opportunity you see for franchise brands?

Waetzig: An untapped opportunity is turning everyday customer conversations into marketing ideas. Most brands push campaigns from the top down, but taking the time to listen to members and understand what they care about can inspire ideas for franchise brands and help them connect with their national audience and local communities through new ideas or events.

Marketing at its most basic breaks down into three core components: You (consumer) have a problem or issue that we (the brand) understand. Our (product/service/offering) addresses this issue better than anyone else. And the reason why is “this.” We have found that leveraging humor to communicate our understanding of the consumers’ problem is a great way to breakthrough. We believe humor is relatable and draws audiences in. Over the last couple of years, our “Feel Good, Not Bad” and “Feel Good Here” marketing campaigns did just that, captured mindshare through humor.

With the general worries many consumers have — like the economy, armed conflicts and political tensions — everyone looks for an outlet to feel good. One of the best ways to help consumers do that is by working out at Crunch, where we help them activate their endorphins and create a positive, fun and joyful space for them.

Franchise brands can resonate with people through campaigns that are humorous, inspiring and deliver on their brand promise through both traditional and social media.

1851 Franchise: What is one marketing fad or buzzword that you believe will actually deliver real results in the coming year?

Waetzig: Of course, the easy answer is AI. But beyond that, I think that authenticity is the biggest advantage a brand can have right now. Consumers are feeling the weight of the world — with economic challenges, geopolitical strife and a culture focused on our divisions as opposed to what unites us. Brands that are true to their DNA and not ping-ponging to the latest fad or trend tell stories about their product or service that are truly relevant to the consumer. When they see messaging that matters to them, it has the potential to break through that negativity they are feeling, and it resonates, driving real results.

Back to AI. The next few years, we will see dramatic evolution, with AI playing a bigger role in everything from extracting insights from first-party data to media planning, to content development, to agent-assisted commerce. I’m probably not smart enough to know what it will all exactly look like, but I can say with confidence that 2030 will look very different from 2025. The big key for me will be for brands, franchisees and agencies to avoid the temptation to create AI slop.

1851 Franchise: What’s your boldest franchise marketing take? (A tactic used today that will be obsolete in the next five years? Something that almost no one is currently doing but will be revolutionary in the near future?)

Waetzig: In a short amount of time, brands and competition will become better marketers as AI adoption and refinement take hold, as they leverage their first-party data in ever stronger ways and as current media targeting becomes more sophisticated. Those franchise brands that don’t speak with one voice, that don’t leverage the power of the brand — that the total is greater than the sum of their parts — will get left behind. The competition is more sophisticated than ever before. Franchisees who believe they should do it alone will find competing will be tough. The franchise brands that will win in the future are the ones that work, and market, in true partnership.

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