22 - Calum Watson, Gymshark

In Episode 22 of Earned, Conor chats with Calum Watson, Global Partnerships Director at cult-favorite (and rapidly growing) fitness apparel brand Gymshark. We start by discussing the innovative initiatives Gymshark launched to connect its community amid the pandemic, and how the brand leveraged the home workout trend to drive growth. We then dive into Calum’s background, and hear a little bit about his time running the influencer program at Myprotein, before jumping into his role at Gymshark. Calum shares some of the challenges and growing pains that he experienced in the face of the brand’s rapid growth, and reveals the humble qualities that allowed Gymshark founder Ben Francis to scale the business. We then learn more about Gymshark’s athlete ambassador program and hear Calum’s human-centric philosophies around nurturing genuine, long-term relationships and mutually beneficial partnerships with influencers. We also touch on Gymshark’s international community building strategies, and hear about the brand’s breakdown of organic and paid relationships, before Calum closes the episode by emphasizing Gymshark’s purpose and how “everything has to tie back to that purpose.”