Cinderfell positioning platform
Strategy presentation for Imogen Sallis, prepared by Aldous Thwaite, York. Tuesday 13 April 2027. One decision needed by Friday 23 April.
What this stage had to settle
You asked us what Cinderfell should stand for before Manchester and Edinburgh open in spring 2028. Your February raise of £4.2m makes that a question with a deadline.
The three existing sites grew on word of mouth, and each one describes the club a little differently. Two funded operators have since arrived in Leeds, both selling recovery.
This document answers one question: what should a new member in a city that has never heard of you understand in the first ten seconds? It sets out what we found, what we considered and what we recommend. If any of the facts are wrong, tell us before you read the rest.
Discover, in four numbers
Six weeks of work since the kickoff on 1 March. Everything below rests on these sources, and the raw findings are in the shared folder.
0
Member survey responses
0
Stakeholder interviews
0
Lapsed members interviewed
0
Operators audited
Three positions, each with a cost
All three are honest descriptions of what you do. They differ in who they bring in and what they ask you to give up. We recommend the third.
1. Recovery
Heat and cold as training. Easy to explain and easy to buy, but 12% of members name it first, and two funded operators got there before you.
2. Stillness
A quiet room away from the city. It earns a premium, but group sessions drive 58% of your visits, and this position would ask you to cut them.
3. Social club, recommended
What members already say. Harder to put in one ad, and it costs you the gift-voucher language behind 11% of first visits. It is the one nobody can copy.
The platform, part by part
This is what identity, copy and site teams will work from. Read it as a set of instructions. Each part should be able to settle an argument.
Who it is for
People in their thirties and forties whose social life has shrunk to dinners booked six weeks ahead. They want to see people regularly without drinking or organising anything. Athletes are welcome, but we are not writing for them.
What we promise
Two hours with people, and you leave better than you arrived. We make no claims about inflammation or immunity. Those belong to operators with a clinical story, and your members don't ask for them.
Why anyone should believe it
Hosts who learn names. Sessions built for groups of twenty. Members who join with a friend stay at 71% after a year, against 38% for those who come alone on an intro offer.
How it sounds
A good host. Plain, dry, glad you came. It never says wellness, journey or ritual. It says who is on tonight, how hot the room is and that Thursday is busy.
What it asks of each site
The host role moves from front desk to the floor, which affects rota design in all five sites. Budget for it at Manchester and Edinburgh now. It costs less to build in than to retrain.
The numbers behind the recommendation
Member survey, n=1,286, closed 19 March. Retention from your membership system, for members who joined in the twelve months to February 2027 and projected from month nine.
Main reason members keep paying
Percent of respondents, one answer each
Twelve-month retention by first visit
Percent still members, projected
What you would be agreeing to
The parts that are easy to skip in the room. Please read these before you decide.
What this position rules out
Clinical or recovery claims in any brand copy. Spa-day gifting as a headline offer. Partnerships with gyms and performance brands at launch. Gift vouchers can stay on sale, but they stop being how Cinderfell introduces itself. That puts 11% of first visits at risk, and those members retain at 22%, so we think the trade is a good one.
Where we are least sure
Our sample is strongest in Leeds and Sheffield. Newcastle returned 171 responses, and Edinburgh is inference: nobody there has met you yet. We would test the line with 40 non-members in each new city in June. It is in the current fee and should not hold up identity work.
What this does not decide
The name stays, as agreed at kickoff. Pricing, session formats and site design are yours and your operators' to decide. The platform will make some of those choices easier, and we will flag where it does, but it does not change them.
If you prefer another position
Say so and tell us why. Choosing Recovery or Stillness needs a further week of platform work, inside the one round of amendments in our agreement, and moves the identity presentation by a week. We would advise against Recovery, because you would be arriving third with the smaller budget.
After you approve
Each working day after 23 April moves the dates below by one day. The Manchester fit-out contractor needs signage artwork by the last date, so that one has little room to move.
Platform locked, 23 April
Your approval closes Define. We share the platform with your site managers on the following Monday and answer questions in one 45 minute call.
Verbal identity draft, 7 May
Tone of voice, naming conventions for sessions and a first pass of site copy. One round of comments, consolidated by you, within three working days.
Three identity territories, 25 May
Screen, signage and membership card shown for each, with motion tests. One goes forward, and you choose it in the room.
Refinement closes, 25 June
Two rounds on the chosen territory, then type, colour and contrast testing. Font licensing is a client cost, and we will price it before you commit.
Rollout kit, 14 September
Brand portal, Figma toolkit and fabricator-ready signage artwork for Manchester and Edinburgh. This date is fixed by the fit-out contractor.
One decision, by Friday 23 April
We recommend the third position. It is the one your members already describe, and the one a better-funded competitor can't buy. If you want to talk it through first, Ruth has held Monday 19 April.
Prepared by
Ruth Aldous Strategy Director, Aldous Thwaite
4 Hungate Yard York YO1 7PR ruth@aldousthwaite.co.uk
For approval by
Imogen Sallis Managing Director, Cinderfell Bathing Club
Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle imogen@cinderfell.club
Approve the positioning platform
By confirming, you approve "a social club with no bar" as the platform for identity work. The agreed fee of £68,420 plus VAT does not change. We will issue the second stage invoice of £17,105 plus VAT and start verbal identity on 26 April.