Training provider YMCAfit is bidding to bring new blood into the industry through an innovative marketing campaign designed to target markets that traditional advertising is unable to reach.

The charity has taken to music-streaming service Spotify – a third of users are aged 18-24 and spend over 100 minutes a day using the service – to engage with a younger audience than typically found via media channels. The move forms part of a concerted push towards online advertising of YMCAfit courses in recent years, enabling it to tightly focus on particular audiences, as well as more effectively determine the success of its adverts.

As part of its campaign to attract young people towards a career as as a fitness instructor, YMCAfit turned to Spotify for the first time this summer and says the growth of social media and cloud-based services has allowed it to think much more creatively about targeting new audiences and testing new channels.

“At YMCAfit, there is a history of innovation so it’s a logical step for us to extend this to the way in which we reach out to new customers who might otherwise not consider a career in health and fitness,” newly appointed head of YMCAfit Dan Rees told Health Club Management.

“Advertising on platforms such as Spotify allows us to engage with a different, younger audience and attract new talent to the sector. Activity is ongoing, but so far we are seeing very encouraging results, with strong engagement with our ads.”

The move comes just months after marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk launched a stunning broadside against the industry at IHRSA 2014, claiming that health and fitness businesses were marketing “like it's 2004.”

Another company to heed the call for innovation has been the Australian Institute of Fitness, which recently began marketing via photo-messaging app Snapchat as it seeks to tap into the millennials market in a similar way to YMCAfit.