WeightWatchers 2010 Annual Report Download - page 24

National Accounts and At-Work Meetings
A
s healthcare costs continue to be a significant concern on the minds of employers and their employees, w
e
believe that our broad range of services and products uniquely positions us to serve the corporate market and hel
p
companies reduce their healthcare costs and improve the overall well-being of their employees. Our strategy i
s
f
ocused on leveraging our organizational capability to serve companies of every size through our Nationa
l
Accounts department and our local At-Work selling teams. As a result of this strategy, we now have th
e
capability to sell, market, and service companies at the local level, the mid-market level, and the national level of
the cor
p
orate market.
Public Relation
s
We carry out many of our key public relations initiatives through the efforts of current and former Weigh
t
W
atchers leaders, members and subscribers. These leaders, members and subscribers engage in local promotions
,
information presentations and charity events to promote Weight Watchers and demonstrate the program’s
efficacy. In addition, some become media-trained ambassadors and represent us in various local public relations
activities. We currently have over 4
5
0 media-trained ambassadors as part of our grass roots network
.
I
n addition, we have continued a science-based public relations initiative we launched during the winter of
200
5
to capitalize on Weight Watchers’ position as one of only a few clinically proven commercial weight
management programs. This has included an increased investment in third-party scientific research, the inclusion
o
f a science center on the WeightWatchers.com website and increased efforts to share our consumer and program
insights with leaders in the scientific and medical communities as well as the general public.
W
eight Watchers Magazin
e
I
n addition to generating revenues from subscription sales and third-party advertising, Weight Watchers
Magazine reinforces the value of our brand and serves as an important marketing tool to both existing an
d
p
otential customers. We offer Weight Watchers magazines in most of our major markets.
S
easonalit
y
Our business is seasonal, with revenues generally decreasing at year end and during the summer months
.
Our advertising schedule supports the three key enrollment-generating seasons of the year: winter, spring and
f
all, with winter having the highest concentration of advertising spending. The timing of certain holidays,
p
articularly Easter, which precedes the spring marketing campaign and occurs between March 22 and April 2
5
,
may affect our results of operations and the year-to-year comparability of our results. For example, in fisca
l
2009, Easter fell on April 12, which means that our spring marketing campaign began in the second quarter o
f
f
iscal 2009 as opposed to the first quarter of fiscal 2008. The introduction of Monthly Pass in the meetings
business has resulted in less seasonality with regard to our meeting fee revenues because its revenues are
amortized over the related subscription period. Our operating income for the first half of the year is generally th
e
strongest. While WeightWatchers.com experiences similar seasonality in terms of new subscriber sign-ups, its
r
evenue tends to be less seasonal because it amortizes subscri
p
tion revenue over the related subscri
p
tion
p
eriod
.
Entrepreneur
i
al Management
We run our company in an entrepreneurial manner that allows us to develop and test new ideas on a local
basis and then implement the most successful ideas across our network. In addition, many of our meetin
g
p
roducts were developed locally and then introduced successfully in other countries. Local managers have strong
incentives to adopt and implement the best practices of other regions and to continue to develop innovative new
services and
p
roducts
.
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