Roar Ambition's fitness regime

A fitness supplements business is looking to expand as demand for its products continues to rise with more women and middle aged men taking to the gym.
The Roar Ambition team.The Roar Ambition team.
The Roar Ambition team.

Leeds-based Roar Ambition says it will be adding 20 new jobs over the next year as demand for fitness supplements grows off the back of the influence of social media.

The company was founded in 2012 by Robert Parker. Prior to setting up Roar Ambition, he worked in affiliate marketing.

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Mr Parker told The Yorkshire Post: “The two biggest trends in the fitness industry in recent years has been females lifting weights, women are doing less cardio and are lifting weights.

“Another emerging market is the middle aged men. They seem to be getting back in the gym and working out and also lifting weights. It’s not all about building muscle for them. It’s more about them just getting into shape and getting strong.”

Roar Ambition currently has around 12 employees and will be moving into new office space next month to facilitate a growth in that number.

“We’re limited at the moment because of the space we are in,” Mr Parker said. “Next month we’re moving to a 45-person office.”

The new office will be based on Whitehall Road in Leeds.

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Women are striving for a more athletic look, Mr Parker says, and with social media platforms such as Instagram they now have the know-how to do so.

Social media has had a big part to play with Instagram and all these different fitness models, they’re now educated in how to get that athletic look,” he said.

The biggest market for Roar Ambition is the US, which the business says accounts for 60-70 per cent of its orders. This is down to the US being ahead of the UK when it comes to fitness trends, Mr Parker said.

He added: “They just have a bigger appetite for these types of products and the market is much bigger.”

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Australia is another big market alongside the UK for Roar Ambitions. By operating in several different markets it gives the business “stability”, Mr Parker says, as the business isn’t prisoner to economic circumstances in a given country.

Roar Ambitions sells its supplements across the world but the entrepreneur is keen to tap into the fitness culture in South American countries like Brazil.

Most of the new jobs being created at the business will be in digital with Roar Ambition looking to add content marketers, copywriters, SEO specialists and developers.

The need to stand out online for the fitness supplement business is important as the biggest challenge the firm faces is competition.

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Mr Parker said: “The fitness industry is booming and because of that there’s more and more companies that are entering it. It comes back to our digital skills –it’s all online so we’re fighting for positions online.”

His aims is to keep the brand growing and to become one of the best digital businesses to work at in Leeds. He said: “I’m just looking to grow the team and create more jobs and just have a really good working environment.

“We want to be known as one of the best digital places to work at in Leeds. Leeds is such a digital hotspot, we just want to attract more staff.”

Founder spotted a gap in market

Fitness supplements firm Roar Ambition was set up by Robert Parker after he spotted a gap in the market.

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Mr Parker said: “I worked as an affiliate marketer for quite a number of years. I was working in health and beauty marketing and as I was doing that I realised that there wasn’t any fitness products being sold in the same way.

“There were very few that were online and sold direct to the customer. Most of them were wholesale products so I spotted a gap and decided to set it up.

“This was around 2011-12, which is really when the fitness market became much more mainstream.

“It was just about to take off so the timing was good.”