I have a long and somewhat chequered history with staff parties. Since I started working at Men’s Health in 2007, I have drunk Baileys out of a glass slipper in the office, woken up on the floor of a phone box at 4am and fallen so far down the tube station stairs that I required a surgeon to put my eyebrow back together.
I still very much like a drink. But now I’m more minded to look after myself. I train three-four times a week and run on WFH days. I set my 5km PB just last week. I’ve run Hyrox three times and have signed up for my fourth. My 9-year-old son is doing the new kids’ version, while his almost-8-year-old brother is segueing from a season of football into tennis, rugby and cricket. Sport and fitness are thoroughly normalised in our household and it’s great.
The Frasers Group have been on a similar journey, albeit on a slightly larger scale. A brand ecosystem powerhouse overseeing Sports Direct, Flannels, House of Fraser, Everlast, and more, was once known for hosting staff parties where my younger self would have undoubtedly gotten seriously injured.
There is a new hand on the tiller, though. Michael Murray has been plotting a new course for the company since he was installed as CEO in May 2022. Since then, Frasers has been fully reconditioned to stock premium lines from Nike, adidas and Under Armour with a focus on sporting performance and fitness, as well as a fresh focus on luxury brands like Represent/247, Burberry and CP Company.
The staff party has had a bit of a rethink, too. The 2024 Frasers Festival took place in late May and saw the top 1500 employees from across the business and 500 people from their partners and suppliers gather in rural Cheshire for a genuine festival. All of the key brands that work with the group held activations, clearly competing for the grandest and coolest constructions and the all-important freebie offerings.
‘Our business has its beginnings and its future rooted in sport, lifestyle and fitness,’ says Murray. ‘We’ve been working hard these last few years to clearly establish ourselves as the leading destination for consumers and brands in this space. I wanted the Frasers Festival to reflect our vision with a focus on sport through both the Frasers Fearless challenge and the brand activations and investment on display. We were joined by the world’s leading brands and their CEO’s like Kevin Plank [Under Armour founder] and Bjorn Gulden [adidas CEO], which is a true testament to the journey we’ve been on.’
A fleet of gourmet food trucks circled the main field and while the bar was wisely limiting the sale of alcohol until later in the evening, once you were on site not a single penny changed hands. A piss-up this was not. But the grandest of events this surely was.
Before all that, we tackled a 6km obstacle course, the Frasers Fearless Challenge, set around the estate of Cholmondeley Castle. This event was overseen by a military fitness operation and conceived by Michael himself
‘There was no better way to kick off the day than run a tough-mudder style assault course. The course is fun but a lot harder than it looks – from a ‘D-Day’ landing to the cyclone [I personally got involved in creating that one] it was a real challenge,’ says Michael.
‘The aim of the course is to bring together all of our team mates, drive new relationships across our business and feed the energy that we are building – high performance and high reward. No other retailer would do this. But it’s something I’m passionate about and always putting fitness first sits within the DNA of what we do.’
After the first couple of ‘obstacles’ – wading down a fetid ditch was fun – I found myself running with Michael and the Co-CEO of ON running, Marc Maurer. I use running here in the loosest terms. Michael has qualified for the HYROX World Championships in the men’s double division, while it’s fair to say that Marc is no slouch in his trainers. I was glad for the enforced breaks of the obstacles to allow my heart-rate to vaguely normalise, having chased after them on the straight shots in what felt like a firm Zone 4. But the collegiate spirit this first part of the day was designed to provoke was fully evident around us. Groups of Frasers employees in their matching tops pulled each other through, whether running or walking, talking or panting.
For me, as the single member of the media at the event, completing the race with the only two CEOs taking part was as motivating as it was exhausting. Michael himself and the brand he has reimagined are one and the same. His passion for fitness inspires his business, entrenched in sport and movement. For such a behemoth of retail, the impact that has surely stretches far further than the 1500 staff and suppliers on the invite list. It certainly got me.
‘Frasers Festival is a testament to our Elevation Strategy and our direction of travel as a whole,’ says Michael. ‘We are creating the most compelling brand ecosystem and that constitutes to having the full support from our strategic brand partners. Our Frasers Team is a huge part of the day, I want our employees to turn up here and feel empowered, recognised and ultimately motivated about the scale of the event and where we are heading as a business.’
At the end of the obstacle course, a female Frasers staff member was frozen at the top of a rope climb over an A-frame, not able to take a hand off for fear of immediately sliding back to the bottom. I quickly scaled up to the top and pulled her up and over.
When I got to the other side myself, Michael and Marc were waiting for me. We vaulted over the final cargo nets and crossed the line together. As I high fived a few similarly muddy runners, Michael posed for photos with finishers. Not as the CEO of their company. But as a member of Frasers staff wanting to experience the buzz of effort and togetherness.
As one of them left the area, I heard him say to his group of friends: ‘how many bosses do that?’ They didn’t need to answer him.
David Morton is Deputy Editor at Men’s Health, where he has written, worked, edited and sweated for 12 years. His areas of particular interest are fitness, workouts and adventure.