Virgin Active aimed to reclaim its brand disruptor positioning by directly addressing the reality of exercise and celebrating both the struggle and the beauty of simply doing enough.
This fun and playful campaign was designed to get viewers to begin to think a little differently and more honestly about exercise: in doing so it celebrates the everyday reality of what successful exercise looks like and how good it ought to make you feel.
In an effort to differentiate itself from its competitors and the avalanche of New Year exercise advertising, the campaign comes clean by stating: “Our industry says ‘do it all’. We say do enough. Enough to achieve what you want to achieve. Enough for you to enjoy it, not resent it. Enough for exercise to work with your life, not against it. Because when it comes to exercise, doing enough is a remarkable thing. Tell us where you want to get to. We’ll help you do enough to get there in wonderful ways.
The fitness brand’s New Year 2019 campaign, developed in harness with UK agency That Thing, launched in late December/early January in both the UK, Australia, South Africa and across Southeast Asia.
It is led by a hero commercial
and other strands include video seeded through On Demand and social media content,
Weekends aren't about doing nothing and they're not about doing it all.
Weekends are about doing enough.#FridayFeeling #DoingEnough pic.twitter.com/fL7A46XW4v— Virgin Active UK (@VirginActiveUK) January 4, 2019
as well as OOH work.
Plus a redesigned global website launched in early December 2018.
Anton Brown, chief experience officer at Virgin Active said: “Gyms tend to promise a ‘whole new you’ in their advertising, but they aren’t delivering. Exercise can be hard to fit into your life – between your job, family and trying to have a social life, just doing the recommended amount in a week is an achievement. When ‘Enough’ becomes part of your life, it’s more likely to stay there. We want to share a message that helps people feel good about themselves.”
That Thing co-founder Joe Weir added: “Enough’ wants to speak to the 85% of people that the fitness industry has been ignoring and show them a new way of thinking about exercise. This campaign is part of a global brand repositioning that we’re really excited to be part of.”
The campaign was created for Virgin Active CMO Anton Brown, head of marketing Katrina Southerly and brand director Tim Carter by a That Thing agency team led by founders Joe Weir and Mark Williams, as well as senior designer Dan Sowten, commercial director Kate Simons, account director Hayley Hyland, director of production Henry Jackson Janes and editor Tupaq Felber.
Comment:
This campaign is actually part of a wider repositioning of the brand that will roll out through 2019.
It is one of several notably gym and exercise initiatives aiming to cut through the cluttered New Year marketing landscape.
Other recent examples include UK budget brand The Gym’s ‘So I Can’ campaign (see case study).
Links:
Virgin Active
https://www.virginactive.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/virginactiveuk/
https://twitter.com/VirginActiveUK
https://www.instagram.com/virginactiveuk/
https://www.youtube.com/user/virginactiveuk
That Thing
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.