Democratizing fitness for all

Our immediate goal was to boost revenue during the peak trading periods of January and February by successfully bringing in new members to The Gym Group.

Our creative mission focused on driving consideration throughout the mid- and lower funnel. Within those phases, we had two critical levers to pull to drive conversion: convenient locations and value for money. 

We needed to align them, however, under one creative idea that would resonate during the busiest period in the health and fitness calendar and stand the test of time.

Keeping costs low is one way to democratise fitness, but when it comes to getting real value out of a membership, people need to believe that they’ll get there, and often. That’s what we set out to do. 

Although we recognised that the individuals comprising our audience had different motivations for going to the gym, they were united by the fact that their goals would be easier to achieve with a Gym Group nearby.


Helpfully, more than 50% of UK adults are within a 15-minute drive of a Gym Group, a stat that quickly became the cornerstone of our campaign.

We leveraged this insight to highlight how convenient locations, paired with great quality equipment at accessible prices, make it easier for our audience to kick off the year with a new workout routine – whatever their motivations to exercise may be.

Our creative campaign aimed to resonate with potential members by promoting a sense of convenience and community while highlighting how The Gym Group’s many accessible locations break down barriers to fitness. 

And sometimes, the best way to prove the value of something is to show what happens in its absence.

So, to drive home the message of convenience, we developed a creative concept that explored the challenges people face without easy access to the gym. 

The campaign was brought to life by showcasing the various creative yet challenging ways people try to incorporate exercise into their routines. 

Dramatic home workouts, runs in bad weather, living room lunges, makeshift equipment like bags of rice or tins of beans, taking the stairs on the tube… with one clear solution – the better way to achieve your January fitness goals is at ‘the Gym Group ‘round the corner.’

Strategically, our creative approach broke category norms by making The Gym Group feel familiar while building a connection beyond the functionality its gyms offer. 

It pushed up against ‘justifiable’ excuses we knew our audience would make while creating the perception of being a supportive brand, all in all bringing locality and achievements together under one campaign execution. 

We took a ‘funny-but-true’ approach to our TOV, which was built around being warm, real, and witty. 

So the typical “push yourself to the limit” lines were replaced with “you’re five minutes away from finally squatting that 60kg”, and “ready to revitalise your workout regime?” became “home workouts not quite hitting the spot?”. 

While the campaign was centred around the consideration and conversion stages of the funnel, we established design and branding principles that ensured every piece of creative was distinct to The Gym Group to build salience and support us in landing the RTBs.