Embrace EVERY body
Going to the gym can be intimidating if you don’t feel like you’ve got Nike-campaign worthy abs to flash, and it’s doubly so for people who don’t consider themselves athletic. A gym marketing campaign directed at the very fit probably only deters them from going. The slogan, “Feeling good is the new looking good”, drives home the point of their campaign. Emphasizing how exercise makes you feel rather than what it might make some people look like is definitely a great way to get people of all shapes and sizes interested in joining your gym.
Don’t sugarcoat it
Gold’s Gym has a series of ads that address the issue of people worrying that going to the gym might be hard. Their message is essentially that yes, that’s true — and so what?
These three ads with messages – “Doubt doubt“, “Shut your whine-hole” and “Put off procrastination” – all encourage people who may need a bit of tough love to just get out there and do it. This is definitely not the approach of Blink Fitness’s campaign, but instead aimed at helping people eliminate excuses for not going to the gym.
Promote a lifestyle
Equinox is all about coming a true lifestyle brand rather than just a gym, which is a message that they send strongly with their advertising campaigns. The current one “Commit to something” is composed of a series of very stylized images that at a first glance, have very little to do with fitness.
Equinox also features an online magazine with information on how to change your lifestyle to make it healthier, playlists that celebrity DJs have created for the facilities and apps you can use to track your exercises.
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Embrace user generated content (UGC)
Rather than a specific gym marketing campaign, we’re going to talk about Zumba Fitness’s great approach to figuring out which message to use to talk about their brand on social media. Their Facebook page is all about having fun. The slogan splashed across the page is “Party yourself into shape”, and all of their content makes it look like going to one of their sessions is a seriously good time.
Remind them to get off their bum!
These funny ads were humorous and a way to tap into something that happens all too often: you have the best intention of going to the gym, but instead somehow end up spending your evening on the couch doing nothing in particular.
It’s not an aggressive message, but it does gently remind people to get up and get going. Adding a bit of humor is a nice touch, and it’s not something you always see in gym advertising.
When everything else fails, go BIG!
“Go big or go home” something that probably gets said a lot both in gyms and in ad agencies! This absolutely massive advertisement was a great way to get loads of people to hear about their gym.
While there’s not much that’s innovative about the imaging or message — it’s just a muscular guy lifting weights and the gym name — the sheer size of this ad is definitely not something you see every day, which made people pay attention.
