GoodLife Fitness has launched a national campaign encouraging Canadians to become more physically fit on their own terms, instead of comparing themselves to others.
The “Faces” campaign, developed by DS+P, encourages people to hit the gym to “Best Yourself.”
Its focus is on millennials, who are shown doing different types of workouts with a voiceover that says, “It’s not about your body or the body next to you,” or “your post-workout selfie.” Instead, the campaign encourages people to focus on their best individual performance.
The campaign comes on the heels of the Summer Olympics, which is a good time to try to grab new members looking to increase their fitness level, GoodLife marketing director Sharon Litwin told Marketing.
“It’s a time when your own individual performance is top of mind,” she said. “For us, it was a great time frame for September as a launch. We are hoping to motivate people.”
Unlike previous GoodLife campaigns, this one is geared specifically to millennials. Litwin said there are a lot of boutique gyms in the market today, and GoodLife wanted to show it remained relevant in the industry to this large segment of the population.
“It’s still inspiring and it’s still GoodLife … but I think it’s making it a little bit more current,” Litwin said of the campaign that launched on Sept. 9.
That includes a strong focus on digital marketing, including a 45-second video. The campaign also lives across social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and includes some traditional channels such as radio and direct mail.
Litwin said the hope is the campaign would extend into next year, in particular January, which is a prime time for fitness companies seeking to sign up consumers who have made working out more one of their New Year’s resolutions.
“January is like a Super Bowl season for us,” said Litwin. September is also a big season for bringing in new members as people fall back into their routines after summer holiday season.
“We really see this as build up to January,” Litwin said. “It’s good to get a campaign started and get some energy and rally the troops around it … We feel it’s a powerful message to take into the New Year.”
Doug Robinson, founder and partner at DS+P, said all campaigns his company has done for the brand are meant to encourage Canadians to get more active so they can live their “good life.”
“So much of the advertising in this category and other ‘active living’ categories features intimidating hard bodies—even advertising that is attempting to be inclusive of people of all shapes and sizes is often particularly body obsessed,” Robinson said in a release. “We want people to completely reframe their definition of success and understand that it exists solely in the mind.”
The campaign follows its #makeithappen digital-only campaign last fall, which shared stories of actual customers and staff across Canada who overcame barriers such as health issues, confidence and time challenges to achieve their fitness goals.
