Reitmans-owned Hyba is aiming to put the fun back in fitness.
The activewear brand, which is opening 17 standalone stores across Canada on Oct. 8, launched a new online spot titled “The Movement.” Set to rousing instrumental music, the video shows women of all sizes doing various physical activities, from playing soccer with kids to doing yoga.
The women say lines like, “When did burning calories take over belly laughing?” and “When did breaking a sweat break into our schedules?” The spot ends with the tagline, “Moving is fun. Fun is the movement.”
Hyba’s agency of record Marketel and its marketing-to-women division, MarketELLE, created the brand positioning and the campaign at the same time. Senior copywriter Jessie Sternthal said the agency saw an opportunity to dial into an insight that no other activewear brand was dialing into.
“Women genuinely feel pressured when it comes to fitness, especially the woman who isn’t the Lululemon hardcore yogi, or the Nike hardcore trail runner,” said Sternthal. “There’s a huge percentage of women that don’t fit into either one of those categories, so we really wanted to speak to them and dial into their readiness to bring the joy back to exercise… It’s really a manifesto. It’s a rallying cry.”
There are some humourous touches in the spot as well, like when a woman in an exercise class realizes she is facing the wrong way. “It’s honest and it’s flawed,” said Sternthal. “These women represent [the average] woman… There’s a range of sizes, a range of abilities and imperfections. We’re hoping that imperfection is going to break through.”
As part of the brand positioning, Hyba is dubbing its product line “movewear” instead of activewear, which is about women making their rules when it comes to fitness and taking the pressure off.
“Fitness and fun should be one in the same,” said Jeannie Vondjidis-Miller, VP of marketing and visual presentation for Reitmans and Hyba. “It shouldn’t be painful. So whatever it is that you like to do, just do more of it. That’s really the idea behind the spirit of the brand.”
Hyba does carry performance wear, but is tapping into the growing ‘athleisure’ category with more casual items that can be worn to the gym or on the streets.
According to NPD Group Canada, sales of ‘athleisure’ increased more than 15% in the year ending March 2015 to $2.9 billion, accounting for 12% of the Canadian apparel market.
Vondjidis-Miller said Hyba is designed to be accessible, both in terms of its product range and price point. “After a certain point, you don’t fit in Lululemon. [There are] people who can’t buy their clothes,” she said. “We have a full range of sizes and that’s part of the equity at Reitmans in terms of fitting all women.”
The stores themselves are also designed to be accessible and will have signage with inspirational, upbeat slogans like “Tone your happy place.”
“It’s that kind of tonality that makes it much more accessible,” said Vondjidis-Miller. “Our stores are friendly, people are not going to feel like, ‘I’m scared to be in here, I don’t fit.’ We really want everyone to feel welcome.”
