Ok, let’s warm up with a quick question… Why do people join the gym?

We all know we should probably exercise more. And if we’re honest, most of us have some wobbly bits that could do with being a little bit buffer, just in case Love Island comes calling…

If you’re not one of those three-times-a-week gym bunnies, there’s usually a tipping point. A goal that spurs us on us enough to get off the sofa, get to the gym and start sweating like a pig on a step machine.

It’s these goals that our latest social and digital campaign for The Gym taps into.

Keep your eyes on the prize

It’s not surprise that most of us need a target to work towards when it comes to exercise.  “I need to lose weight” or “I need to get fit” despite being our ultimate fitness goals, aren’t tangible enough.

A special event, an important date, a team pledge. That’s exactly the kind of kick in the gluteus maximus we need to get down to the gym.

Seasonality also plays a huge part in gym recruitment. Aside from January, summer is busiest time for new members. Warmer weather, sporting events and the holiday and wedding season all have a huge impact on people’s desire to get in shape.

Insight told us that there are three main fitness focuses for the summer months:

• Weddings
• Summer holidays
• Rugby and football seasons

The Gym are here to get you there

Our digital and social campaign was based on the concept that The Gym is ‘here to get you there’. It aligns The Gym’s ‘we’re-in-this-together’ personality with individual goals.

The idea of giving people a helping hand to hit their fitness targets – no matter how big or small they might be – mirrors The Gym’s positioning. It’s an inclusive brand. An affordable, no-contract gym that prides itself on being different from the elitist, body-beautiful competition. The Gym invites you to ‘Find your fit’ – whether ‘fit’ to you is feeling a million dollars in your swimmers on your jollies, or being able to get through a five-a-side kick around without passing out.

It’s a gym for everybody and every kind of body.

Its tone is never testosterone-fuelled or intimidating. Instead it’s friendly and approachable. After all, you’d never find The Gym wearing a muscle vest, grunting loudly while bench-pressing the weight of a baby elephant. No. It’d be head down, busily beavering away on a bike, red-faced and sweaty but bloody doing it.

Getting the audience pumped up online

But how to reach those people who were ready to set some fitness goals?

A quick scroll through the Facebook audience manager shows that there are nearly a quarter of a billion users interested in gyms. Instagram has over 210 million posts tagged with #Gym.

The good news is, this is an audience highly engaged on digital and social media channels.

Facebook and Doubleclick ad targeting

By segmenting our audiences by interest, we could target our social activity around the four main fitness goals: summer holidays, weddings, football and rugby. Added to this, our Facebook advertising was aligned to events or seasonal drives, such as the Rugby World Cup or the start of the summer holidays.

With support from doubleclick display ads and native advertising, we made sure the campaign worked as hard as possible to hit our targets.

Just like our newly sign-up gym members planned to do.

To see more of our work in the FMCG, food, retail, health and wellness sectors, click here for case studies on how we’ve helped The Co-op, Atkins, Midcounties Co-op, Wagamama and many more.

Alternatively, if you’d like to learn more, give us a call on 0161 831 0831 and ask for Nicola or get in touch at hello@dinosaur.co.uk.

Also published on Medium.