Make your brand stand out by using insight to out-think the competition

Esporta is a premium competitor in the crowded fitness market, with more lifestyle and social facilities on offer than other gyms. We had already helped differentiate it through our distinctive positioning: ‘A club for a healthy, balanced lifestyle’.

In December, Esporta came to us looking for support and planning for the January push – the busiest time of year in its market. Their challenge was a simple one: acquisition, acquisition, acquisition.

Against intense competition and rival brands prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in media spend, our approach was not to out-shout the competition, but to out-think them...

You don’t take on other gyms head-on, you take on a common enemy for customers: New Year resolutions. With over 78% of resolutions failing because people don’t have the support to see them through, there was an opportunity to put this right.

We created Changes for Good: a tailored health and lifestyle programme exclusively at Esporta. To drive trial, our Resolution Amnesty gave people a platform to confess their broken resolutions online and through social media in return for a 7-day guest pass. In doing so, we built a community making lasting, healthy changes.

With a PR reach of over 2.6 million, thousands of people shared their resolutions, with thousands more visiting the website. All because we chose not to shout louder, but to create conversations.

A few months later, Resolution Amnesty was followed by our ‘Escapism’ campaign, which brought in a further 7,000 new members and over 112,000 website visitors, all within a few short weeks.