The Gym Group

Democratising fitness for all

The Gym Group, a leading low cost 24/7 fitness operator with 230+ UK locations, is on a mission to break down barriers to fitness for everyone in the country. 

January is arguably the most critical (and crowded) time in the health and fitness calendar. After appointing DEPT® as its lead creative agency, our first task was to develop a through-the-line creative concept that would not only make an impact during this period but have the longevity to serve as a brand platform throughout the year.

Join the group

Our immediate goal was to boost revenue during the peak trading periods of January and February by successfully bringing in new members to The Gym Group.

Our creative mission focused on driving consideration throughout the mid- and lower funnel. Within those phases, we had two critical levers to pull to drive conversion: convenient locations and value for money. 

We needed to align them, however, under one creative idea that would resonate during the busiest period in the health and fitness calendar and stand the test of time.

You’re closer than you think

Keeping costs low is one way to democratise fitness, but when it comes to getting real value out of a membership, people need to believe that they’ll get there, and often. That’s what we set out to do. 

Although we recognised that the individuals comprising our audience had different motivations for going to the gym, they were united by the fact that their goals would be easier to achieve with a Gym Group nearby.


Helpfully, more than 50% of UK adults are within a 15-minute drive of a Gym Group, a stat that quickly became the cornerstone of our campaign.

We leveraged this insight to highlight how convenient locations, paired with great quality equipment at accessible prices, make it easier for our audience to kick off the year with a new workout routine – whatever their motivations to exercise may be.

January comes with its fair share of problems and so many brands are looking to be the solution. Well, this is one of those wonderful times you discover you’ve been sitting on what your audience wants all along. Good quality, low cost and extremely close by – so it makes sense to just say it over and over and over again.

Bel Moretti, Creative Director, DEPT®

“There’s a Gym Group ‘round the corner”

We developed a hyper-local campaign strategy with a single-minded message: “There’s a Gym Group ‘round the corner.” 

Knowing how proximity plays a crucial role in achieving fitness goals, the campaign highlights how The Gym Group breaks down barriers to exercising and gives people a great value fitness experience. 

Bad day? There’s a gym group ‘round the corner. 
Great day? There’s a gym group ‘round the corner. 

The campaign concept celebrated and educated our audience on the RTBs – good quality, low cost, and convenient facilities – that positioned The Gym Group as the most convenient answer, whether you have good vibes, need good vibes or are just in the mood to move. 

Focusing on location as a key value driver helped differentiate The Gym Group from other big players in the category, namely those with strong consumer perceptions of premium equipment. This allowed us to create an ownable space for the brand to recruit new members.

The power of absence

Our creative campaign aimed to resonate with potential members by promoting a sense of convenience and community while highlighting how The Gym Group’s many accessible locations break down barriers to fitness. 

And sometimes, the best way to prove the value of something is to show what happens in its absence.

So, to drive home the message of convenience, we developed a creative concept that explored the challenges people face without easy access to the gym. 

The campaign was brought to life by showcasing the various creative yet challenging ways people try to incorporate exercise into their routines. 

Dramatic home workouts, runs in bad weather, living room lunges, makeshift equipment like bags of rice or tins of beans, taking the stairs on the tube… with one clear solution – the better way to achieve your January fitness goals is at ‘the Gym Group ‘round the corner.’

Strategically, our creative approach broke category norms by making The Gym Group feel familiar while building a connection beyond the functionality its gyms offer. 

It pushed up against ‘justifiable’ excuses we knew our audience would make while creating the perception of being a supportive brand, all in all bringing locality and achievements together under one campaign execution. 

Tell them the right way

We took a ‘funny-but-true’ approach to our TOV, which was built around being warm, real, and witty. 

So the typical “push yourself to the limit” lines were replaced with “you’re five minutes away from finally squatting that 60kg”, and “ready to revitalise your workout regime?” became “home workouts not quite hitting the spot?”. 

While the campaign was centred around the consideration and conversion stages of the funnel, we established design and branding principles that ensured every piece of creative was distinct to The Gym Group to build salience and support us in landing the RTBs.  

Results 

We maximised the campaign’s reach and impact with a comprehensive through-the-line strategy, spanning various channels including CTV, social, branding, OOH, DoorDrop, and audio; reaching 1,309 million in total. 
It’s fair to say our creative approach resonated with the audience, achieving phenomenal results. In terms of the overarching goal, the campaign supported +16% YoY total revenue growth in January and February, as well as: 

  • +7% in-platform sales vs. target
  • +212% clicks to site vs. plan 
  • +84% video views vs. plan

The creative performed strongly in terms of getting across key messages, with 62% of people saying they would be more likely to consider The Gym Group. In addition: 

  • 86% said it had a clear message
  • 73% said it attracted attention 
  • 81% deemed it to demonstrate a competitive price
  • 76% deemed it to demonstrate good/many locations 

Diving deeper into creative performance, OOH performed particularly strongly in terms of ad recall, with 54% of respondents recalling the campaign—significantly higher than the norm of 42%. 

We also saw strong uplifts across the board when it came to OOH memorability. Amongst those who’d seen the ads:

  • +14% aware TGG near where they live or work
  • +14% brand familiarity 
  • +16% would consider TGG


On social media, our native assets on TikTok delivered the vast majority of signups at a significantly lower CPA, while on Snap they drove a +5pt uplift in brand awareness.

Upon launch, it was recognized as Ad of the Day in The Drum as well as featured in Campaign, Little Black Book and Creativebrief.

“This hyper-local campaign is all about demonstrating how we break down barriers to fitness and offer exactly what people care about when it comes to choosing a great value, high quality, and conveniently located gym. It’s brilliant to work with the team at DEPT® on this exciting new campaign, supporting us at this most important time of year in the fitness calendar!

Amy Binns, Head of Marketing Communication, The Gym Group

Questions?

Creative Director

Bel Moretti

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