Background
With 439 clubs in 11 countries, 24 Hour Fitness was a dominant player in the fitness category. It's a category fraught with high turnover from both clients and employees. It's also a category where 97% of Americans say fitness is important, but only 66% say clubs are "worth it," and only 11.6% actually work out on a regular basis. Not settling for such inefficiency, the company sought to revitalize its communication strategy, improve the way it expresses the brand, and integrate every point-of-contact with its employees and members.
Solution
Today, a healthy lifestyle means integrating fitness into everyday life. But we all know that fitness is the first thing we avoid. It's the one hour in the day we dread. This contributes to the high attrition of clients in the industry. The brand had always focused on the functional aspects of its offerings: new equipment, convenience, number of classes, and trainers. However, so were all its competitors, which left the chain in a parity position and did not give its clients and employees a compelling reason to give their loyalty to the brand. We decided to change the fundamental manner in which fitness is positioned.
We developed a comprehensive brand strategy and integrated brand expression for the company that positioned 24 Hour Fitness as the brand that enables clients to integrate fitness into their lives. We looked at the hour that everyone dreaded, but then focused on the benefits of that hour on the other 23 hours of the day and how it would impact our lives. Distilling that to the essence of 'live better' acknowledges the brand values of accessibility and the encouragement to adopt fitness at any point of one's physical health.
We began with the internal audience, as each of the 26,000 employees was the true point of contact with the brand. When employees feel appreciated and understand the value of both their job and the brand they work for versus knowing just the mechanics of their duties, their motivation becomes contagious and spreads throughout the organization and customer base. Looking at the business model, we recommended that the company restructure its compensation to its sales staff to reward them for signing up a member, but also for each time that member renewed, thus encouraging the employees to think long term and to become vested in their client's loyalty in the brand.
The graphic solution for 24 Hour Fitness created two planes of information: the foreground with the main image, and a background "tile" pattern mimicking a calendar depicting the different facets of their members' busy lives. The goal was to demonstrate fitness being integrated into people's lives—rather than regarded as an unpopular separate task.
We rolled-out the new strategy with an internal campaign to align all the employees around a consistent message by producing the launch of the new brand work at the company's annual convention in Dana Point, California. The event included a keynote speech from Starbucks founder Howard Schultz centered on creating a strong company culture and turning employees into brand evangelists. This was followed by presentations from senior executives on five giant screens to the company's top 500 managers about creating a culture centered around the ethos of Live Better within 24 Hour Fitness.
Results
The result was a renewed image and a message that focused less on the one hour in the gym and more on how fitness affects the other 23 hours of your day. The new brand ethos resulted in lower attrition of both clients and employees, leading to a highly successful sale of the organization.
Internal & External Research
Competitive Audit
Category Analysis
Stakeholder Interviews
Touchpoint Analysis
Brand Platform
Brand Architecture
Brand Story
Brand Identity System
Content Development
Collateral Systems
Internal Brand Education & Training
Brand Asset Library
Standards Development
Event Planning
Launch Plans
Brand Stewardship
