VIRGIN ACTIVE
Train For Your Life
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that gyms have had to close for 5+ months and South Africans have developed a stigma about gyms being breading grounds for the virus. Virgin Active needed a way to ensure the return of members post-corona, by reassuring them and giving them a reason to come back to the gym. Our message - We want to get you ready for your life.
The video juxtaposes training at the gym with real life experiences. It aims to show Virgin Active members that the brand is not focusing on traditional gym communication that speaks about losing weight, shredding or bulking up, but rather about the ability of the gym to get you into your best shape to experience your life. The video communicates the overall motivational essence of the campaign and focuses on the diversity of Virgin Active by mentioning training, stepping, dancing, lifting, etc and that there is something for everyone. It shows the diversity of virgin active and people’s lives/goals.
I decided to base my concept around the idea of collecting people’s disaster travel stories to show that Santam can turn even the worst trip into the best experience. The campaign would consist of various South African’s travel disasters. which would be featured on a micro-site titled “Santam’s Globe of Travel Disasters”. This collection of travel disasters would be from the places around the globe that Santam’s travel insurance applies in.
The Executions
In conjunction with this, various user generated Instagram posts featuring Virgin Active members training for their lives will be posted to the brand’s Instagram page, encouraging members at home and motivating them to get back to their lives which include the gym. The motivation for members to share their images with the brand comes with the incentive of more VLIVES, which have in-gym benefits encouraging people to actually come back to the gym.
The app aims to create a virtual community of people training for their lives. Members are able to log their workouts which attribute towards their bigger goals to show people what they’re training for. Members also have the ability to motivate their family, friends and other members by giving each other VLIVES and ideas of things to train for. This reiterates the message and that Virgin Active cares about living life.
Finally, to ensure that members can keep their goals close to them while they train, we designed a range of face masks where people have the ability to proudly show off what they’re training for. Members can write their goals on the front of their masks adding a sense of personalisation.
In a time of hardship, this campaign aims to reconnect Virgin Active with its customers by focusing on what's really important.