LA fitness was moving into one of its most difficult trading periods in recent years, with gym membership under threat from the looming credit crunch, people fearing for their mortgages, and money-saving experts claiming that the best advice was to cut unnecessary extras.

Their challenge was membership recruitment and retention.

We wanted to position LA fitness as the health club for the credit crunch period to ensure a new influx of ‘switchers’ from other, more expensive competitors whilst demonstrating a value-add proposition.

To show the multiple benefits of membership at LA fitness, both financially and in the quality of the service received, we created the proposition - “You’re better off with LA fitness”.

Our creative approach relied on a military-style recruitment campaign, fronted by Celebrity Fit Club star Harvey Walden IV, who became a visible beacon across all the communication with an impactful, fun and persuasive tone of voice.

The campaign was fully integrated, with traditional direct marketing tactics working alongside point of sale, PR and experiential activity including an organised flash mob boot camp led by Harvey Walden; ‘street theatre’ promotional activities branded with LA fitness ‘combat’ gear, including giveaways to aid new member sign up on the street; and Golden Ticket competitions in which ‘Harvey’s golden hats’ were hidden around different locations, generating positive PR coverage.

The overall marketing campaign is tracking well ahead of its sales targets, with LA fitness achieving 103% of Cash Target in a declining market, 43% uplift YOY on visitors to the website (vs. 14% uplift experienced by the sector) and reducing lapsed memberships by 10% compared to 2008.