Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness has become one of the largest and fastest-growing fitness centers in the world, with over 14 million members spread across 2,000+ locations. The Company's mission is to enhance people's lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment, branding the club as the Judgement Free Zone®. As vaccination numbers increased and general comfort in returning to a gym grew, Planet Fitness wanted to differentiate itself from the rest of the category to drive membership joins during the September sale in an effort to help consumers everywhere ease back into going to the gym. For those who were not ready to return, Planet Fitness wanted to create brand engagement and reassure consumers everywhere that Planet Fitness can offer a sense of belonging in fitness.

Meet Xyrstal with an X. Planet Fitness called out the world of fake fitspiration by creating their very own fake fitness influencer who dished out her routine for getting “hot and perfect just like her.” On TV, OLV and her very own Insta, Xrystal's bogus tips like “drink a gallon of water before you wake up” to “eat lots of bananas…but peels only” shined a powerful ring light on exaggerated, over-promising influencers, while offering up a refreshing, realistic, and most of all rewarding path to starting a healthy fitness routine.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, 61 percent of adults say they’ve gained weight, resulting in consumers everywhere feeling the pressure to get back into fitness. Cue the rise of the #fitspo influencer, saturating social media with their enviable but unachievable bodies, crazy routines and get fit quick schemes. Despite the hashtag, which has over 70 M uses on social media, it turns out fitspo is anything but inspirational. Facebook’s own research shows fitspo content on Instagram is toxic, with women reporting mantras like "train like a beauty, look like a beast" ultimately make them “feel worse about themselves and their bodies.” To add insult to likely injury, these influencers are also promoting workouts that just don't work, with research revealing that 1 in 4 fitness influencers provide certifiably bad fitness advice. So how could Planet Fitness call out the fitspo craziness and offer a realistic path to getting in shape?

In order to produce the most content with the least amount of production time, the team carefully cast an actress to play Xrystal who had the ability to self film with remote creative direction. Within a $150k production budget, the team produced a TV spot on a small set and captured over 40 pieces of self-captured unique content through this remote technique. The campaign ran across national broadcast, OLV and social media.

The sale drove joins and achieved brand engagement:

- Joins per store were up 7% YoY for the month.

- @Xrystal gained over 3,000 followers on IG in the few short weeks of the campaign

- Over 25K impressions

- 4,600+ engagements

- Nearly 17% engagement rate

- Overall a 127% increase for the brand page for Planet Fitness