Situation: Planet Fitness has become one of the largest and fastest-growing fitness centers in the world, with over 13.5 million members at last earnings spread across 2,000+ locations. The Company mission is to enhance people's lives by providing a quality fitness experience in a non-intimidating environment, branding the club the Judgement Free Zone®. As a franchise, more than 95% of the stores are owned and operated by independent business owners. 2020 stay-at-home orders caused all 2,000 Planet Fitness clubs to close, threatening the loss of members and a decline in brand awareness among non-members.

Brief: As the brand dedicated to creating a healthier world through pressure-free fitness, Planet Fitness wanted to ensure that staying at home didn't mean staying glued to the couch.

Objective: Planet Fitness aimed to move as many people across the globe as possible and to remain top of mind while its 2,000 locations had to close.

To help the world work out when they couldn’t go out, Planet Fitness created the United We Move Home Work-In- a free, daily 20 minute workout on Facebook Live. Instead of sitting and scrolling, Planet Fitness got people up and moving, turning the platform into a live personal trainer that has helped millions of people stay healthy and active together in the midst of the Covid pandemic. From trainers to pro athletes like Julian Edelman to celebrities like Jerry O’Connell, every workout is fun, motivating and inclusive.

Within 2 days of shutting down, Planet Fitness transformed their in-club experience to a virtual, accessible work-out at home for all.

Becoming stuck indoors, meant being stuck without fitness. Daily step counts decreased by 50%(4), and 66% (5) of members decreased their physical activity. Even those previously meeting exercise guidelines reduced their physical activity by 32% (6).

From late March to early May, between 46%-51% of US adults reported they were using social media more. Harris Poll (7). And, Neilson studies showed since COVID hit the US, Americans spent 25% of their time (9) watching streaming video content. Specifically, users watch live video 10 to 20 times longer than on-demand content. Forrester (8). Planet Fitness knew live video content would be key for connecting with a virtual audience.

Exercise reduces stress, helps you sleep better, and keeps you healthy. With health conversations heightened by fear of the pandemic, Planet Fitness had to find a way to inspire consumers to get moving —all while at home.

Within 2 days of Covid shutdown, Planet Fitness went from a gym experience to a LIVE virtual club. Unable to travel or work on set, production teams sent laptops, webcams, and equipment around the country, so trainers could safely lead the Work-Ins from home. Throughout each Work-In, remote production teams overlaid graphics in real time, replied to live comments, and communicated with trainers via wireless headset to shout out participants throughout each stream, creating a sense of community that users missed.

Planet Fitness leveraged broadcast TV and digital campaigns to notify users of the live “work-ins” and trainer/celebrity led sessions. Planet Fitness utilized PR and digital efforts in local and national media. In addition to unique Tune-In ads for each workout, Planet Fitness ran evergreen messaging driving to YouTube, which housed all the live workout videos. In the first three months of shutdown, we produced over 100 live workouts.

When COVID-19 hit, Planet Fitness pivoted from its traditional gym offering to a completely free digital offering, disrupting the fitness category that got 87 million people exercising from home across 37 countries and in all 50 states. Inspiring and creating both physical and mental wellness during a time when it was needed most on a global scale. By becoming a digital fitness content provider overnight, Planet Fitness drove over 530K downloads of the app and reached over 28 million people within the first few weeks of launch, now completing over 300 live workouts and counting.

- 370,939,735 Total Impressions of the campaign

- More than 5.2 billion total PR impressions through 05/31/2020

- The average watch time of Planet Fitness video content increased by 200%.