Equinox pioneered the intersection of fitness and luxury lifestyle; but in recent years competing offerings, from clubs to advanced in-home equipment, challenged the brand’s authority as a true category of one. A new brand level hero campaign needed to inspire the brand’s core devotees and recruit its next generation of members – while reasserting its leadership as the luxury authority in the industry. Our perspective early on in the process proved pivotal to the eventual direction: that it wasn’t the offering itself that made Equinox a rarified brand - it was its power as a provocateur in culture. Equinox always said what few brands would say, and showed what few brands would show. The brief then took on a sharper angle: how can we not just sell a luxury product - but bravely champion what Equinox stands for?

We expressed this ethos through an anthemic line: WANT IT ALL. It turned the truth about Equinox’s members into a challenge, a rallying cry, an edict to the rest of the world. We expanded the storytelling by combining this singular hero message with 16 idiosyncratic wants, to honor the multitudinous extremes which invent us. Together these formed an arresting chorus of inner motivations and desires - from chaos to calm, stasis to speed, strength to softness, pain to pleasure. The intense yet artful execution and embrace of many contradictory themes reflected the Equinox member’s own extreme and limitless view of self. Together the creative execution was a bold rebuke of the many dominant trends and currents in wellness culture, in a way that honored the inner Equinox ethos.

We learned something pivotal: Equinox members aren’t just driven, they’re extreme. They won’t make compromises, from routine to career, mind to body. That truth sharply contrasted with the state of category and culture; a soft world of luxury wellness all about balance and moderation; sitting in a culture numbed by endless scrolls and easy dopamine. We decided to double down - to champion the Equinox member’s own ethos in a culture that curtails it. To recruit new obsessives who have that same energy inside them – and turn off those who don’t. We set out to write a new aspirational narrative that’s about what’s inside you, not how you look or what you have – and to create something artful and experimental that could inspire an elite audience.

WANT IT ALL started with a provocation awash in red - a full page ad in the New York Times that found everything it needed to say in one single line of poetry by American poet laureate Stanley Kunitz. The full campaign was revealed days later in an anthemic video that brought together all of the contrasting wants that the campaign explored. The expansive construct of hero message and supporting wants enabled a depth of storytelling on Equinox’s own channels, and inside the actual club. Iconic facades and store windows were filled with the heroic still shots from the campaign, as were transportation hubs and street level advertising. The entire campaign showed up in the first weeks of the new year, the time when resolutions, cut backs, sacrifices, and moderation dominate culture. The campaign's message cut through with an entirely different edict: WANT IT ALL.

It showed up on screens, on the club itself, and on the street; many loved it, some loathed it; some learned from it, and saw it as a bellwether of things to come. Debated and discussed endlessly, it prompted conversation, criticism, and reflection. It made people feel. The campaign increased engagement by over 300% on Equinox’s Instagram vs the preceding 6 month period. It drove Equinox’s best January sales period ever, increased site visits by 17% compared to previous month. It drove over 1,000,000 organic impressions across social and digital, and over 5.4 million impressions in print. One social post became the brand’s second most shared ever. The campaign said one thing loud and clear: Equinox is a rebel base for those who put no limits on themselves; who revel in their intensities and extremes. And for those who don’t understand, they can always get a Peloton.