SPECIALIST PROJECT (SELF WRITTEN BRIEF)
VIRGIN ACTIVE
2019
RATIONALE
This is my specialist project written by yours truly, to challenge myself to create a tight brief, with a strong SMP, and key messages. The idea behind Like a Virgin, is that Virgin Active South African members are paying vast sums monthly for their membership, yet still not going to to gym. The aim is to target this particular group of individuals with humour, doing so by literally turning their virgin active gyms card into a virgin, a card that is never used and completely untouched. The focal point of this campaign is to encourage members to make good use by re-activating their membership cards, thus returning to the gym. First touch point is intended for print and found on billboards, health and fitness magazines as well as local newspapers. Second touch point is a social media challenge and finally strategic ambient placements.
TAGLINE
Like a Virgin
Night bus stop mock up
Print in English (left) & Afrikaans (right)
For my print, I have created a series of typography posters, both in English and in Afrikaans in order to target the majority of the South African market. The key message for this campaign is “like a Virgin”. Going forward with this, and wanting to target those members who's gym cards are now virgins, as they have not visited to the gym in XYZ amount of time. I have created four situations relating to gym classes offered by Virgin Active. By crafting the copy that can be perceived to have a sexual undertone but in essence it relates to backsliding members revisiting the gym and hesitant to start a new class. The print adverts would be placed in magazines as this best fits my target audience, along with some posters being placed outdoors.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Already found members that are paying gym membership fees, yet are guilty for putting off/not using the gym, aged between 21-35 year old. This audience has a huge online presence and spends an average of 2.5 hours a day on social media and online platforms.
ONLINE CAMPAIGN
Like a Virgin campaign will be launched on Virgin Active’s Instagram, along with the use of stories and feed. To keep audience engaged, the campaign will require Virgin members to log into their account on the Virgin Active app. This way certifying that only already members can take part, also enables easier registration as all the members details are already in the system. The goal of the campaign is to use your gym card; video it, and share it with Virgin. Virgin will then reward the member with a freebie.
AMBIENT
Using everyday environments to engage with the consumers to motivate them to get active again. Either it’s a lunge on the steps to suggest; you are doing it here - now come use your untouched gym card. The same thought was applied to the shopping baskets, using copy and a heavy looking weight to create the same buzz, and finally the shopping shelves with inspirational copy to plant the seed in the consumers mind; that even stretching is getting active - just come do it for real!
