For fitness companies, Jan. 1 is the
equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday for most blue-chip advertisers. That's a day when everyone expects to see your message presented in a way that aligns with your branding.
Anytime Fitness, a 20-year-old fitness chain, is taking this opportunity to unveil a new tagline (“Real AF” — get it?) and a new logo.
A new ad, via Colle McEvoy, plays up the coaching the chain provides.
“We’ll tell you what we
won’t do,” a narrator explains. “We won’t let self-doubt win again because you’re working on something real with a coach who doesn’t just spot you, but sees the
real you.”
As we continue to deal with COVID restrictions, the ad is careful not to restrict itself to the gym. The ad mentions “a personal plan for wherever you
are,” and shows a woman working out from home.
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The ad advertises that you can join for $1, which is true, but average prices are more like $35 a month.
The push comes as the U.S. fitness industry is coming off a brutal
2020, in which it lost $20.4 billion, according to the 2021 IHRSA Global Report. The report notes that up to 80% of club members returned in the first few months of the year, but with the Omicron variant
hitting the U.S., Placer.ai notes foot traffic to fitness clubs has fallen off in late December.
Business tracking firm Placer.ai said gym visits trended upward between Thanksgiving and the first
week of December compared to 2019, but
recent preliminary data has shown a dropoff in foot
traffic.
We’re all on our toes right now, thinking, ‘Oh God, what’s going to happen next,’” Brett
Ewer, head of government affairs at CrossFit, told
The Hill. “The uncertainty really does not help, especially when so many gym owners are almost entirely bled out.”