In the indoor rowing fitness industry, CITYROW is the leading brand in its class. They monopolized the game even further with the creation of CITYROW GO: an integrative app and rower system that allows the user to take CITYROW classes anytime, from the comfort of their homes, and still track their performance and progress.
Bet you didn't know that.
And that was exactly the problem. They needed the word to spread, to drive sales and build a subscription base. That's where Socialfly came in.
CITYROW approached us for the launch of their new, innovative products, striving to cut through the overcrowded fitness industry. They needed a creative strategy and a media-driven approach that established a strong brand identity, increased their social following, engaged with the growing audience, and ultimately drove sales of rowers and subscriptions to streaming services.
The launch called for social-first video and photo content to be used across paid media, organic social, website, and experience marketing (launch events and innovative pop-ups).
Socialfly was tasked with three objectives. 1: Establish the creative direction for CITYROW. 2: Develop a production approach that delivered a vast range of high-quality content. 3: Run a digital advertising campaign that included Black Friday & Cyber Monday.
In the end, our goal was to drive sales and build awareness of the new wave in indoor rowing fitness.
As a social-first agency, social best practices are the foundation of everything that we do. This made us a unique fit in tackling CITYROW's launch. CITYROW needed to develop both a media plan and a direction for creative. Socialfly's expertise enabled us to provide a comprehensive approach in production and execution. We understand the type of content that had to be produced in order to interrupt the feed and drive results.
Despite our small size, we produce social campaigns that rival larger agencies because our teams are deeply integrated. From day one, Media and Creative have worked hand-in-hand to fulfill the needs of every project we're tasked with.
The most important part of the CITYROW launch? TESTING. And we did test, and test, and test. It was imperative that we determined what type of creative would resonate best with the audience and optimize along the way. Our creative strategy ensured a range of models and locations to test against the campaign execution. In addition to this, we implemented tests across differing units – square Instagram, Instagram story, and static Facebook content.
This highly-detailed approach developed over 50 social-first creative advertising units that spanned across the leading platforms.
If the target demographic was on it, we were too.
So what did we make?
The Socialfly Creative team partnered with Vagrants to implement unique storytelling methods that would bring life to the CITYROW brand, while keeping in mind our need for two "worlds" to test against.
Exercise is a natural escape. A way to leave the BS behind and go to a place that is entirely yours. CITYROW GO makes that easy with guided workouts that are available in your own space, on your own time. Through high-intensity, low-impact, total body workouts - it's as if an instructor was right there pushing you, taking you to the place you go when you sweat.
To showcase this sentiment of transporting one's mind from their living room to the gym, we created a high-energy video illustrating the feeling of intensity that CITYROW GO brings to at-home fitness.
With a diverse cast of talent of all age and athleticism, we established a relatable position of how CITYROW GO equipment is made for all – no matter what your goal. Tailored for the modern athlete, the multitasker, the daily-grinder. CITYROW has got you covered.
We then used that creative to bring the story to fruition, aiming to drive awareness and sales. We took the consumer through the funnel, first introducing and educating them on what CITYROW GO can do for them. We then drove traffic through retargeting the audience with incentives, and called website visitors back to drive sales over time.
The whole story was told across 50 ad units and counting.
Socialfly and Vagrants partnered to produce a social-first, two-day video/photoshoot. After, we optimized the production budget to develop 50+ ad units.
This multi-platform media campaign ran across Instagram, Instagram stories, and Facebook.
The results? Incredible.
Socialfly delivered a 3.5 return on ad spend during Black Friday & Cyber Monday campaigns.
Through a well planned out media campaign implementation, Socialfly's advertising campaign garnered 7 million impressions, exceedingly increasing brand awareness and disrupting the fitness category. With 1.2 million engagements and over 26,000 clicks, we've seen hundreds of consumers add the rower to their cart!
