For over a decade, Planet Fitness has been a presenting sponsor of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration. Because the brand already owns one of the largest stages in culture, our challenge wasn't visibility → it was vitality. In an era where Zillennials can smell "corporate pandering" from a mile away, we needed to prove that Planet Fitness doesn't just buy its way into culture; it’s a part of it.
Our primary objective was to transcend the traditional broadcast window by driving massive social reach and measurable brand love through a "social-first" lens. We aimed to bridge the gap between a legacy linear event and the hyper-fast world of TikTok by identifying a "chosen hero" of the community: Neace Robinson, the "Funeral Stud."
Just weeks prior, Neace had gone massively viral for singing at a funeral, and her call to send balloons into the air with her now-iconic “1, 2, 3… release ’em” line. To the tune of 50M+ views, that’s when we noticed that the internet had already crowned her as the voice for the Ball Drop, they just didn’t know it yet.
By giving Neace the keys to the Times Square stage, we aimed to extend our New Year’s Eve footprint beyond the television screen, targeting high-velocity engagement and brand affinity. We sought to transform Planet Fitness from a "Presenting Sponsor" into a "Cultural Co-Conspirator," proving that the "Judgement Free Zone" isn't just a gym policy, it’s a commitment to championing the creators who move the world.
True social-first brands don't just "join" trends; they amplify the people who start them. When Neace Robinson’s "1, 2, 3… release ‘em" funeral clip became the internet’s favorite sound, the community began a grassroots campaign to get her to the Ball Drop. We didn't just watch it happen, we executed a 14-day viral heist.
The Execution: Success required a seamless, high-speed collaboration between Planet Fitness, our new agency partners at Movers+Shakers, and the owners of One Times Square. In a race against the clock, we leveraged our deep relationship with One Times Square to secure exclusive access to the Ball, a feat typically requiring months of lead time, while Movers+Shakers fast-tracked the logistics of flying Neace and her family to NYC to lead the ultimate moment: The Funeral for 2025. We intentionally bypassed traditional "big-brand" production values, instead adopting a socially-native POV that prioritized Neace’s raw, infectious energy. We captured the cultural iron while it was red-hot, transforming a digital soundbite into the official countdown for New Year’s Eve.
The Innovation: By creating a thematic send-off for the year that mirrored her viral “funeral” video, Planet Fitness successfully gave the community what they had been asking for. We intentionally relinquished the spotlight to a creator that culture had already chosen. The innovation wasn't just in the content, but in the infrastructure of the response, moving from trend-spotting to execution in just two weeks through the synchronized efforts of multiple partners. We proved that when brands, agencies, venue partners, and creators move in lockstep, cultural relevance doesn't require months of planning. It requires the capacity to act while the moment still matters.
The results weren't just "good for a brand.” They were "good for the internet." By uplifting a hero the community had already chosen, Planet Fitness earned the rarest form of digital validation: The Million-Share Endorsement.
Other brands have since taken note as well. Almost two months later, the NFL deployed a similar idea, hiring Neace to unveil the Super Bowl LXI logo for 2027!
Beyond the metrics, we achieved our core goal: we moved Planet Fitness from "Logo Visibility" to "Community Authenticity." This campaign proved that when a brand stops talking at culture and starts showing up for it, the results aren't just seen, they're celebrated.
