When COVID-19 hit the country in March, everything from schools and restaurants to arenas and gyms had to shut down. Planet Fitness (A fitness franchise with clubs in the United States, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Australia and Mexico) was one such brand forced to close all of its physical locations, impacting more than 2000 franchises serving 15 million members. With a stay-at-home order in place, fitness journeys everywhere screeched to a halt and barriers to fitness were at an all-time high. Planet Fitness needed to meet consumers where they were to inspire them to keep moving with workouts to keep them healthy—at home.
Planet Fitness tasked our team with maintaining a 100% reopen status post-COVID-19 and retaining as many of the 15 million members as possible.
Quarantine impacted sedentary rates immediately: Daily step counts decreased by 50%, and 66% of Planet Fitness members decreased their physical activity. Even those previously meeting exercise guidelines reduced their physical activity by 32%.
According to government physical activity guidelines, moving for just 10 minutes of activity per day is proven to show health benefits, including improving cognitive function and reducing anxiety.
So, Planet Fitness wanted to get people moving again. Determined to workout together even though everyone was apart, we created the “United We Move” campaign in just two days, before the national lockdown was even in effect.
As an alternative to expensive fitness apps, Planet Fitness offered fitness for free: “work-outs” turned to “work-ins” with daily, 20-minute exercise classes on Facebook Live and Youtube. Led by Planet Fitness trainers and celebrities like Julian Edelman, Jerry Harris, Shawn Johnson, Jerry O’Connell and David Ortiz, we kept more than 208 million people in 36 countries and all 50 states moving.
Within just two months Planet Fitness garnered 5B earned impressions, 530K new app downloads and 400K new followers on our social channels. To date, we’ve completed over 150 work-ins and started 3 live streams per day in the PF App for members and non members alike, and we plan to continue moving, united.
