Saints & Stars
By VBAT, Amsterdam, Netherlands
For HealthCity Brand Saints & Stars
Highly Commended in category Design & Branding
In subcategory Hospitality / Leisure
Project Description
The next level fitness movement with one goal –
helping you achieve a higher state of being
THE CHALLENGE
For the past decade Basic-Fit has been successfully rolling out its budget gym format across Europe. In 2017, they decided to create an upmarket alternative. Not just another average gym, but an ultra-premium fitness experience with upscale amenities and hyper-personalised training. And they wanted to unveil it in their home country the Netherlands, arguably the most difficult market for luxury ‘anything’ on the planet. It was on us to create a new name, brand identity, tone of voice and launch campaign.
helping you achieve a higher state of being
THE CHALLENGE
For the past decade Basic-Fit has been successfully rolling out its budget gym format across Europe. In 2017, they decided to create an upmarket alternative. Not just another average gym, but an ultra-premium fitness experience with upscale amenities and hyper-personalised training. And they wanted to unveil it in their home country the Netherlands, arguably the most difficult market for luxury ‘anything’ on the planet. It was on us to create a new name, brand identity, tone of voice and launch campaign.
Agency Solution
THE IDEA
We achieved the big idea – the gym is the new church – by writing a brand manifesto that captures Saint’s & Stars motivational attitude, and unveiled it across all the gym’s physical and digital platforms. It’s also literally written on the gym walls.
The name Saints & Stars is an irreverent wink towards the (near) religious devotion many urban professionals have for fitness. For these diehards, a gym is a place to be with kindred spirits, a temple that attracts a community of believers whose passion is contagious and self-motivation inspiring. The name references this religious adherence, but also the celebrity of ‘star’ (celebrity trainers who distinguish Saints & Stars from all other gyms in the Netherlands.
ACTIVATION
In early 2018 we rolled out the launch campaign for the first Saints & Stars in Amsterdam. The campaign, called ‘Cross the line’, brought all the brand elements together: tone of voice, religious motivation, visual identity and, naturally, that ‘next level fitness’ ethos. Focusing on the transformational growth Saints & Stars promises, the campaign featured star fitness instructors morphed into their spiritual (totem) animals. A boxer juxtaposed with a bear; a bootcamp instructor and a butterfly; a sprinter and a panther. In the weeks leading up to the opening, all upscale areas in and around Amsterdam were blanketed with billboards and tram stop posters.
We achieved the big idea – the gym is the new church – by writing a brand manifesto that captures Saint’s & Stars motivational attitude, and unveiled it across all the gym’s physical and digital platforms. It’s also literally written on the gym walls.
The name Saints & Stars is an irreverent wink towards the (near) religious devotion many urban professionals have for fitness. For these diehards, a gym is a place to be with kindred spirits, a temple that attracts a community of believers whose passion is contagious and self-motivation inspiring. The name references this religious adherence, but also the celebrity of ‘star’ (celebrity trainers who distinguish Saints & Stars from all other gyms in the Netherlands.
ACTIVATION
In early 2018 we rolled out the launch campaign for the first Saints & Stars in Amsterdam. The campaign, called ‘Cross the line’, brought all the brand elements together: tone of voice, religious motivation, visual identity and, naturally, that ‘next level fitness’ ethos. Focusing on the transformational growth Saints & Stars promises, the campaign featured star fitness instructors morphed into their spiritual (totem) animals. A boxer juxtaposed with a bear; a bootcamp instructor and a butterfly; a sprinter and a panther. In the weeks leading up to the opening, all upscale areas in and around Amsterdam were blanketed with billboards and tram stop posters.