Fitness Center Chain Goes Provocative in New Campaign
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: January 14, 2008
A campaign for a chain of fitness centers is raising eyebrows -- and perhaps
pulse rates -- with a sexy take on the traditional finale to fairy tales.
The campaign, which began this month, promotes the Equinox Fitness Club
chain by promising patrons they can achieve their "happily ever."
"What's your after?" asks the campaign, the first work for Equinox from its
new agency, Fallon Worldwide in Minneapolis, part of the Publicis Groupe.
The campaign retains a theme that appeared in previous ads for Equinox,
which had been created internally: "It's not fitness. It's life."
To turn up the heat, the campaign is photographed by the fashion
photographer Ellen Von Unwerth, who has shots ads for brands like Chanel,
Diesel, Guess, Tommy Hilfiger and Victoria's Secret. She presents images
that are provocative as well as playful, meant to illustrate themes like
inner beauty and fantasy.
These are the sensual situations, some erotic, some voyeuristic, all
featuring scads of well-toned skin:
- Nuns in an art class sketch a hunky naked model who resembles Michelangelo's David.
- A buff hottie chooses a naturally fit woman over her rivals, who have opted for cosmetic surgery and too much makeup.
- A lithe young man bends over backward, literally, to please the guests at a costume party, by serving as their table.
- A beautiful older woman in full "cougar" mode celebrates her birthday, surrounded by men of various ages who are vying for her attention.
The campaign, with a budget for 2008 estimated at $3 million to $5
million, includes print and outdoor advertisements, posters at the 41
Equinox fitness clubs and a lavish commercial that will appear in movie
theaters and online, which demonstrates how yoga classes at Equinox
helped Table Boy -- actually, a model named Josh Pence -- achieve his
flexibility.
There are also plans for a redesign of the Equinox Web site
(equinoxfitness.com), to be carried out by Organic, a digital agency
owned by the Omnicom Group.
Equinox has long been known for campaigns that celebrated the fit human
form, presenting gorgeous models of both sexes in as little clothing as
possible. And it is not surprising to find a marketer that owns fitness
centers using sex to sell memberships.
Still, the campaign is already drawing attention for the frank approach
of some of the ads, which can cut both ways.
It can benefit Equinox to stand out in the category of health clubs,
which is crowded with competitors that include Bally Total Fitness,
David Barton Gym, Crunch Fitness, Curves Fitness Center, Gold's Gym,
L.A. Fitness, New York Sports Club, 24 Hour Fitness and the old-school
standbys of the Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A.
Cutting through the clutter is particularly important in January, when
the desire to woo consumers thinking of dieting, getting more fit and
other New Year's resolutions leads fitness marketers to flood the media
with pitches.
But a campaign that gets noticed because it is deemed too contentious
or inappropriate can backfire, especially when a membership at a fitness
center is a big-ticket purchase that is rarely made on a whim.
"We knew it would be a little controversial," says Bianca Kosoy,
creative director at Equinox in New York, which is owned by the Related
Companies.
"You're never going to please everyone," she adds. "What works in New
York and Los Angeles is not always well received in San Francisco and
Chicago."
Equinox has clubs in all those locations, along with markets like
Boston; Coral Gables, Fla.; Darien, Conn.; and Newport Beach, Calif.,
and is scheduled to open in cities that include Manhattan Beach, Calif.,
and Vienna, Va.
To mitigate the severity of any complaints about the campaign, Ms. Kosoy
says, "we liked shooting it through the lens of a female photographer."
Indeed, according to Hillary Benjamin, senior marketing director at
Equinox, Ms. Von Unwerth "is known for making women feel beautiful about
themselves."
Her work is "sexy," Ms. Benjamin says, "but respects the female sex."
(As for the idea of the men in the ads being treated as sex objects,
well, perhaps turnabout is fair play.)
Ms. Benjamin and Ms. Kosoy say they believe the campaign will be
appreciated by the Equinox target audience, which Ms. Benjamin describes
as well-educated professionals, ages 25 to 55, with high household
incomes.
"We call them lifeaholics," she says. "The one thing that ties them all
together is their approach to life: intense, passionate, results-driven,
collectors of all things new, who know first about the coolest band or
the latest restaurant."
During the process last summer to find a new agency, Fallon
demonstrated it "knew who our consumer is," Ms. Benjamin says, and also
delivered the "big creative idea" that she and Ms. Kosoy was seeking.
Equinox chose Fallon last September over two other New York agencies,
Droga5 and Toy.
"The campaign comes from the insight that there's a deeper reason people
work out than to get into shape," says Eric Sorensen, a copywriter and
group creative director at Fallon who developed the campaign with Hans
Hansen, an art director and group creative director.
"We all have this idealized fantasy, this endgame, we're working toward
when we go to the gym," Mr. Sorensen says. "It's fun to imagine these
'happily ever afters' at their most provocative and extreme."
"Each ad hits on a different theme," he adds, "because everyone has a
different 'happily ever after.' "
As for the idea that some fairy-tale finales may be more Kinsey than
Grimm, Equinox is "not afraid to stir the pot, if you will," Mr.
Sorensen says.
That dovetails with the company's goal of "taking a different approach
to fitness," he adds, by stressing "the life benefit of working out"
rather than the short-term results (as appealing as they may be).
All the situations in the ads "are grounded in reality," Mr. Sorensen
says, "but pushed."
For instance, the attractive older woman at the birthday party "wants
to maintain her youth," he adds, while the Adonis being sketched by the
nuns is comfortable enough with his "godlike body" to -- as Gunilla
Knutson used to say in the Noxema shaving cream commercials -- take it
off, take it all off.
The print ads are appearing in newspapers like The Los Angeles Times,
The New York Post and The New York Times as well as in the regional
and national editions of magazines like Esquire, US Weekly, Vanity
Fair and Vogue.
The print outlets are being selected for what Ms. Benjamin calls their
"editorial focus on social currency" -- that is, they cover subjects
that the target audience talks, gossips and buzzes about.
The campaign is intended to run beyond this year, Ms. Kosoy says, and
will be refreshed with additional ads.
"There are so many 'happily evers' out there," she adds, and the intent
will be to "interpret them in smart, unexpected ways."
Perhaps one future ad will depict a class of muscular nude models
sketching a nun.
