It’s no secret over here, Ami and I started out as co-workers at Anytime Fitness, now owned by the parent company, Self Esteem Brands. We grew up there. We learned everything from the family of co-workers in the marketing team and our amazing leaders: Chuck Runyon, Dave Mortensen, and Stacy Anderson. A bittersweet end to our time there bred the road we walk today as co-owners of Finn & Gray.

The Basecamp Fitness Project

About eight months before we left, we were handed the dream project of an internal team: A CAMPAIGN. Our task was to create buzz and excitement around Basecamp Fitness opening its first MN location in the North Loop district of downtown Minneapolis. And make target consumers feel a sense of being, the ‘first to know,’ and a leader amongst their friends. We had two weeks and no time to lose, so we got to work.

Initial Project Focus: Window Display

To get us going, we focused our creative energy on building out an eye-catching window graphic display that would also block the construction buildout of the interior space. With limited time and budget, we had to get imaginative as there was no time to shoot additional photography.

Amanda: In order to gather inspiration, I usually start with Pinterest and Dribbble. Taking from wheat-paste style posters, I built a concept to look like multiple posters on the windows. Taking the Basecamp Fitness photos we were given, I applied a halftone effect to bring some uniqueness to the new fitness concept.

Ami: Going with the mystique angle, I created a concept that was very simple and minimal. It heavily relied on copy! You. Faster. Stronger. was one concept as well as “Hey MPLS… New fitness experience is coming.”

We Pitched Four Concepts

With an amazingly talented copywriter, Meg and video producer, Matthew, we were able to pitch comprehensive campaign concepts! With three strong copy directions, four unique creative expressions, 10 innovative launch ideas, and a buzz-worthy video storyboard, we walked into our meeting with confidence and excitement.

The Final Choice

After a few rounds of revisions and feedback, the marketing team landed on the wheat-paste style with some changes. We also added extra graphics on the side panel windows with an interactive area for photos. We also knocked out a van vehicle wrap, social media graphics, storyboards, videos, and more digital assets. As a team, we nailed the campaign while hitting all the insights given by the marketing manager. It was a success and definitely drove interest and intrigue to the brand!

Three Learnings We Had

1. Creating a campaign that will succeed takes time and strategic thinking! That might sound like a duh statement but they really do take focus away from other projects. We were lucky to work with an in-house power team that knew their shit. Without that, this might not have gotten to the finish line with such amazing results.
2. Measure three times, cut once. Because we had limited time, we didn’t get time to make it to the site to measure the distance between the ground and window, and thusly the barbell was a bit too high for most people, including ami jumping above!
3. This work is fun. This project prompted us to think further into going full time with Finn & Gray. We had the design chops and the creative ideas which we had proven with our work with Moss Optical and now Basecamp Fitness! We just needed the right push and client to give us a jump.