GEM to take on the challenge of FITWINS
rbracha
We are absolutely delighted to be introducing you to our latest client, which comes in the form of a community-driven Virtual Fitness Challenge provider, FITWINS.
FITWINS is a relatively new app that drives its users to motivate themselves by taking on monthly fitness challenges with some cool rewards at the end, including nutrition bars, certificates of achievement, and a fantastic heavy-duty medal. We’ve seen the medals, and they’re seriously impressive pieces of hardware that are well worth the investment by participants.
What is FITWINS?
FITWINS is a dedicated app that enables users to sign up and register themselves to take part in virtual distance challenges, that might complete through regular walking, hiking, running or cycling. They will use the app to log their exercises, with a minimum challenge distance of 25 miles, although challenges go right up to more than 200 miles. The app is completely free to access and register for the challenges of, but users can upgrade the experience to a medal entry (a premium registration) which earns them a great reward pack.
By logging their results, either through GPS trackers such as Strava, or by manually inputting them, users will progress along a pre-set virtual route around some of the world’s most famous cities and landmarks, including London, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, and even Lapland. They will see their progress using an integrated Google Street View system, with checkpoints to hit along the way.
FITWINS is similar in makeup to some other virtual challenge platforms that came to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic when people couldn’t compete in large scale running events. However, where some of the others are designed to purely take cash in exchange for medals, FITWINS places a serious focus on the community aspect. It brings people together from all walks of life to encourage one another through the addition of groups, leaderboards, and the social media groups associated with the brand where users will share their successes.
The team at FITWINS genuinely cares about celebrating the achievements of their app’s users, which is what appealed to us here at GEM, because we are invested in the successes of our clients as if they were our own business.
So, who’s behind FITWINS?
FITWINS was the brainchild of elite long distance runner Carl Ryde, who hails from Doncaster, and who has achieved many great things in his running career, including securing a tremendous 12th place position at the 2016 London Marathon. He has also represented England on the International Marathon Running stage and is a qualified coach across a variety of sports, including football and athletics. This is a man who knows sport, and the importance of keeping yourself motivated. This is why he cares so much about the successes of his app’s users – he is one of them.
FITWINS was born out of a throwaway comment by Carl’s wife Tracy, after he achieved an impressive 10 miles in 57 minutes during an afterwork run, and she told him he’d have won a prize had it been a competitive race. The idea burrowed into Carl’s head and wouldn’t leave. He quickly began to map out monthly distance challenge targets based on famous running routes, such as the Sahara Desert and Marathon des Sables.
Before long, hundreds of people were participating in his FITWINS challenges, and the next logical step for his fledgling idea was to develop it into an app and automate what he had previously been doing manually. The app is forever developing, with new features and ideas being added on a weekly basis, and the business is now in a place where Carl and his team feel ready to begin marketing it properly, which is where GEM comes in.
What work has GEM been enlisted to help with?
Carl lives locally to the GEM office, and he was surprised to see our digital marketing agency appear here in Mexborough late in 2022, but our little town is seeing all manner of investments and new businesses, and hopefully we’re going to be central to a resurgence of this once great part of South Yorkshire. He called in to see us and highlight his vision for the FITWINS brand, to see if we had the kind of skills his business needed to help it go to the next level.
We have a great facility here in Mexborough, with our presentation spaces, audio and video recording capabilities, and space to grow into. Added to this, we have achieved great success with the work we have done for our parent company Gala Tent, and some of our many recent clients. We know what we’re talking about, and we know how to put our promises into action, and ultimately, we convinced Carl and the FITWINS team that we’re the right marketing partner to help the cause.
Whilst we have only been officially working for the brand for around a week, we have already developed and begun to implement a defined marketing strategy that focuses on Social Media, automated email funnels and Paid Advertising delivered by Nathan. A long-term strategy that incorporates Search Engine Optimisation by Ryan to drive sustainable discoverability on search engines has begun. After all, if you stop spending on paid advertising, you will disappear as quickly as you appeared. The key to successful digital marketing is sustainable long-term strategies.
To bring our plans and ambitions to life, our Brand and Design Manager Samantha has been working closely with FITWINS to bring to life a series of phenomenal reusable content assets that remain 100% on brand and may be repurposed across all platforms, and they have been applied to social media and email marketing already.
Our Media Production Manager Beth has been tasked with creating some epic advertising campaign videos that truly highlight the community spirit of FITWINS and the fact that people from all walks of life will find value in what the service offers.
Essentially, this is a fantastic opportunity for our relatively new brand to help another relatively new brand to become a success, and eventually their success becomes our own and hopefully we can grow together in a long-term partnership. We cannot wait to get really stuck into this work for our new client, and we look forward with optimism for both of our brands.
Will GEM be taking on the FITWINS challenge?
Yes, we absolutely will be taking on the FITWINS challenge. After all, how else are we going to understand exactly what the app’s users are going through to gain their achievements.
Samantha, Bethany and Ryan have registered to take each other on in the April Rome Challenge. Beth is a regular gym bunny, so will be taking on the challenge on the treadmill. Samantha walks her dog Scruffy every morning, so will be totting up the miles that way. Although he has lapsed a little recently, Ryan will be heading back to the gym every morning to work the cross-trainer for an hour before work, so he’ll be hoping to earn a medal of his own.
The team will be keeping video diaries and sharing their progress as they go, so keep an eye on ours and FITWINS’ social media accounts for regular updates!
Where can I find out more about FITWINS?
You can find out more about the challenges available through FITWINS by visiting their website.
Follow the work that GEM does for FITWINS by visiting and engaging with their social media profiles here:
And you can download the app either through Google Play, or the Apple App Store via the links below.
