Barnsley Premier Leisure (BPL) are a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides affordable, value-for-money health, sport and leisure facilities and activities in South Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire; we were approached by them to rebrand their fitness proposition.

Their existing fitness brand, ‘Fitness Flex’, was no longer fit for purpose; it did not position them uniquely in the market and did not portray the company core values. The brand image was generic, and the brand name gave incorrect connotations of a body building gym.

The brand required revitalisation and repositioning, moving away from the value gym marketplace and focusing firmly on their purpose, to help enrich people’s lives within their community, through fitness.

Therefore, the challenge was to develop a brand that positions itself distinctly, reflecting the strength of its new core values: being local, being innovating, and being fun and friendly.

Creative idea:

We developed a new brand concept, renaming the gym chain ‘Your Space’,
as it should be the members’ space – your space to join in with a class, your space to
reach your goals and your space to relax. We then combined the name with a tagline ‘to feel good’, communicating the core brand message, your space to feel good.

Rename and rebrand included a complete repositioning and new brand proposition to emphasise the key differentiators:
– Not for profit
– Price for life
– For local people
– Everyone’s welcome

The logo was created out of contemporary friendly lower-case stencil font, with the bottom of the descending ‘y’ creating a smile. The smile is an iconic device used in the visual language, communicating friendliness, enjoyment and feel-good factor of fitness.

As the brand was being applied across a diverse portfolio of facilities, a core palette of colours was adopted, providing flexibility in application. We didn’t want to lose the venues’ local aspect, so integrated location names into signage description (e.g. Hoyland Leisure Centre).

Brand language was also a key aspect in delivering the personality and inclusiveness ideology, creating a space where you can be yourself and not worry about being judged by others – we wanted to make the brand communications reflected this.

To help focus the brand, we developed a ‘big thought’: Good for you, good for me, good for all, and internal ‘rally call’: Make someone feel good today.

Results

– Attrition rates at 3.2% (industry standard is 5.5%). Member usage up 85%, where target was 50% (560 new members).
– 100% increase on membership sales based on previous year; Annual sales target reached in first three months.

–Increased Net Promoter Score since rebrand from 58%–82%, where client hoped for 69%.

– Mystery shopper average score now 90%, where previous average was 78%.
– Customer satisfaction, shown through surveys before and after the rebrand, has increased from an average of 79% to 94%.
– Increased employee engagement- Staff sickness decreased from 3.8% to 1.6; staff retention has increased from 65% to 100%.
–The brand is being implemented across all 10 venues, with 4 sites currently complete, and is planned to embrace aquatics, bowling and golf.