Gym Brand Anytime Fitness Ambushes Super Bowl With ‘Just Heard Anytime’ Campaign

Anytime Fitness, the Minnesota based 24-hour health and fitness clubs and at-home plan outfit (with over 5,000 franchised locations in 50 countries), sought to boost awareness and consideration while showcasing its unique offering (start your fitness journey anytime, anywhere) during a period when post New Year resolution motivation has started to wane through a Super Bowl ambush campaign called ‘Just Heard Anytime’.

 

The gym brand teamed up with creative agency Mischief on a marketing push which turned the Super Bowl into a game anyone can play anytime, anywhere.

 

All without spending $7m to buy 30-minutes of Fox airtime during the official Big Game telecast.

 

The idea was that anytime anyone watching the Big Game heard the word “anytime” during Fox telecast, the gym chain would give away free memberships and the chance to win a trip anywhere in the world where this is an Anytime Fitness location.

 

Understanding that the NFL’s showpiece game would be watched by a generation of multi-screening fans with a smartphone in one hand and them TV remote in the other, the campaign rolled out across television and social platforms.

 

It began a week before the 12 February Super Bowl LVII when the brand rolled out a series of videos across social and digital media to seed the concept and introduce the competition.

 

Light-hearted, Big Game linked ad copy explained the concept across a set of executions: “Anytime an A-list actor says ‘anytime’ in an ad for a cryptocurrency that won’t be around next year,” or “Anytime a pop superstar sings ‘anytime’ while cramming a career’s worth of hits into a 20-minute halftime.”  

 

Then a second phase of PR, ran through Fish Consulting, helped to build buzz around the ambush campaign.

 

A third phase saw contextual OOH ads greet fans as they landed at Phoenix Airport heading for State Farm Stadium in nearby Glendale. For example, one billboard specifically referenced football commentator Greg Olsen and read: “If you’re a handsome former tight end calling the Big Game, say ‘anytime.’”

 

These included ‘Anytime Anytime; (which dropped online on 6 February), plus ‘Hearing Test’ and ‘Clearing Up Confusion’ (which rolled out from 8 February).

 

 

 

 

 

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According to the brand and the agency, ‘the campaign took social media by storm’ and ‘the rate of engagement was unprecedented for Anytime Fitness’. 

 

Indeed, they report that AnytimeFitness was mentioned more than 5,200 times on game Day – marking a 2,171% increase compared to its pre-campaign daily average. In total, the campaign’s social content generated 37m impressions, 18m video views and total engagement for the brand increased tenfold.

 

While the campaign’s #JustHeardAnytime hashtag was used nearly 6,000 times and it generated a 98.5% ‘positive’ or ‘neutral’ sentiment driving a 10-point rise in brand favourability (reaching the highest score the brand had ever seen).

 

In case you were wondering, the word “Anytime” was said three times during Fox coverage of the game: Olsen said it twice in the first half and it also appeared in a musical cue before the half-time show.

 

 

Why spend $7m on an official Big Game ad when you don’t need to?