At the start of September sportswear brand ASICS teamed up with mental health charity Mind to launch a mental health, wellness and exercise experiment across an entire UK town.
Following brand research into the nation’s mood, the ASICS State-of-Mind Index identified Nottinghamshire as the English county most in need of a mental uplift and the town of Retford was found to be one of the most motivated to improve their emotional and mental wellbeing.
So ASICS and Mind invited Retford residents to take part in a one-day series of movement initiatives in order to measure the collective impact on their mental wellbeing called ‘Uplift Retford‘.
Dr Brendon Stubbs, a movement and mental health expert, helped design the programme for the day’s events and oversaw the experiment which takes place on 25 September when the town’s streets will be transformed by the brand into a ‘movement inspired gym’ through the installation of equipment and the running of a range of exercise pop-ups designed to help get the public moving.
The sportswear brand launched a local, socially-led and on-the-ground marketing campaign to invite residents to the online ‘ASICS Mind Uplifter’ tool in order to measure their state of mind before and after taking part in an exercise circuit – designed to last approximately 20 minutes. Once a resident has been registered then their own individual data will be combined with statistics across the town in order to show the uplift that the movement initiative has on the mood of the whole town.
It's time to move your mind and uplift the world.
Use the Mind Uplifter™ tool to see the difference in your emotional and cognitive state before and after exercise: https://t.co/UhL7smwO0i
Learn more: https://t.co/3lMgBDQ3IG#UpliftingMinds #SoundMindSoundBody pic.twitter.com/5amrhjlbgp
— ASICS Europe (@ASICSeurope) August 18, 2021
The initiative was developed in harness with Pitch Marketing Group who also promoted and PR’d the project.
Can exercise lift the mood of a town? ♀️ Join @ASICSeurope to find out how you can be part of a unique experiment and help raise funds for Mind which will be donated by ASICS.
Find out more and register to take part here: https://t.co/VE58UeJoFC #UpliftingMinds pic.twitter.com/wfPlKgWdvc
— Pitch Marketing Group (@pitchlondon) September 1, 2021
Plus, every participant who captures a ‘Mind Uplift’ on the day will also raise funds for Mind’s charity work across the country: supporting its commitment to fight for better mental health.
“The last 18 months have been tough on people’s mental wellbeing, but we know exercise can be a positive source of energy,” said ASICS VP Gary Raucher. “ASICS has always believed that exercise is not only good for the body, but also for the mind. Now, we aim to demonstrate our brand belief in action by seeing if movement can uplift the mood of a whole town. We hope residents of Retford will lace up and be part of this unique experiment to raise spirits and raise funds for Mind.”
“After a prolonged period of uncertainty and restrictions there’s naturally been an impact on people’s wellbeing. However, this summer has shown the transformative nature of sport and the ability it has to uplift people,” added Dr Stubbs. “Never before has a whole town approach to uplifting mood through a day of exercise been attempted and measured in such a robust way. This is an exciting project with immediate results, and I expect there to be a marked improvement on the emotional and mental wellbeing of the residents of Retford given the cognitive, emotional and physical benefits of exercise.”
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