Last fall, the Swedish brand Björn Borg released its first fitness app ever – Sprinter. The free iPhone app was a parody of Tinder, but for sporty people. It enabled users to match with a new workout buddy and improve their performance by reaching goals together, at a local gym or in a sunny park during the holiday. All according to Sprinters three simple steps – Sweat, Swipe and Socialize.
To access Sprinter users had to collect fuel by excercising with their iPhone in their hand or in a pocket. This unlocks key functionalities in the app, such as flicking through images of other users and instant messaging. All with the hopes to match with a future workout buddy. In short: Sweat, Swipe, Socialize. The fashion images and other supporting campaign material directed our target group to download Sprinter in the App store featuring models working out together wearing the latest collection.
Creative Execution
The execution of the campaign centerered around the Sprinter app, with fashion images depicting romantic couples excercising in the brand new collection – implying that they’ve met through the app. The outdoor campaign was rolled out through out the Nordic countries.
The app featured an innovative use of the iPhone. Sprinter immediately connects to the Apple Health Kit, which is a built-in app summarizing fitness results from all other apps on the user’s iPhone. Working out with an iPhone in the hand or pocket, Sprinter tracks the movement and saves fuel to the account. The fuel is needed to unlock key functionalities in the app, such as flicking through other users and instant messaging. In other words: the user needs to keep active to make the app running. This added a new PR dimension to the campaign.
- Sales growth of 17%, making the third quarter to the historically most successful sales period in company history
- Increase in Brand Strength by 6%. See attached brand survey conducted by independent brand tracking agency Xtreme Nordic.
- Sprinter downloaded in 43 countries, including all 7 key markets
- Over 130 non-paid articles by international fitness and fashion press
- 20 million people in the target group reached in key markets
- Selected after two weeks to "Best New App" by Apple in the iTunes Store
But most importantly, users swiped over 3 600 000 times in over 43 countries and over 15 000 matches were generated.
The scientifically proven Köhler effect shows the importance of having a training partner. By training together the motivation increases with over 100%. Combining science with the strong consumer trend towards working out and that the gym is the new dance floor we came up with our strategy. Our campaign would empower people to meet and connect with workout buddies for their favourite sport activities and in the process experience our great new sportswear collection