As you may already be aware I am a huge fan of Gymshark, the gym wear producer and retailer. There are so many things to learn from the rags to riches business that began in a garage 10 years ago and is now valued at over $1 billion.
I’ve been following their press during their entry into the physical retail world, firstly on Regent Street, and recently with a second shop in Westfield Stratford.
However it is valuable brand insights, and some incredible common sense regarding social media, that have caught my attention.
Despite taking on board some heavy investment to grow and expand, Gymshark, under the guise of its founder Ben Francis, have resisted whatever pressure there might have been to diversify the proposition into other lucrative sportswear areas, and have gone for growth whilst remaining totally true to their Gym roots.
Ben Francis began the brand as a gym enthusiast who could not find any gym wear that he liked. Along the way the internal team grew but with the gym passion always remained at the heart of the workforce. Most employees are regulars and gyms have always been included in the offices.
Gymshark are Gym. And as their new brand strapline confirms “We do Gym!”
It is a simple message that is clear for the business and for customers. No distractions. 100% of time and commitment developing products for the gym. 100% passion to share with its gym community.
This makes brand communication and social media relatively easy to focus. It also ensures that messaging comes from rich and personal experiences. It comes from the heart.
Having said that, this doesn’t necessarily mean you get communication correct. The brand have shared how being obsessed with gym can make for quite a one sided conversation.
In a recent switch of tactic, Gymshark began to listen more to what conversations were already happening around them, rather than continuously introducing their own new conversations.
The strategy is to join more ongoing conversations and to engage and contribute to what other people want to talk about from the perspective of the gym, physical fitness and mental wellbeing.
The brand compare this approach to the coffee break conversations that take place in every business and office. Conversations around coffee, where the joining in is more important than the interrupting of the flow.
Apparently this new approach is generating more engagement with existing and new customers. And it certainly helps Gymshark to express itself clearly when their dialogue is set within simple parameters. ‘We do Gym!’
As brands, we should also be clear on who we are. And when engaging with customers, we must learn to listen as much as we talk. Gymshark are not rocket scientists, but their common sense is out of this world.