CEO David Stalker explains why the FIA has rebranded – to ukactive – and why everyone should be involved

W e have a new name – and with this comes a new logo, new colour palate and new vibrance. However, I will reiterate what I have always maintained: that it is not about our name but about our vision. I can promise that we will always live and breathe our longstanding and uncompromising focus of ‘more people, more active, more often’.

Rebranding process
The rebrand began with a stakeholder consultation, which questioned people on what they felt the organisation should focus on moving forward. Results were analysed and feedback collated to form our business strategy. An overriding theme was the broad scope of the organisations either directly or indirectly working with us – the feeling was that the name FIA (Fitness Industry Association) did not adequately describe this.

We then commissioned creative agency Mr B & Friends for the design of the brand, working with them to deliver a vibrant kitemark brand that works across the B2B market, to emphasise our trade body roots, but that can also be translated into a campaigning brand to get the nation active.

A broader base
ukactive doesn’t signal a massive change in direction for us, but more accurately reflects what we have been doing for some time – supporting the sector to get more people, more active, more often to improve the health of the nation.

However, by moving away from the perception of the traditional private fitness industry, we will be more welcoming to a broader market: we will work with anyone who has some form of stake, benefit to be gained, or role to play as part of the coalition to embed active lifestyles into the DNA of the nation. Also, we’ll promote all activity, whether in the gym, park, at home or at work; what matters is improving the nation’s health through activity.

As ukactive we will:
* Facilitate big impact partnerships and develop projects that increase physical activity
* Provide high quality services to our members and widen our base to welcome all those with a stake in the health and wellbeing of the nation
* Campaign for active lifestyles to be embedded into the DNA of the nation, working with strategic partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors
* Champion innovation in the sector and drive new research and insight to inform best practice – then share that with anyone who will listen
* Champion the use of digital technology to engage the population in physical activity and sport

Implementation
The new brand has been well received to date, with comments such as this from Martin Long, CEO of LA Fitness: “We have evolved as a sector, and we now have a national organisation dedicated to helping businesses to get ukactive.”

Following the launch of the new brand at the November Summit, we are now in full implementation stage. As many of you will know, it’s never easy to rebrand a whole organisation, especially an organisation such as ours with such a broad partner base. We never expected our new brand to be everywhere overnight, which is why our plan has always been a phased approach.

A key focus for the next three months will be to ensure all partners are aware of ukactive and our key messages, working with organisations to replace co-branded materials, making our website the hub of the sector and linking in with new projects and partnerships. Our aim is to be fully ukactive across all channels for the start of the new financial year, April 2013. If you require the new logo and brand guidelines, please do not hesitate to contact us: Web: www.ukactive.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 7420 8560