Between 3 April and 2 May 2014, Technogym organised an innovative social campaign that called on facilities to ‘donate’ physical activity towards a good cause – that of getting local communities and a local school more active

Over 20,000 people from 176 facilities across 10 countries took part in Technogym’s Let’s Move for a Better World Challenge, collecting a total of 100 million MOVEs – Technogym’s unit of measurement for movement – over the one-month period of the challenge.

Gym-goers in participating facilities trained and donated their MOVEs while sharing their training online with friends. The most active club in each country – i.e. the one collecting the most MOVEs – won the chance to donate a Technogym Easy Line training circuit to a local school of their choice.

Benefits
The Let’s Move for a Better World global challenge was unique in that it allowed facilities and members alike to unite for a common social cause. Participants were encouraged to share their progress on social media sites, and all their posts – including pictures and videos – were captured on a social wall on the challenge microsite, www.technogym.com/letsmove, to encourage them to keep going.

For members, it allowed them to work with their gym for a chance to make a difference in their local community. The challenge motivated them to visit the gym more often, and while there they tended to go further and exercise for longer than they normally would in a bid to win it.

Facilities and trainers found this gave them an ideal reason to talk to members and engage with them. The ambition to contribute to a social cause is a universal motivation, and trainers found gym-goers very open to the idea of ‘donating’ their physical activity to help the gym win the Challenge. Ultimately it was an excellent tool to help facilities grow customer retention, gym footfall and member loyalty, as well as build a tangible member community.

The results
In the UK, 34 facilities took part in the Let’s Move for a Better World Challenge, gathering almost 10 million MOVEs between them. To win the prize, many facilities organised innovative initiatives such as DJ parties, late opening hours and giveaways, motivating members and attracting new prospects in the process.

The USN Bolton Arena took the top spot with over 2.3 million MOVEs, and decided to donate the equipment to Rivington and Blackrod High School in Bolton. Gwyn Hughes, commercial manager at the USN Bolton Arena, says: “The challenge gave our gym team a focus over the past few weeks, and our members got very competitive! It was also a great opportunity to try out the Challenge app, and we’re now using it successfully to create our own member challenges.”

Lisa Soderman, business development manager at second-placed Dolphin Centre, says: “We came in second in the Challenge and are looking into making the Technogym Key compulsory. The two top movers, Brenda and Francis, were over 70 years old and collected more than 100,000 MOVEs!

“For the next challenge, we will create two teams, one led by Brenda and the other by Francis – 70-year-olds encouraging younger members to be more active and to embrace technology!”

Joe Philip, fitness development manager at 1610 Trinity Sports & Leisure, which also took part in the challenge, says: “We saw a 29 per cent increase in member visits in April, a month which usually marks a decline from the new year joiners. The results really do speak for themselves. This is a clear demonstration of the success and impact of the Let’s Move for a Better World challenge! I’m looking to see if I can replicate that impact on a local scale.”