Gymshark's 'We Do Gym' platform declares it 100% a gym brand, not athleisure

An ever-growing list of athleisure and sportswear players crowded the market; Gymshark wanted to bring singularity and focus to its marketing and brand building, and to tell its origin story in its own words for the first time.

OOH billboards by Gymshark's in-house creative team — senior creative Mikey Robinson and senior copywriter Chloe Adams — with images shot by LA-based photographer Justin Bettman, referencing gym-culture in-jokes that speak directly to its community. The platform anchors all brand and marketing activity for the next 12 months.

No results reported. The platform launched in June 2024 as the stated foundation for a year of marketing and the brand's US expansion push.

Creative Review reported on 20 June 2024 that Gymshark had launched 'We Do Gym', a new global brand platform meant to streamline its message and reintroduce the brand as the only one for gym-goers. Chief brand officer Noel Mack said: 'People sometimes mistake us for a sports brand or an athleisure brand, but we're a gym brand. That's a new idea to many, but to us, it's our reason for existing.'

The launch work is OOH billboards created by Gymshark's in-house creative team, led by senior creative Mikey Robinson and senior copywriter Chloe Adams, with photography by LA-based Justin Bettman. The campaign riffs on fitness culture through 'IYKYK truths' — chicken, rice and broccoli dinners, bum scrunch shorts, pre-workout zoomies — that speak directly to its community rather than to a general sportswear audience.

Gymshark was founded in 2012 by then 19-year-old CEO Ben Francis in his garage, making clothing for the weights room rather than the wider sportswear market. 'We Do Gym' tells that origin story in the brand's own words for the first time and is designed to position it in a different space from the athleisure crowd, with US expansion the next big focus.

Mistaken identity was the core problem: consumers filed Gymshark with sports and athleisure brands.

Inside jokes only gym-goers recognise function as a shibboleth — they flatter the in-group and filter everyone else.

An in-house team kept the voice unfiltered by an outside agency.

One platform was meant to unify a year of marketing as the brand pushed into the crowded US market.

When category lines blur, the sharpest position is the category you refuse: naming what a brand isn't tells people everything it is.

The platform launched on 20 June 2024 and was to guide all brand and marketing activity for 12 months. No results were reported.