Fitbit and Sky

‘Dance Fit’
Helping Fitbit Create Its Own Groove

Fitbit’s work with Sky on both ‘Fit in 5’ and ‘Dance Fit’ to create this content was key to reaching Fitbit’s audience in the right tone and target. The collaborative approach and the production quality were what you would expect from a premium TV service. Hosting on Top Picks of the Sky homepage UI, plus the incremental support through Sky Sports editorial, meant that Fitbit was able to reach a broad target market with the right messaging in a trusted and curated environment

Phil Cresswell, Partnership Director, IPG Mediabrands

Fitbit and Sky

‘Dance Fit’: Helping Fitbit Create Its Own Groove

After the success of their ‘Fit in 5’ campaign, Fitbit wanted to create a new and fresh message aligned with their mission statement “to empower and inspire you to live a healthier, more active life”. Partnering with Sky, they brought this message alive with a branded content series called ‘Dance Fit’ starring Kelly Brook and Brendan Cole. Comprised of two series (each of which had six short-form branded content episodes), ‘Dance Fit’ would teach and guide viewers through a ballroom and Latin dance-themed workout with Fitbit’s product at the forefront of the experience.

Showcased through TV adverts, sponsorship, product placement and endorsement, Fitbit launched the campaign to coincide with the annual return of Strictly Come Dancing on the BBC and the mania for ballroom dancing; elevating Sky customers’ engagement in the hype, and adding a bit of fun and movement to their TV viewing.

downloads to set-top box

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Challenge

While health can be serious business, Fitbit felt it didn’t have to be, as they believe “you’re more likely to reach your goals if you’re encouraged to have fun, smile, and feel empowered along the way”. So, as a passionate team dedicated to health, fitness and building products that help transform people’s lives, Fitbit wanted to design a fun experience that would bring their product into the homes and lives of viewers seamlessly, and in a way that would help them to achieve their health and fitness goals – whatever they may be.

Insight

The previous partnership between Fitbit and Sky, ‘Fit In 5’, introduced celebrities to home-based gym workouts in a 5-minute ‘bite-sized’ format. Through ‘Fit In 5’, it became clear that Kelly Brook was the most popular personality resonating with the target audience perfectly and producing more downloads of the show than any other guest. This inspired the move to create ‘Dance Fit’, with Kelly as the star/host and homing in on the fact that she likes dancing to keep fit.

Idea

Using the power of Strictly Come Dancing, we reunited Kelly with her previous dance partner on Strictly, Brendon Cole, to create a dance guide series. We also used the timing of Strictly’s launch on the BBC to sync the launch of the show in order to pick up PR and excitement surrounding it. Each episode would represent a different dance style, such as the Tango or the Cha Cha, and would be a fun and accessible way for Sky’s customers to tune in, dance along and get some exercise while having fun.

Activation

Sky therefore created a new short-form series, which demonstrated the Fitbit mission statement and included product demonstration through product placement and a solus position to feature new product advertising in a TV format. The launch of the content coincided with Fitbit’s new product launch of Ionic and incorporated Fitbit messaging in several ways. The TV adverts were positioned at the front of each episode and were followed by a 5-second sponsorship ident, featuring the Fitbit Ionic… and further activated by Sky Sports’ social support.

The production team created both TV-compliant content and more overtly commercial pieces to camera, with Brendon and Kelly speaking about the benefits of tracking their activity using their Fitbit. These were also used on social media thus directly endorsing the brand, and further activated by Sky Sports social support.

With fitness as a key topic in January, Sky Sports Women ran a feature on the convenience of workouts at home, using dance as a way to keep fit. ‘Dance Fit’ was editorially supported as an easy and accessible format to use for fitness, reaching the Fitbit’s key target audience. The celebrity of both Brendon Cole and Kelly Brook helped boost social media views through their own posts. Finally, Sky Sports social’s activity through Tweets and Facebook helped increase the reach of the overall campaign.