BRAND STRATEGY
Forget everything you know about gym culture. At Chuze, ALL EXCUSES ARE WELCOME! 🎉💪🙂↕️
The Problem
Chuze Fitness is on a mission to transform the gym experience into something more welcoming, engaging, and fun. As a hospitality-first brand, they use fitness as a vehicle to create a community-driven space. The challenge? Showing people what makes Chuze special before they step through the doors. Known for their friendly atmosphere and spotless facilities, they wanted to take it a step further—bringing forth their humor and personality to connect with more people. With a year-long campaign, they set out to resonate with younger generations like Gen Z and Gen A.
The Approach
Chuze creates an environment where people feel valued, supported, and free to work out on their terms. More than just another budget gym, they are a true third space—a welcoming community where fitness feels approachable and fun. We set out to capture that essence in a way that would align with their brand and resonate with both existing and new audiences. We strategically used humor to break down barriers and invite people to experience Chuze for themselves. After deep research on industry insights and countless creative ideas, the “All Excuses Welcome” campaign was born.
IDENTITY
VERBAL
- //Campaign Name & Tagline
- //Reasons to Believe
- //Community
- //Voice
- //Living Lines
The first step of shaping this campaign was crafting a compelling verbal identity. The main message we wanted to get across was Chuze’s community-first, welcoming, and refreshingly fun personality. To communicate this, we created a brand voice that is playful, relatable, and encouraging, but never intimidating. The campaign’s name (AKA our tagline), “All Excuses Welcome” was written to be a simple yet powerful invitation. We created relatable characters that would capture the diverse personalities of different gym-goers and perfected their quotes, ensuring people would see themselves in them. The more ridiculous, yet relatable, the excuse could be, the better. As we wrote each of them, we kept photography and videography top of mind. We had to make sure they would came across strong.
IDENTITY
VISUAL
- //Campaign Art Direction
- //Sub-Mark
- //Icons & Branded Elements
We crafted a bold and playful visual identity that embodies Chuze’s approachable, fun, and community-driven spirit. Every design element reinforces their welcoming and lighthearted personality. The art direction featured a dynamic and inviting aesthetic that captured the campaign’s humor and inclusivity. Custom sub-marks and icons were designed to enhance brand recognition across multiple touchpoints, while a cohesive system of branded elements infused with vibrant energy ensured Chuze stood out in the fitness space.
CONTENT
- //Photography
- //Videography
A campaign this bold needed standout photography and videography, and one of the most rewarding challenges was bringing the characters to life visually. We created a dynamic, high-energy main campaign film (1:30) alongside four short, punchy excuse videos (0:15 each) that showcased different characters in action. High-impact photography captured the humor and personality at the heart of the campaign. From concept development to final execution, we built characters that felt larger than life, ensuring their stories resonated across all platforms. Our focus was on creating visuals bold enough to stand out yet deeply relatable, making Chuze Fitness feel like a gym experience unlike any other.
BILLBOARDS
When it came to billboards, we knew we had only seconds to make people think differently about the gym. We designed these to stand tall in high-traffic zones, from commuter corridors to city centers, capturing attention with big, bold typography and character-driven visuals. Each design leaned into the campaign’s cheeky personality. These weren’t your average gym ads, they were statements. With vertical formats, we had the perfect canvas to stack humor and messaging. The layouts paired headline-worthy excuses with expressive portraits of our cast, making each billboard feel like a teaser for the world of Chuze. Whether seen while sitting in traffic or walking by on the street, they delivered the campaign’s voice with clarity and charm. They also highlighted our main CTA: join today with $0 enrollment. We treated every placement as an extension of the Chuze experience—fun, friendly, and impossible to ignore.
SOCIAL ASSETS
- //SOCIAL POSTS
- //SOCIAL STORIES
- //SOCIAL ADS
We created a suite of social media assets tailored for both organic and paid channels, ensuring that the campaign not only launched with impact, but had the stamina to sustain momentum over time. From static graphics to short-form video, we designed each piece to reflect the playful spirit of “All Excuses Welcome” while flexing across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. We leaned into platform-specific behavior, creating content that felt native—whether it was a punchy Reel or an engaging carousel post that introduced our characters. To keep things fresh and maintain engagement, we developed a variety of creative concepts that extended the storyline and allowed the Chuze team to experiment with different messaging angles. Our goal was to help the brand stay top of feed and top of mind, while avoiding the pitfalls of ad fatigue. We also made sure the Chuze team had everything they needed to A/B test effectively—from alternate copy lines and visuals to audience-specific formats—so they could adapt in real time and continuously optimize performance. The result? A lively, scroll-worthy social presence that matched the in-gym energy and drew people into the Chuze universe one post at a time.
Print, Apparel, and Email Marketing
- //Stickers
- //Apparel
- //Direct Mail
To bring the campaign off-screen and into the real world, we extended “All Excuses Welcome” into print, apparel, and stickers—turning every touchpoint into an opportunity to surprise and delight. For print, we crafted direct mail pieces that were impossible to ignore, packed with personality and dripping with excuses. We also created funny stickers of excuses to be handed out at the gyms. Each piece was designed to carry the campaign’s humor and warmth straight into people’s hands. These tactile moments helped bridge the gap between digital impressions and physical engagement, adding another layer of familiarity with the brand. We also translated our campaign name, living lines, and campaign visuals into wearable statements with apparel. From hats that read “Excuses Are Our Warm-Up” to cozy hoodies with our campaign name, we gave Chuze staff and members gear that didn’t just promote the campaign—it became part of the culture. Email marketing followed suit with a mix of witty subject lines, character reveals, and exclusive offers that kept the Chuze community looped in and excited. Every design and message reinforced the campaign’s inclusive, not-so-serious tone, and invited new members to come experience the gym for themselves.
Programmatic Ads
Lastly, to amplify reach and meet audiences where they are, we developed a comprehensive suite of programmatic ads that brought “All Excuses Welcome” to screens big and small—anytime, anywhere. Using a mix of dynamic display, video pre-roll, and retargeting formats, we strategically served up excuses that felt relatable, funny, and refreshingly human. From a sleepy scroll at 6 a.m. to a late-night YouTube binge, each ad was crafted to capture attention in seconds and drive curiosity around what makes Chuze so different. Our programmatic strategy wasn’t just about impressions—it was about emotional connection, served up with a side of humor. We built a flexible system of assets designed to perform across various placements and audience segments. Each ad leaned into the campaign’s voice, whether it was a full-screen takeover or a quick-hit animated banner.
