Want

Most of what we need these days is so overrun with options that nothing about what we buy is based on necessity; it’s based on what we want.

Which makes being a ”need-to-have” product less of a benefit—especially when weighed against being a “want-to-have” brand.

There are, it seems, plentiful examples of this, but we’re reminded of this lesson with Gymshark’s new OOH campaign (“We Do Gym”).

The UK brand (a Shopify darling if there ever was one) is looking to expand in the US and focused on being a “gym brand” amidst a world awash in athleisure.

From Creative Review:

“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, and for our community, it’s their reason to believe in us,” says chief brand officer Noel Mack.

The positioning, it seems, is a departure from where Gymshark started the year.

In a February LinkedIn post, Gymshark’s founder and CEO, Ben Francis, called the brand an athleisure brand.

While about faces, positioning improvements and pivots are nothing new, this one feels important—especially as it relates to being a “want-to-have” brand.

Gymshark, already a Gen Z favorite, finished 2023 just north of $700M. To reach its potential, though, it might need to be less than it was. And gym clothes is a place to start.

Yoga is taken. Running is taken. The gym is wide open.

And if you can win there with “real gym people,” you can become the “want-to-have” brand for everyone who likes the idea of the gym. Much in the way Lululemon became mainstream, Hoka became mainstream and On became mainstream.

No one, really, needs dedicated gym clothes. But a bunch of us sure as heck want them. And that’s pretty powerful.