Gym Shark: Brand Positioning Case Study

You’re probably familiar with the Big 3 sports brands: Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour.

Nike/Jordan basically owns basketball.

 Adidas supplies the official ball for every FIFA World Cup match.

 And Under Armour continues to gain market share in the football world.

But what about apparel for lifting and fitness? That’s where Gymshark comes in. They’re now a billion dollar brand and the subject of this week’s brand breakdown.

💼 The Brand: Gym Shark

Gymshark is a fitness apparel brand founded in 2012 by a college student named Ben Francis. It all started with screen-printing T-shirts in his garage and selling them online. A decade later Ben is now UK’s youngest billionaire.

💛 The Heart (Mission & Vision)

Gymshark’s misison is to “unite the conditioning community.” There’s plenty of passionate groups when it comes to fitness (crossfitters, powerlifters, pilates, and more) and Gymshark exists to bring them all together.

👤 The Head (Strategy & Positioning)

Gymshark's positioning strategy is focused on the brand's core values of fitness, innovation, and community. Rather than paying out 7-8 figures to pro sport athletes, Gymshark decided to pay fitness social media influencers who had built audiences of their own. This solidified their position as a brand built by fitness lovers for fitness lovers.

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✋ The Hands (Tactics)

Gymshark was one of the earliest adopters of influencer led growth.

Its Instagram page now boasts over 6M followers. Just a couple million shy of Under Armour’s IG follower count.

And it doesn’t stop at social media with its influencer strategy. It even teams up with fitness influencers for its Gymshark Training and Fitness app. 

Gymshark is gritty and it leverages that it in its messaging: “You’ve put in the work. Now show off the results.” speaks exclusively to those who are actually putting in the work. It might not be for everyone, but that’s the point.

How You Can Steal Their Strategy

Speak Your Audience’s Language. As a fitness brand today, it might seem obvious to sponsor fitness influencers. But it wasn’t obvious just a few years ago. The sponsorships led to more exposure, but the biggest thing it did was speak its audience’s language. People who are into fitness enjoy being inspired by the dedication and discipline of others. These created a mountain of social proof that’s still paying off today. You may not have a list of influencers to reach out to, but regardless of you connect with, speaking their language is what’s going to create connections.

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