ParticipACTION suggests sex gets better with physical activity in latest campaign

Cristina Blanaru Ads, Creativity

As part of their latest brand platform work around how Everything gets better when you get active, ParticipACTION launched the next phase of its campaign that highlights how sex gets better when you get active. This is part of a long-term movement to help shift attitudes and perceptions beyond traditional benefits of physical activity, such as weight loss.

ParticipACTION’s research supports how regular physical activity has so many benefits for our bodies and mind, including that it can help promote increased blood flow throughout the body, even down below, which in turn boosts sexual feelings. Because of this, the latest campaign is an opportunity to get personal and remind Canadians about these surprising benefits of physical activity.

We have the opportunity within our brand platform to showcase specific ‘betters’ to drive home the benefits of being active (…) By flipping the equation, this allows us to shift perceptions and show Canadians that being physically active is not just about your physical appearance.

Shauna Pichosky,

VP of Marketing and Communications ParticipACTION

The targeted campaign includes digital out-of-home posters in restaurants, social media content, and radio. Each poster features a suggestive image of sporting equipment such as a bike seat, a football, or two badminton birdies, with a double entendre headline that references the physical activity while alluding to sexual activity – ie. ‘Stroke some birdies. Sex gets better when you badminton’. Radio simply showcases the sounds of a physical activity like a squash game or Taekwondo match. At first the sounds are implied to be sexually suggestive before it’s revealed that they were actually just the sounds of a sports game. The spots are signed off with ‘Everything gets better when you get active’.

We wanted to bring a new approach to communicating around physical activity, refresh the imagery and let ParticipACTION speak to different audiences in unique ways (…) We had an opportunity to showcase real meaning to the lives of Canadians by showing big, bold, unexpected visuals rather than the traditional visuals usually synonymous with being physically active.

Catherine Allen,

Creative Director Zulu

More information on how sex gets better when you get physically active as well as the many other benefits of physical activity can be found on ParticipACTION.com. This campaign launches in the wake of of the new ParticipACTION app that helps Canadians meet their personalized goal of physical activity minutes each week. The targeted campaign was developed in partnership with Cossette Media. Radio was produced by Toronto’s Cylinder Sound.

ParticipACTION is a national non-profit organization that helps Canadians sit less and move more. Originally established in 1971, ParticipACTION works with its partners, which include sport, physical activity, recreation organizations, government and corporate sponsors, to make physical activity a vital part of everyday life. ParticipACTION is generously supported by the Government of Canada.

Credits

  • Client: ParticipACTION
  • Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
  • Chief Creative Officer: Zak Mroueh
  • Creative Director: Catherine Allen, Ian Simpson
  • Art Director: Manali Kulkarni
  • Writer: Dylan Verwey
  • Agency Producer: Chelsea Elliot, Laura Dubcovsky
  • Account Team:  Robyn Morrissey, Lauren Boultwood
  • Strategic Planner: Heather Segal
  • Clients: Rebecca Jones
  • Media Agency: Cossette
  • Media Team: Dianne Yu-Kinsey, Erica Goldfarb
  • Studio Artist: Brandon Dyson, Anna Harju
  • Recording Studio: Cylinder Sound
  • Talent Director: Rebecca Whitby
  • Music Producer/Sound Design: Brad Nelson