Virgin Active: Pistols and Pilates
When Richard Branson signed the Sex Pistols nearly half a century ago, he didn’t just shake up the music industry, he gave his Virgin brand an edge that would redefine rebellion. That same rebellious energy fuels WE ARE Pi’s new campaign for Virgin Active, the wellness club bearing Branson’s DNA.
For a brand to make noise it helps if it has a clear enemy to rally against. For Virgin Active we called out the elephant in the yoga room - that Wellness is sick. Endless amounts of contradictory dos and don'ts from self appointed experts make it hard for consumers to decipher what to believe. Add in the growing number of unrealistic expectations and picture-perfect portrayals and people are left feeling confused and discouraged. The Wellness industry has become a toxic cult. This toxicity is Virgin Active's enemy and the new brand positioning - 'Where Wellness Gets Real' - aims to establish it as the no-BS antidote to the toxic sludge of the wellness world.
Our team at WE ARE Pi applied the new positioning to refresh the brand identity and leaned into the origins of Virgin's OG punk spirit to land on a design direction called 'Wellness Vandalised' - magnifying the spray paint technique found in the logo designed by Ray Kyte in 1978 and turning it up to eleven. Supersized script coupled with black and white rock n roll photography reflects the energised attitude and sees the paint spray also being used as a visual device to call out toxic traits within the wellness industry.
For the debut campaign, Virgin Active didn't want to pull punches or skip leg day. It aims to plant a flag with an unapologetically bold point of view.
'Leave The Cult, Join The Club' isn’t here to massage your chakras or sell you Himalayan crystal-infused cucumber water. It's here to slap the fake wellness industry in the face. No promises of a six-pack by Saturday or moonwater miracles - just real sweaty, human progress.
Inspired by radical propaganda and fueled by the idea of 'de-brainwashing,' the creative team developed a bold aesthetic that confronts the tactics used by the industry. We borrowed their tricks - confrontational, loud, and in-your-face - but flipped the narrative.
The type treatment takes cues from the mind-bending aesthetic of Enter The Void, delivering a jarring yet hypnotic feel. The imagery is an irreverent homage to the worlds of Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari’s Toilet Paper magazine, full of surreal, absurdist humor that cuts through the polished nonsense of wellness ads and also takes inspiration from Adrián González-Cohen’s Buffalo zine, adding a layer of gritty, unapologetic wit.
This isn’t your typical 'look good, feel good' campaign. It’s a visual rebellion designed to grab you by the collar and make you question every fakefluencer, every detox tea, every miracle cure you’ve ever double-tapped.
Virgin has always been about pushing boundaries, making noise, and shaking up the status quo. The same energy that propelled the brand into cultural rebellion with the signing of the Sex Pistols is now driving Virgin Active’s mission to challenge the toxic norms of wellness. Virgin Active is daring to stand out by addressing the uncomfortable truth no one else wants to talk about. And just like Branson’s original act of rebellion, this campaign is designed to disrupt, challenge and, inevitably, ruffle a few feathers. Virgin Active is taking on the wellness industry with the same fearless energy, flipping the script one uncomfortable truth at a time; a high-intensity enema for the fitness industry, flushing out the nonsense and leaving you with pure, unfiltered fitness reality.
Rick Chant is co-founder and executive creative director at We Are Pi
