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Campaign Trail is an analysis of some of the best new creative efforts in the marketing industry. Past columns can be viewed in the archive here.
Equinox has long used the new year as an opportunity to launch provocative and irreverent campaigns that turn fitness, resolution and culture on its head. Its latest effort, “Question Everything But Yourself,” continues that rebellious stance by tackling an era of unreality exacerbated by the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.
The campaign’s 30-second hero spots are an adrenaline rush of computer-generated weirdness, including a woman biting a dog to reveal a melting cake, two American presidents arm-wrestling, the Mona Lisa kissing the Girl with a Pearl Earring, a surfing pope diving into a pool and attacking people, a surfing pope on roller skates, and a herd of animals.
Similarly, a series of creative assets dispatched from the uncanny valley juxtaposes grainy photos of toned, authentic fitness models, including triple-breasted bikini babes, toned muscle men, and baby dictators. “Question Everything But Yourself” will be rolled out across digital and social platforms, print, out-of-home and streaming channels.
The campaign was created in collaboration with agency Angry Gods following multi-agency research. Equinox was looking for an agency that could create buzz and value while reinforcing its brand identity that maintains fitness as a luxury.
Angry Gods’ first pitch idea was “Feel Everything,” a campaign that positioned working out as a way to break cultural paralysis. However, upon further reflection, this idea seemed predictable and unlikely to win the search.
“In a pitch, you’re not actually trying to solve a problem,” explains Krish Menon, founder and CEO of Angry Gods. “If you try to problem-solve on the pitch, you might end up creating something safe. But if you put something in the pitch that they will look at and think is ‘interesting,’ you can work with them and refine it over time.”
To solve the problem with a pitch rather than a problem, Angry Gods Executive Creative Director Gabe Miller came up with the core idea for Question Everything But Yourself. In a world of fake news, viral stunts, and AI-driven gaffes, consumers can no longer believe their eyes. The new status quo served as a perfect juxtaposition for the ability to come alive at the equinox.
“We need to question the world and question everything in order to function, but we must never lose sight of what we can trust and believe in: ourselves, our bodies, our goals, and our minds,” Miller said.
AI challenges AI
Unlike competing brands, Equinox does not sell fitness as a product, but instead is committed to honoring values such as effort, discipline, and strength. But in a world where treatments like Botox and GLP-1 allow people to change their appearance without going to the gym, Menon said the brand had an opportunity to “use shallow imagery to convey a very deep truth.”
“This campaign was not meant to be a lesson or a rebuke, but rather a contrast. It was just about putting two truths side by side and making people feel the difference,” the executive said. “The idea wasn’t to say, ‘AI is bad,’ because that’s how some people see it. It was actually to say that some things can’t be done with shortcuts.”
In fact, this campaign is not a genuine criticism of AI. AI is the technology used to create half of our images and nearly all of our video assets. In this way, the campaign acknowledges the reality that AI imagery has not just emerged, but is already the norm. Recent campaigns by Dollar Shave Club and Almond Breeze toy with this tension, but perhaps not so succinctly.
“The goal from the beginning was to reflect what’s out there. It wasn’t about creating something new. It was about holding up a mirror… In an ideal world, our ads should be exactly like what the feed already has,” Miller said of the campaign’s creative.
To reflect consumers’ feeds, Angry Gods has strived to be as up-to-date as possible. Using AI throughout the process has improved our ability to meet tight deadlines. Images like the 2023 meme version featuring Pope Francis in a Balenciaga down jacket were selected, while others, such as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a Nike sweatsuit, did not materialize due to deadlines. The agency also referred to the Nigerian Prince scam, which may have been misled by consumers.
“Our goal was to create something that didn’t feel perverse or unfair or distracting, even if it wasn’t insightful,” Menon said.
Image from “Question Everything But Yourself”
Provided by Equinox
Isn’t the image of a woman with three breasts gratuitous?
“You know there’s no woman with three boobs, yet her biggest account has 3.6 million followers on Instagram,” Menon explained. “Why would 3.6 million people follow something that doesn’t exist? What’s the meaning behind it? Fascinated, disgusted, but unable to look away. There’s something interesting about it.”
The campaign has faced some backlash online because it uses generative AI, but the agency has clarified that the technology was only used because it is core to the concept. Angry Gods will decide whether to utilize AI for creative work on a case-by-case basis, but remains pro-AI when it comes to processes.
“A lot of our strategy work and the grunt work at the mid-level is done by custom AI that we develop in-house,” Menon says. “From a creative standpoint, it’s 100% case-by-case. But where we’re using AI 100% now is in mockups and communicating ideas. It’s now much easier to use AI to build storyboards and concepts for pitches than it used to be. So we’re using AI to communicate and sell ideas more than ever.”
