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Naperville, IL · Gym · Local campaign

A neighborhood team challenge for February

Ryan Patel made social posts and ran Meta ads for Platform 9 Fitness, a gym in Naperville, IL (Jan 28 – Mar 14, 2026): 61 people signed up for a six-week team challenge.

Client
Platform 9 FitnessGym
Where
Naperville, ILDowntown Naperville, Cress Creek, Ashbury, and Tall Grass
When
Jan 28 – Mar 14, 2026
Services
Social posts, Meta ads

Results

Jan 28 – Mar 14, 2026

  • 6,800People reached by the ad and posts
  • 264Clicks through to the challenge sign-up
  • 61Challenge sign-ups across three teams
  • $168Meta ad spend, $2.75 per sign-up
  • 2.6Classes a week per challenger, up from 1.4
  • 12Trials who joined as members

The brief

January brought Platform 9 its biggest group of trials and new members, and the owner knew from past years that half of them would stop coming by March. He wanted them showing up through February, the month the gym usually loses people, and he wanted the trials to become members. The limits: no prizes worth money, nothing that felt like a weight-loss contest, and a scoreboard the coaches could update in five minutes a week.

Goal
Keep January’s new members coming back through February and into a membership.
Who and where
New and trial members, grouped by the part of town they live in.

What the client gave me

Check-in data by member and ZIP code, the list of 64 people who had started in January, a yes from the coffee shop next door to host the finish, and a box of wristbands left from last year’s attempt at a challenge, which fizzled after two weeks.

Last year’s team wristbands, most of them never handed out.
Last year’s team wristbands, most of them never handed out.
A Monday evening last February, taken by the owner. This is the month he wanted to change.
A Monday evening last February, taken by the owner. This is the month he wanted to change.

What I made

A six-week challenge with neighborhood teams, a weekly scoreboard post and a finish-line workout with the coffee shop next door.

  1. Still going in February?
    Still going in February?Sent first by text to January’s trials, then posted. The headline is the question every new member is quietly asking themselves.Caption January sign-ups are the easy part. This post invites new members onto a team before their routine fades.
  2. Pick your team
    Pick your teamSplit teams by ZIP code from the check-in data: North Side (60563), South Side (60564 and 60565) and Downtown (60540), so neighbors trained together.Caption Teams are named after parts of town, so neighbors train together and a little rivalry does the motivating.
  3. Week 3 scoreboard
    Week 3 scoreboardOne score, class check-ins, and no names. I updated the bars every Monday from the gym’s check-in export, which kept the coaches out of it.Caption A weekly scoreboard gives everyone a reason to check in and tag teammates. Points come from class check-ins, so the post rewards showing up.
  4. Finish-line workout + coffee
    Finish-line workout + coffeeThe finish-line workout and coffee next door, with the membership offer saved for that morning, when people felt proud of six weeks.Caption The challenge ends with an event co-hosted with the coffee shop next door. It’s the natural moment to offer trial members a membership.

How it went out

Where it ran

  • A text to January’s trials and new members
  • Platform 9’s Instagram and Stories
  • Platform 9’s Facebook page
  • A group chat for each team
  1. Jan 28Text to January’s 64 trials and new members with the sign-up link
  2. Feb 2Challenge starts. “Pick your team” on Instagram and Facebook
  3. Feb 3Meta ad: “Still going in February?”, about $12 a day for two weeks
  4. Feb 9 – Mar 9Scoreboard every Monday morning, shared in the team chats
  5. Feb 16Ad ends and sign-ups close, with three teams of about 20
  6. Mar 14Finish-line workout at 9 a.m., then coffee next door
Best ad: Still going in February?

Meta ads

Audience
Adults 25 to 50 within 2 miles of the gym, plus people who had followed or messaged Platform 9 in the past year
Budget
$180 planned, $168 spent
Dates
Feb 3 – Feb 16

A small ad for a small job. The text had already reached January’s trials, so the ad went to neighbors who followed the gym but had never started. It brought 17 sign-ups, mostly members’ friends, at $0.64 a click.

What happened

The text did most of the work: 44 of the 61 sign-ups came in within two days of it. Check-ins held through February instead of sliding, and South Side won by 41 classes. The team chats are what didn’t work evenly. North and South were busy all six weeks; Downtown’s went quiet after the first week, and Downtown finished last. On March 14, 47 people came to the finish-line workout, and 12 trials joined as members that morning or in the week after.

What I’d do next

Give each team a coach as captain to keep the chat going. Open sign-ups to members’ friends from the first day. And run it again in September, when the school year starts and Naperville’s routines reset.

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Availability updated Oct 12, 2026.

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