'Yeah, I own Planet Fitness': Why the fitness chain "hired" Josh Peck

Josh Peck is perhaps best known for his work as a child actor in the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series The Amanda Show, which aired decades ago. Over the summer, Peck decided to trade Hollywood for the Planet Fitness front desk.

Strategy

The marketing team at Planet Fitness saw Peck’s funny posts on social media about working out and interviews in which he discussed his exercise and weight loss.

The team also considered the apparent increased nostalgia among millennials and thought Peck would be a good fit for a campaign.

“Josh really brought together not only cultural relevancy but a credibility with fitness and a personality that just made people feel really comfortable and not intimidated,” said Caroline Nevin, Planet Fitness social media director.

Their target audience was Gen Z and millennials.

Tactics

The team produced a story in which Peck would get a job at a Planet Fitness in Brooklyn.

They provided Peck with an outline and “ideas we want to come to life” but also provided him with creative freedom, said Juan Marquez, senior social media manager at Movers+Shakers.

“When things are super scripted” those “magical moments don't have room to happen,” Marquez said.

The creatives filmed the spot at a Planet Fitness in Park Slope. They posted notices to alert customers they would be filming.

“We thought we would get the most genuine reactions that way,” Nevin said.

They picked the Brooklyn gym because it was a new facility, and they wanted to be in a major city where visitors would likely recognize Peck, Nevin said.

The brand focused on Instagram and TikTok.

In a teaser video, someone puts on a Planet Fitness name tag with the name “Joshua,” but his face is not revealed.

“Are you the owner of Planet Fitness or something?” one of the people working out asks.

“Yeah, I own Planet Fitness,” Peck responds.

The accompanying text clarifies, “Can you guess our newest employee? (hint: he’s not the owner of planet fitness).”

A full video reveals that the new employee is Peck.

“Hi, I’m Josh Peck, and I’ve decided to work at Planet Fitness,” he says while standing in front of the entrance. “C’mon, it’s time to clock in.”

We then see Peck walking around the gym, entering the red-light recovery room on his lunch break and goofily interacting with people exercising. He also installs an employee of the month plaque that he seems to have awarded himself.

“If you know anything about Josh, I think you know that he is very unintimidating and very welcoming, so he was a perfect fit for this,” Nevin said.

Results

The posts generated more than 1.7 million views, 48,000 likes and 1,000 comments on Instagram; 259,000 views and 23,000 likes on TikTok; and 886,000 views and 16,000 likes on Facebook.