Sheridan&Co created the retail strategy and visual merchandising for 1Rebel - a new gym concept that is set to disrupt the way City dwellers keep fit for the better. With its contemporary design-led 'industrial luxe' aesthetic, 1Rebel is poised to create an environment that motivates and facilitates 'high intensity interval training' while accommodating a lifestyle space where members may cool down, dwell in and get ready for a night out against a backdrop of live entertainment, arty installations and bespoke playlists curated and mixed by some of the dance scene's most internationally acclaimed DJs.
1Rebel's brand spirit is inherent in its name - rebellious, risqué, playful and edgy. Positioned as more of a 'destination' than a gym, its un-preaching, non-judgmental approach to fitness is underpinned by a clear and resounding empathy for the hedonism and sinful excesses enjoyed by its typical, fast-living clientele.
Sheridan&Co were tasked with capturing this work-hard-play-hard, detox-retox spirit through the brand's various touchpoints, devising striking visual mechanisms that would appeal to the brand's core market of twenty-something dynamic, image-conscious professionals.
As part of its approach, Sheridan&Co mapped out every detail of the customer journey and provided detailed competitor analysis and trends research to develop a retail strategy that would inform the design, look and feel of 1Rebel's product packaging for clothing, as well as its window and retail displays. These reflect and enhance the gym's brand identity, language and overriding aesthetic of paired-back modernity, with its interior's accents of black steel and sculptural copper creating a premium yet industrial, utilitarian feel.
From this, Sheridan&Co were tasked with designing two semi permanent window displays where they drew inspiration from the gym's patented workbench, dubbed "The Box" - a central focus of the Rebel ReShape workout and unique touch point for the club.
"The Box" itself is given due prominence on a plinth - an art installation-style lectern with a screen-printed metal plaque upon which an education piece is inscribed: "This is no ordinary workbench, it's a work station built around your workout, so you stay focused on the job at hand, no sharing weights, no breaks between sets, no stopping till its over."
Sheridan&Co complemented this area further by creating a corner window display incorporating a TV featuring a pre-recorded 1Rebel video on loop visible at night, set amid chain-link fencing and steel metal frames, in keeping with the gym's industrial luxe aesthetic. The video flashes between brand statements and evocative imagery to lure passers by inside.
Sheridan&Co extended its design to the Rebel uniform and garment packaging for 1Rebel's exclusive line of apparel and developed ideas in which these can be displayed.
"1Rebel epitomises an irrepressible energy that simply bursts at the seams. Part of our challenge has been to create a visually impactful retail presence that communicated this unique brand identity and narrative through every little touchpoint," commented Freddie Sheridan, Director of Sheridan & Co. "We needed to mastermind an approach that packed a punch without being too risqué; devise a mechanic that celebrated 1Rebel's core point of difference without alienating the wider market. In turn we have created a look and feel that synergises with 1Rebel's essence and identity - beautiful yet functional, luxurious yet accessible, disciplined yet free spirited."