This Is Why.

2020 brought the fitness industry to a standstill. Almost overnight, gyms and studios’ revenue all but evaporated as non-essential businesses were forced to close their doors and go into quarantine. Some never reopened. With more than 15,000 affiliates around the world, CrossFit is far more than just a workout or a company - it’s a global phenomenon. After COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 CrossFit Open, the largest participatory sporting event in history, the athletes and team behind it vowed to come back better and stronger than ever. in 2021, we helped them do just that.

The CrossFit Open serves as the qualifying event for The CrossFit Games, which is entering its thirteenth season. As one of the largest sports spectacles in the world, our challenge was to create a brand refresh that looked and felt like the Open everyone knows and loves, yet marked a new chapter for the organization as it welcomes adaptive athletes for the first time ever. Oh and we had to do it all while have the world’s CrossFit Gyms weren’t allowed to be open yet.

Everyone has a different reason for why they do CrossFit. Some do it to live healthier lives. Some do it to prove that they can. Others do it for the community. The joy. The sheer and utter exhaustion of it all. We wanted our creative to allow them the chance to show the world #ThisIsWhy. We launched in 30 countries and 17 languages, showing the flexibility of a truly global brand.

CrossFit is a tightly knit community of people with very personal individual goals. To feel healthier. To live longer. To change our appearance. To push ourselves. To prove we can do what we never thought we could. To set a good example for those around us. But though our motivations may be different, we share the common goal of striving, working, competing against each other—and supporting each other—to reach our bests. This campaign, and the CrossFit Open, are all of us competing, pushing, and fighting toward our individual goals as one supportive global community. This is Why.

The final tally reverses a two season-long trend of declining registration in the Open following a peak in 2018 of over 400,000 athletes, and coming off a final number of 239,106 registrants in 2020. In a span of two seasons following sweeping changes to the sport and massive layoffs within the media division of the company Open participation dropped by over 40%, before the 2020 season was crippled by the pandemic. Over 90,000 athletes registered in the final week, which includes the days following the first Open announcement, where registration bumps can be dictated by the accessibility of the first workout.