High School Summer Pass

United Fitness Partners — the largest Planet Fitness franchisee group in the country, operating nearly 200 clubs nationwide — launched the brand’s High School Summer Pass initiative to offer free gym access to teens aged 14 to 19 during the summer months. The program was designed to build brand loyalty with the next generation of members and drive new family memberships.

A national franchise campaign is fundamentally different from a single-market activation. The story has to be consistent across 21 media markets while remaining locally relevant to each one.

The spokespeople telling that story — club managers, trainers, and district managers distributed across the country — needed to be credible, on-message, and ready to perform in broadcast and print interviews. Nearly 50 people needed to be trained, aligned, and equipped before a single interview was booked. CKP had to build a communications infrastructure before the campaign could begin.

Before outreach, CKP conducted a system-wide media training session for the full roster of United Fitness Partners spokespeople — nearly 50 participants across multiple roles and markets.

The training was delivered with a branded resource document that gave each spokesperson a reference they could use independently: key messages, anticipated questions, bridging language, and brand-specific guidance on how to tell the Summer Pass story in a way that connected to local community concerns.

With the spokesperson network prepared, CKP executed a disciplined media outreach strategy built around the program’s most resonant angles: youth fitness, summer programming, community investment, and the accessibility message that Planet Fitness has built its brand on.

Pitches were customized by market, and CKP actively pursued storytelling opportunities throughout the summer — not just at launch — to sustain coverage across the full program duration. Community and member relations ran alongside the earned media effort, soliciting member success stories that gave media something concrete and human to cover.

82 media placements across 21 markets. 24.3M+ total impressions. $352,408 in publicity value. Nearly 50 spokespeople trained and deployed consistently across the country.

The campaign proved that national media relations done well isn’t about reach alone — it’s about preparation, consistency, and the ability to sustain a story well past the initial news cycle.