A studio rebrand in practice: logo, three websites and a franchise

While a studio has a single location, its brand mostly talks to clients. Once it starts to grow, it also has to win over coaches who will run its classes and entrepreneurs who might open the next studio. Using the rebrand of fitplus.studio, a boutique movement studio in Ilava, Slovakia, we show how we brought these three audiences under one brand.

Step one: positioning, not the logo

A rebrand starts not in design software but with the question of what the studio is – and what it is not. For fitplus.studio the answer fits into three words: not a gym. The studio stands against the anonymity of big gyms: small groups, a coach who knows everyone by name, and movement as medicine for body and mind, not punishment.

The positioning comes with the claim “Movement as medicine” and a tone of voice that runs through every website and every post. Until you can tell your brand story in one sentence, a logo has nothing to say.

A logo and identity built for a network

The new logo is a shield with a running figure in a gold gradient. The palette is dark ink, cream and gold, and the typefaces are Rajdhani, Ubuntu and Heebo.

What matters most is who the identity is for. We built it to look the same in Ilava and in every future studio in the network. The logo, colours and type are not decoration for one location but a foundation that can be repeated in the next town.

One brand, three audiences

Clients look for training in a small group, coaches for a studio that fills their classes, and entrepreneurs for a proven model. Each audience asks a different question, so each got its own website with its own message. On a single website these messages would clash – clients would read about investment and entrepreneurs about evening classes. The look, however, is the same everywhere.

Clients: timetable and booking

fitplus.studio shows eight class formats with the timetable, price and capacity right on each card. The weekly timetable can be filtered, and booking runs in Sportimea with free spots and a waiting list. There is also a price list with the MultiSport card, the coaches, workshops and a blog.

Coaches: recruiting for the network

The careers website treneri.fitplus.studio answers what coaches want to know: what the studio offers them, who it is looking for and how pay works. There is a map of four towns along the Váh, six steps to their own timetable and an application form with a choice of town and format.

Franchisees: a proven model

On your.fitplus.studio we turned the model proven in Ilava into a franchise. The website explains how the head office, the studio and the coaches work together, where revenue comes from, where the money goes, the indicative investment and the vision of a network from Slovakia to the EU. It is in Slovak and English, with a form for entrepreneurs and property owners.

All three websites run on T3WEB by AWIS, so new studios in the network get a website in the same brand from the same library of elements.

Campaigns: one look, different messages

On Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn the studio runs seasonal campaigns such as getting back to training after the summer, invitations to workshops and events, and education from the coaches. All in one brand look – the aim is for people to recognise a post before reading the profile name.

With several audiences, we recommend thinking about channel and tone too. You reach an entrepreneur weighing up a franchise elsewhere and with different arguments than a client looking for an evening class. What stays the same is the look and the story.

Rebrand, or just tidy up?

A new brand makes sense when you change what you do or who you do it for: a new positioning, a new audience, growth into a network or a franchise. That is when an old logo and old websites hold the brand back.

Tidying up is enough when the problem is inconsistency: every poster looks different, several versions of the logo circulate on social media and the colours depend on who made the graphic. Such a brand does not need replacing, it needs aligning.

If people know you and the story still fits, the change should be evolution rather than revolution. That is how we approached AWIS group: we kept the shape of the original logo that people recognise and added a leaf in the letter A and the colour green.

Growth needs rules

While one person works with the brand, their taste holds it together. Once coaches, new studios and suppliers join in, the rules have to be written down. For AWIS group we put together a brand manual in eight chapters – from the concept, logo, icon, variants, colours and type to what not to do with the logo and where to use it. The same rules then apply to the company and its suppliers.

Key takeaways

• Start a rebrand with positioning. A logo should express a clear story, not replace it.
• One brand can speak to several audiences. Each needs its own page and its own message, but the same look.
• Design the identity for growth – for the next studio, the next website and the next supplier.
• If the story fits and people know you, tidying up the brand and writing down its rules is often enough.