‘Muscles with Micah’ - Micah Richards X Gymshark
Wow. I’ve finally began a platform where I can express my ideas of what could be really great content strategies for individuals and brands alike. Stick with me as we explore different concepts together!
To kickoff the first of many content strategy ideas, we have Micah Richards and Gymshark. We’ll look at how both Micah Richards can increase his Instagram and Twitter following to a total of 2 million across both platforms. We’ll also see how Gymshark can grow their YouTube account to 1 million subscribers, which can further increase their brand awareness by increasing their share of voice (SOV) online.
Goal
To increase Micah Richards following on Instagram from 1.1m to 1.5m, and to increase his Twitter following from 591.8k to 700k.
To increase Gymshark’s Youtube channel subscribers from 675k to 1m.
Research Summary
Micah Richards is a former professional footballer for Manchester City and England. He was the youngest defender to play for England at just 18. Unfortunately, his career was cut short from a series of knee injuries which started at just 19. He retired at 31 having played for Manchester City, Florentina and Aston Villa.
Today, he is a broadcaster and pundits for channels such as BBC Sport, SkySports, and CBS Sports. He’s also a co-host on the podcast ‘The Rest is Football’ with Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer.
It’s clear from Micah’s physique that he is an active gym goer and weightlifter, as Kate Abdo and Jamie Carragher pointed out here in this video:
In recognition of his well-sculptured physique, Micah Richards was featured in the television advertisement recognising Optimum Nutrition as SkySports’ official nutrition partner:
His announcement on his Instagram page partnering up with Optimum Nutrition has garnered 269k views. You can see it here:
Aside from his physical features, Micah comes across on TV & social media as funny, likeable and conversational. For any partnership between a brand and individual, at least one of these qualities have to be present.
Gymshark
Gymshark is one of the leading fitness and apparel brands in the United Kingdom. Founded by Birmingham native Ben Francis in 2012, they have a total following on social media of 18 million.
As of 2020, Gymshark’s value was $1.45 billion. Ben Francis is worth $1.3 billion. In 2023, Gymshark experienced a 15% increase in revenue to £552.6m. Their competitors include Nike, Lululemon and Under Armour.
Their current brand ambassadors for Gymshark include Ryan Garcia, Francis Ngannou and Nathaniel Massiah.
Gymshark online content currently includes healthy lifestyle tips, workout routines, short-form relatable videos, user-generated content and written articles about the work of their athletes/ambassadors.
Audience
Gymshark is aimed at those aged between 18-25. Though a premium fitness apparel brand, they propose themselves as a premium fitness brand. Within that same age category, Gymshark targets those who are interested in fitness, fashion and music. The consumption traits of Gymshark consumers tend to be impulse spending. In line with this, Gymshark utilise all-year round sales events. For example, they’ve had a ‘Blackout’ sale on Black Friday. This creates the atmosphere of the fear of missing out (FOMO).
Micah Richards appears on channels such as SkySports as a football pundit. According to “BroadcastNow”, the Premier League 2023/24 season had 16.3m viewers. 72% of viewers are male and the age category which views Skysports the most is the 25-34 category. The interests Skysports have identified in their target audience are news, football and shopping. As the biggest sports broadcasting channel in the UK it is safe to argue that Micah is well exposed as a pundit who also features in Sky Sports television commercials/advertisements.
Keywords
Gymshark: “Gymshark, “gym shark”, “bicep workout”, “Gym workouts”, “Gymshark sale”,
Channels (that Micah may appear on) : “Sky Sports”, “Sky Sports Football”, “Sky Sports News”, “BBC Sports Pundits”
Micah Richards: “Micah Richards footballer”, “Micah Richards Man City” “Micah Richards pundit” “Micah Richards defender”
Content Mix
To help grow both Micah Richards’ Instagram and Twitter account and Gymshark’s Youtube channel, a 3-5 day series called ‘Muscles with Micah’ can be released on Gymshark’s Youtube channel.
‘Muscles with Micah’ would be a workout series showing Micah’s training programme for each particular day of the week. This would be long-form video content, ideally 12-15 minutes long on YouTube.
The videos would be based on the type of workout Micah would do on a particular day in the week. For example, on Monday, Micah may do a chest and triceps workout, on Tuesday, he could do a back &bicep workout and Wednesday might be legs etc.
This series can further developed so that Micah trains with his friends in different industries, other professional footballers (ex or current footballers) and other Gymshark athletes. There could be challenges involved in the series, e.g. completing a circuit under X number of minutes.
It would also be good to co-present and collaborate this show with another Gymshark Athlete/Ambassador in the world of weightlifting/fitness. Nathaniel Massiah would be a good ambassador to collaborate as he is young yet achieved a lot in the bodybuilding world (recently became a junior champion). This would help join the worlds of bodybuilding and football and bring their respective audiences together.
Later on, Micah may even collaborate with Gymshark to produce an eGuide on the training workout shown in the videos.
Distribution Mix
The content would mainly be distributed on social media – YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. If you’re already a subscriber to Gymshark’s emails, you may see a segment in the email about the collaboration between Micah Richards and Gymshark.
Content Calendar
For the initial series where Micah shows us his personal workout plan, videos can be released weekly (on the days he does those workouts). For the ones he collaborates with others, those can also be bi-weekly or weekly.
Overtime, this would help to build brand awareness about Gymshark not just being a fitness apparel brand but also a place where fitness lovers and enthusiasts can come and find inspiration for workouts done by athletes. Additionally, it will introduce Micah Richards to the fitness world more formally. Assuming he carries his likeability from being a pundit and personality to the Gymshark series, he would be a new favourite for the Gymshark audience, ultimately increasing his following.
