Clearlight Saunas has reframed wellness as an investment in your most valuable asset — yourself — with its new campaign ‘Sweat Equity’, created in partnership with independent creative agency Hellions.
Built around the question of whether people treat their health with the same seriousness as their financial portfolios, the campaign puts Clearlight’s ‘Enter Original’ brand platform to work while giving its EOFY offer a more distinctive proposition than the usual discount-led messaging.
The idea takes the traditional meaning of “sweat equity” — the time and effort invested in building a business or asset — and gives it a wellness twist, positioning health as an asset capable of delivering its own long-term returns.
At the centre of the campaign is entrepreneur, investor and Clearlight customer Mark Bouris, who challenges consumers to consider whether they are investing in the one asset that really counts.
Bouris shares his own experience with Clearlight, claiming that a sauna “outperforms investing in anything else”. The campaign was later expanded with entrepreneur and author Lisa Messenger, alongside a competition giving consumers the chance to win a Clearlight sauna.
Dan Sparkes, partner at Hellions, said the agency identified an opportunity to bring an investment mindset to wellness.
“Most of us spend an extraordinary amount of time thinking about the future value of property, super, businesses or our financial portfolios, but verrrry little time thinking about the future value of our own health,” Sparkes said.
“We realised there was power in treating wellness with that same investment mindset. Once you decide your body is an asset, an entirely new perspective opens up.”
Sparkes said the approach also allowed Clearlight’s EOFY offer to become part of the broader brand idea, rather than sitting separately as a retail promotion.
“Rather than just talking about what someone saves when they buy a sauna at EOFY, we could talk about what they stand to gain from prioritising their health,” he said.
“And importantly, it meant our retail offer didn’t have to sit separately from the brand idea. Getting a sauna for less became an original opportunity to invest in something that could keep paying you back long after the sale finished.”
The campaign was developed as a modular system of hooks, context and actions, designed to move consumers through the funnel from the broader health-investment proposition through to data capture, product consideration, purchase and urgency.
Created with director and photographer Chris Tovo and production partners Guilty Productions, PrayTell, Gusto Studios, Advertising Associates and a team of specialists, the campaign ran across social, LinkedIn, web and Google formats.
The media campaign extended across YouTube, Performance Max, Search, programmatic video and display retargeting.
Lalena King, global marketing manager at Clearlight, said the campaign was designed to avoid the sameness that often accompanies EOFY activity.
“EOFY has a habit of making every brand look and sound the same. Many brands take everything distinctive about themselves, put it to one side for a month and start yelling percentages,” King said.
“Our brief to the team was to do the opposite: don’t just discount for EOFY, build brand equity through it.”
King said the campaign connected Clearlight’s broader health and wellbeing proposition with the immediate mindset of EOFY shoppers.
“‘Sweat Equity’ connected our mission of improving health and wellbeing with the EOFY consumer mindset in a way that set us apart from competitors and gave people both the emotional and financial incentive to act,” she said.
“The ‘Sweat Equity’ campaign pulled people through the entire funnel in six weeks, for a consideration cycle that is typically six to 12 months.”
The campaign delivered a 152 per cent year-on-year increase in leads, while its dedicated Performance Max activity generated 64 per cent more purchase value than always-on activity despite running at lower spend.
YouTube also delivered a 29.5 per cent view-through rate.
The campaign builds on Clearlight’s ‘Enter Original’ brand platform, developed with Hellions to give the premium sauna brand a more distinctive voice in the wellness category.
Credits
Client: Clearlight International, a distributor of Clearlight Infrared Saunas & Wellness Solutions
CEO and Co-founder: Sebastian Mierau
Co-founder: Johannes Jess
Global Marketing Manager: Lalena King
Digital Marketing Specialist: Gabriella Mitchell
eCommerce & Digital Experience Manager: Jackie Hartwig
Direct Marketing Manager: Rosie McNeil
Creative agency: Hellions
PR: Praytell
Media: Advertising Associates
Production Company: Guilty & Positive Ape
Director & Photographer: Chris Tovo
Producer: Jason Byrne
Production Manager: Jack Davies
DOP: Calum Riddell
Sound: Gusto Studios
Editor: Monica Cordero
Motion Graphics: Lumberfly
Talent: Mark Bouris and Lisa Messenger
