To millions of Egyptians, membership in a sports club isn’t a small matter. On the contrary, it’s a lifelong investment and—similar to other valuable assets—gets passed down through generations. It’s where you and your family can find a like-minded community, hone your character and athletic development, form lasting relationships, and make precious memories. That’s why it’s pretty disappointing when clubs around Egypt start taking anyone willing to pay the fees on board and loosen up their interviewing and vetting process as an easy shortcut toward higher revenues…
But the 25-acre-wide Life Sports Club, located in the heart of New Cairo on the Mohamed Naguib Axis, is set out to change that in more ways than one.
Read on to find out more about who is behind Life Sports Club, how they utilized a 360° digital campaign entitled “The Life Way” to make a buzz among a very specific audience, and how they strive to ensure the members of the community they’re building share the same values.
A Partnership Between Shalaby Developments and WellSpring
Life Sports Club sprung into existence from a partnership between real estate developers Shalaby Developments and the renowned WellSpring.
If the name Shalaby Developments doesn’t sound familiar, you’ll surely recognize them as the founders of Bianchi Sidi Abdelrahman, one of the North Coast’s most anticipated projects. Established in 1986, Shalaby Developments plays a key role as a partner and ascertains that all of Life Sports Club’s facilities are top-tier.
The common vision that the partnership is founded upon can be summarized as follows: “Providing a space to foster the essential building blocks of sportsmanship and character development for the minds and spirits of Cairo’s youth.”
WellSpring was established in 2009 and has been offering top-notch sports camps, youth programs, and family activities since then. Their values of community, family, and sports activities are instilled into the fabric of Life Sports Club. Well-known as a leading and trusted brand for children, Wellspring believes in the power of building bonds through family activities, sports, camps, adventures, and transformational programs. And this is all reflected in Life Sports Club…
Finally, DAR, one of the biggest design consultancies in the world, brought its international expertise to the project. With an extensive portfolio of magnificent projects in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe, they’re definitely among the reasons why Life Sports Club is destined to become a unique offering.
The Referral System and Shared Values: Maintaining the Exclusivity of the Community
Numerous sports clubs across Egypt will claim that their interviewing and vetting processes are the best and that this alone should be a guarantee of a carefully selected and close-knit community with shared values.
According to the Life Sports Club team, joining only through a referral system will ensure the community remains exclusive, and revolve around certain shared values.
To paint a clearer picture of this community and its values, as well as to accelerate its growth via ambassadors’ nominations, Life Sports Club launched “The Life Way”.
The Life Way
Devoid of any mass communication, “The Life Way” campaign utilized digital to reach the specific and well-defined audience that is Life Sports Club’s community. It had the following objectives:
- Raise awareness of Life Sports Club and showcase its community and its values by engaging with its ambassadors and their circles.
- Position the Life Sports Club as the go-to club for families and communities in New Cairo.
The club’s team ran after these objectives through the following tactics…
All About the Community
The following video simply, yet smoothly, conveyed the core values of Life Sports Club and the community it’s striving to build. Concisely put, it’s all about embracing diversity, being around those who inspire and motivate you, and doing life your way—that’s the essence of “The Life Way“.
People Relate to Those They Aspire To Be Like: The Digital Ambassadors Program
The digital ambassadors selected by Life Sports Club were asked to announce their nominations of who should be joining the club next. None of them were paid to do so. They only did it out of genuine belief in the club’s potential and promises.
Who They Are
These ambassadors included renowned squash legend and singer, Ramy Ashour; distinguished construction and development professionals behind Shalaby Developments, Engineers Medhat and Shady Shalaby; famed and multi-talented artist, Lara Scandar; advertising guru and athlete, Mohamed Hammady; and hospitality veteran and entrepreneur, Ayman Baky.
All of them continue to take strides in what they do and excel at it. What’s common between all of them, in the campaign’s rationale, is that they’re each winning at life in their own way!
Their Role in “The Life Way”
Each Life Sports Club ambassador was asked to nominate five people, and each of those five people could nominate another five people, and so on. As the ripples of nominations spread out, each accepted nominee got a special gift from Life Sports Club: an elegant smartwatch to welcome them ashore!
A Genuine Look at the People of Life Sports Club: The Ambassadors’ Docuseries
After Life Sports Club’s “The Life Way” released the above video and launched the ambassadors’ nominations, the docuseries was published. Why a docuseries? Because the team working on the campaign didn’t want to sell in a traditional advertisement. Just like the club ambassadors are actual members who weren’t paid to nominate people, the docuseries is a genuine look at what ties their personal stories and perspectives with “The Life Way” and Life Sports Club’s values.
Head to Life Sports Club’s website, Facebook, or Instagram to get in touch and ask them any question that might have popped into your mind about “The Life Way”…
