Last fall, the Swedish sportswear brand Björn Borg released its first fitness app ever – Sprinter. The free iPhone app was a parody of Tinder, but for sporty people. It enabled users to match with a new workout buddy and improve their performance by reaching goals together, at a local gym or in a sunny park during the holiday. A mission easy to complete through Sprinters three simple steps – Sweat, Swipe and Socialize.

To access Sprinter users had to collect fuel by excercising with their iPhone in their hand or in a pocket. This unlocks key functionalities in the app, such as flicking through images of other users and instant messaging. All with the hopes to match with a future workout buddy. In short: Sweat, Swipe, Socialize. The fashion images and other supporting campaign material directed our target group to download Sprinter in the App store.

The advertising campaign centerered around Sprinter, with fashion images depicting romantic couples excercising in the brand new collection – implying that they’ve met through the app.

Two weeks after launch, Apple selected Sprinter as ”Best New App” in iTunes App Store. Users swiped over 3 600 000 times in over 43 countries. Over 15 000 matches were generated. But most importantly, Sprinter received over 130 editorial articles in fitness and fashion media and over 20 million people reached in key markets.

The scientifically proven Köhler effect shows that a workout buddy will boost your exercise motivation with over 100%1. Björn Borg takes up on that by enabling people to find like-minded partners through Sprinter. It has taken its inspiration from the dating app Tinder, but with fine-tuning the apps core functionalities.

Björn Borg is a Swedish fashion brand named after the famous tennis legend. Last year the company shifted towards a more sporty focus. To launch their autumn winter 2015 sportswear collection, we created the free mobile app Sprinter.