Inside the Creative Journey

Strive Performance is a sportswear brand specialising in high-performance training and fitness apparel.

The brand initially grew through selling to friends and customers within the local Swansea community, but the ambition was much bigger: to take Strive Performance from a local clothing brand to a business capable of generating orders worldwide.

As a fully online brand, social media was going to play a crucial role in making this possible. Without a physical retail presence, we needed to use social media to build brand awareness, create a strong community and drive customers beyond the local market.

Strive Performance also operates predominantly through product drops, making anticipation and hype a key part of the strategy. Rather than simply promoting products when they became available, our focus was on building excitement beforehand and creating a community that was actively waiting for the next release.

Building the Brand

We began by establishing Strive Performance across the major social media platforms, creating a consistent presence and developing a content strategy designed around the brand's target audience.

Alongside consistent content, we looked beyond social media to identify opportunities to build the Strive community in the real world. We mapped out relevant fitness events and competitions where the brand could connect directly with its target audience, while also exploring opportunities to host our own events.

The goal was to create more than just a clothing brand. We wanted to build a community around performance, fitness and the Strive identity, giving customers a reason to follow, engage with and ultimately become part of the brand.

The Results

The strategy delivered significant growth for Strive Performance, helping transform the brand from a predominantly local business into one with an increasingly international customer base.

• 600% increase in online sales from the first half of the year to the second

• 5× increase in Instagram engagement from the beginning to the end of the year

• 10+ countries shipped to internationally

• Performance kit supplied to multiple gyms and fitness facilities

A significant proportion of the sales came directly from the product drops. By consistently building anticipation, creating engaging content and growing the community between releases, we were able to generate the level of hype needed to make each drop successful.

The results demonstrated the value of building a strong audience before asking them to buy. Rather than relying solely on product promotion, we focused on creating a community around the brand — turning followers into engaged customers and building momentum around every new release.

Building a Community Beyond Social Media

Strive Performance is an entirely online brand with no physical stores, meaning the majority of its reach and customer acquisition comes through social media. While digital platforms have been central to the brand’s growth, we found that taking the community offline was equally valuable.

Social events provided an opportunity for Strive Performance to connect with customers face-to-face, strengthen relationships and create a sense of community around the brand. We saw customers who attended these events go on to make repeat purchases, demonstrating the value of building genuine relationships beyond the initial sale.

Rather than simply building an audience online, the focus has been on creating a community that customers want to be part of.

We continue to build on the progress made so far, with plans to expand the number of social events throughout the year and create more opportunities for customers to connect with the brand — and with each other.

The long-term goal is to continue growing Strive Performance internationally while maintaining the strong community and identity that helped the brand grow in the first place.