In a category obsessed with aesthetics and unachievable ideals, Bullfrog partnered with Kic to transform how their community think about health, wellness, and themselves.
By rejecting toxic diet culture and building a feel-good fitness brand around community, content, and balance, Kic became one of the most relatable and trusted health brand in Australia, setting a new standard for what healthy really looks like.
Business strategy
Data-driven insights
Community engagement building
Strategic planning
Brand foundations
Verbal and visual identity
Product Design system
Feature and experience concepts
Mobile product design
Customer testing
Communications strategy
Campaign development
Media and channel strategy
Advocacy and influencer partnerships
CRM and Lifecycle strategy
Social and experience activation
Partnership strategy
Outcomes
Phase 1:
Defining the brand
Starting with goals to improve retention and broaden appeal, we worked with stakeholders and customers to define Kic’s true role.
We soon recognised the need for a name change, moving away from the misaligned “Keep It Cleaner” roots and embracing the name the community had long used: Kic.
From there, we built a flexible brand system inspired by Kic’s spirit, balancing boldness with support. Not a static guideline, but an adaptive system that empowered the team to apply it independently across the content library, GTM campaigns, and in-app experience.
Phase 2:
Elevate the product
With a confident, distinct brand in tow, we turned to the product experience, establishing a customer experience strategy that translated research and interviews into tangible opportunities. This highlighted the most impactful areas to optimise: personalisation, discovery, and program delivery across varied fitness levels.
As Kic transitioned product development in-house, we supported the setup and roadmap for a new product arm. To move fast and stay consistent, we designed and implemented a product design system that enabled the team to ship features at pace, with the assurance of a unified, end-to-end brand experience.
Phase 3:
Share your brand story
To establish Kic as the feel-good fitness app, we built a platform of campaigns that together, built Kic into a cult community brand. One that rejects diet culture and proves that feeling good is the most powerful form of fitness.
Kic’ing the resolutions
In a January dominated by “new year, new you” messaging, calorie counting, and unsustainable transformation challenges, Kic flipped the script. We launched a campaign centred on feeling good, not fixating on numbers. By cutting against the grain of harmful industry norms, Kic positioned itself as the supportive alternative - and drove a 100% revenue increase year-on-year.
Kic’ing the expectation
During the mid-year winter slump, when motivation typically dropped, we tapped into the social term “Mid” - shorthand for being a bit average. Instead of ignoring the mood of our community, we embraced it, tapping into the topical conversations the brand champions were already part of and encouraging the community to move at their own pace. The campaign struck a cultural chord, running for two consecutive years and exceeding H2 revenue targets in just two weeks.
Kic’ing the bounce back culture
Pregnancy and postpartum had long been underserved in the wellness space, often reduced to “bounce back” pressure. With KicBump, we created a perinatal program that celebrated the power and beauty of motherhood. Backed by data, expert voices, and community insight, the offering became best-in-class and redefined expectations for the category.
Kic’ing intimidation and cost barriers
Kic Concierge was created to make Pilates more accessible, tackling the cost and confidence barriers of studio classes. At its core was an intuitive quiz that acted like a digital concierge, guiding users to their perfect Pilates pack in under 60 seconds and giving them confidence to subscribe.
To take the idea further, co-founders Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw launched a direct phone line, personally fielding over 1,600 calls in 48 hours. By stepping into the role of concierges themselves, they turned from brand founders into the brand’s “front desk” - adding a supportive touch of community connection the digital category had never seen. The result? Over 1M organic views, a 20% conversion rate to sign-ups, and demand so unexpectedly high it briefly crashed the platform.
Step 4:
Fuel the obsession
Kic’s growth was sustained by building community rituals and partnerships. We launched content shaped by real needs - allowing users to stack their favourite movements from Treadmill to Pilates to HIIT — and introduced new trainers like ClassPass trainer of the year, Greta with a Move on Mondays program, inspired by behavioural data around the Black Friday retail period.
Strategic partnerships deepened devotion. With New Balance, we inspired thousands to run their way, delivering 100% sell-through of the Kic Edit, 24M reach, and record participation with in person and in-app engagement at an all time high. With Dineamic, we worked with the community to uncover their favourite recipes and reimagine them as ready-made meals. This co-creation proved taste and ease can coexist, embedding fresh, healthy options into Kic routines to drive 150,000+ meal sales, supermarket ranging in Coles, and sustainable customer growth.
