Welcome to the club

As Digital Design lead at DDB Nord
FM Core team

Credits:
DDB Stockholm
Digital Design
DDB ID

The decline in public health affects the Swedish Armed Forces, as new recruits don't meet previous standards. To address this, we launched FMTK (Swedish Armed Forces Sports Club) and created the FMTK app—a comprehensive, accessible training tool for everyone, anytime, anywhere. Welcome to the club.

Insight

Despite the booming training industry and the known benefits of an active lifestyle, many people today lead passive lives, leading to ill health and lower quality of life.

This issue also impacts the Swedish Armed Forces, as new recruits don't meet past standards, making basic training more costly and inefficient due to high dropout rates.

Effective recruitment for the Swedish Armed Forces relies on informing and attracting the right young people. Achieving this requires being relevant and engaging on platforms where young people are active.

Solution

The Swedish Armed Forces has a longstanding philosophy of training anywhere, anytime. We saw an opportunity to make this philosophy relevant to the public, especially young people, while preparing recruits for the physical demands of service. Recognising the decline in public health, we launched FMTK (Swedish Armed Forces Sports Club).

We introduced our strength-stamina-mobility philosophy through the FMTK app, making workouts accessible, simple, and back to basics. This mobile app became the core of our campaign and the hub for long-term communication.

All you needed was your body, some willpower, and the FMTK app.

App screens

The FMTK app served as a pilot when the FM core team were exploring the Armed Forces visual identity.

Campaign site

Personal trainers / armed forces personel & app set-up

UX/UI

The experience focused on creating a smartphone-optimized workout experience that's user-friendly and distraction-free and all videos created in a portrait format.

The app's clean, dynamic framework prioritizes content, using negative space and clear margins for an intuitive flow. Users can instantly start the workout of the day, filter for specific exercises, and explore weekly programs or hidden challenges—all while tracking progress and comparing results with friends.

The design embodies the Armed Forces: trustworthy, modern, and structured, yet approachable. It blends familiar mobile patterns with unique interactive elements, delivering a seamless and distinctive brand experience.

Identity & Toolbox

TV ad

Result

The app hit #1 on the App Store on its first day and has broken several records since. Initially aiming for 35,000 downloads in six weeks, it reached 180,000 in four weeks and 274,000 in six weeks, making FMTK Sweden’s third-largest training community. 

FMTK has been #1 on both the App Store and Google Play, earning "Best New App" and "Editor’s Choice." The podcast has over 200,000 listens, and the launch campaign set record highs in Ad Liking, Observations, and Advertising Attributes.