Woman in brown activewear doing a twisting lunge stretch by tall windows marked "OpenAI", overlooking a city at dusk
Submitted by The Romans

The Open Gym

Influencer Marketing

The Romans built a ChatGPT-powered workout class for OpenAI with creator Chessie King, and reports 1.7M+ combined social content reach from attendee posts and coverage.

1.7M+combined social content reach
55+pieces of media coverage
20earned media placements
27organic posts from attendees

Case in 60 seconds

OpenAI ran its first above-the-line campaign, and The Romans was briefed to amplify it by demonstrating fitness, which the agency identifies as one of the most common ways Brits are using ChatGPT.

The campaign appears to turn on the tension the agency's research names between strong winter fitness intent and growing frustration with traditional options, because a curious audience adopts a tool it sees working rather than one explained to it.

The Romans led with an experience-first strategy aimed at a younger, fitness-curious audience, partnering with fitness and lifestyle creator Chessie King to lead a workout class that came to life using ChatGPT.

Chessie King led a workout class built with ChatGPT, and attendees produced first-hand social content showing the tool supporting planning, personalisation, motivation and recovery rather than replacing traditional training. The Romans paired new research on winter fitness intent with commentary from King to carry the story into earned media, and attendees left with The Workout, by ChatGPT, a booklet of go-to prompts.

The Romans reports 27 organic posts from attendees and 1.7M+ combined social content reach, alongside 20 earned media placements and 55+ pieces of media coverage.

Strategy Breakdown

The campaign set out to reach a younger, fitness-curious audience, the Brits the agency describes as already using ChatGPT for fitness, through an attended workout class rather than a broadcast message.
Based on the available evidence, the work sits in a winter fitness moment the agency's own research describes as strong in intent and weak in satisfaction with traditional options, which gave a new tool something to answer.
A general-purpose assistant has no obvious demonstration surface, so the page's framing suggests OpenAI needed one everyday use, fitness, to make a first above-the-line campaign concrete rather than abstract.
ChatGPT appears in a supporting role across planning, personalisation, motivation and recovery, positioned as an addition to an existing training habit rather than a replacement for traditional training.
The reliance on attendees posting first-hand content suggests the campaign treated watching a peer use the tool as more persuasive than instruction, with the prompt booklet lowering the first step into use afterwards.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Other

Partners

  • The Romans

Participation mechanic

  • Attendees took part by joining the ChatGPT-led workout class and posting from it, with 27 organic posts reported, and by taking away a booklet of prompts to run the routine themselves.

Creator role

  • Chessie King — creator

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Combined Social Content Reach1.7M+ combined social content reach
Pieces of Media Coverage55+ pieces of media coverage
Earned Media Placements20 earned media placements
Organic Posts From Attendees27 organic posts from attendees

Why The Romans' strategy worked

  1. 1

    An experience people attend and photograph turns a product demonstration into content the brand does not have to make itself, which is the mechanism behind the 27 organic posts from attendees the agency reports.

  2. 2

    Commissioning research that names a frustration people already feel gives press a reason to cover a brand activation, which appears to be what carried this one to 20 earned media placements rather than a single event write-up.

  3. 3

    A physical takeaway extends an event past its own day because it hands attendees a reason to open the product again, which is the role The Workout, by ChatGPT booklet plays here.

  4. 4

    Positioning a new tool as support for an existing habit rather than a replacement for it lowers the objection a sceptical category raises, which is how the fitness use case was framed across the content.

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