The campaign is the first major marketing effort for the gym chain since it rebranded from Holmes Place last year, following the merger of the two fitness chains. The campaign coincides with the smoking ban in England, which began on July 1.
The creative is by Beattie McGuinness Bungay and uses executions such as "can seriously improve your sex life" and "may improve your pulling power", in a parody of the cigarette packet health warnings. The overall strapline of the campaign is "Start a whole new kind of puffing with Virgin Active".
The strategy for the campaign has been devised by Goodstuff and Manning Gottlieb OMD is the media agency.
The campaign will run online, with roadblocks of the Guardian, This is London and Metro websites. Offline activity will run in newspapers including the Metro, Thelondonpaper and London Lite.
It aims to generate awareness of the Virgin Active brand as well as drive gym memberships among ABC1 adults. The activity is backed by a free-trial offer.
The offline element of the campaign, also planned and bought by Manning Gottlieb OMD, will include a press schedule covering the Metro, London Paper and the London Lite. This activity is also set to appear in titles from July 2 to take full advantage of the coverage at this time.
Ruepal Nijjar, senior planner and buyer at Manning Gottlieb OMD, said: "The strategy has been developed with Virgin's unique sense of humour in mind and the mix of online and offline media will ensure that the campaign reaches the widest possible audience."