London Livery taxi

On January 19, 2015, otherwise known as ‘Blue Monday’, the UK’s largest gym chain Fitness First, joined forces with the UK’s best loved Olympian and fitness enthusiast, Victoria Pendleton and Team GB gymnast Max Whitlock to turn Blue Monday, Red.  

Helping Brits to beat the post-Christmas blues, holiday debt and lack of sunshine with endorphin boosting one to one fitness activities, Fitness First opened gym doors across the UK for free visits, welcoming members of the public to experience ‘Fitness Reconfigured’, a campaign providing new insights into fun and dynamic workouts with a difference. Fitness First found that 41% of UK adults agreed that January was the most depressing month of the year with 82% wanting to improve their general wellbeing as part of their new year’s resolution.

To help raise the profile of Red Monday, Fitness First created an exclusive fleet of red taxis, and furthermore, to help those Londoners who required a little more encouragement to get to the gym, Fitness First provided VIP taxi rides. On entering the taxis, passengers were met by famous Olympians, Victoria Pendleton and Max Whitlock, who were on the back seat to share fitness tips and motivational advice to help spur the passenger on.

Max Whitlock said “When I ask my friends, they say that getting to the gym can be the hardest part of any workout, especially during the winter. I love the idea of Fitness First cabs which make the journey easier for a lucky few.”

To book a Fitness First taxi, people simply needed to Tweet #RedMondayFF to @FitnessFirstUK, for a lift to one of three central London clubs. The same hashtag was used throughout the day to share motivational hints and tips.

Commenting on  the taxi activity, David Jones, UK Marketing Director of Fitness First said, “It’s been a delight working with the Ubiquitous team and their drivers who have gone out of their way to deliver an excellent concept that has gone down a storm with members and non-members alike.’

Movember, the month formally known as November, is all about bringing back the moustache, having fun and doing it for a serious cause: men's health - specifically prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health.

This Movember, Ubiquitous is helping to promote awareness of men’s health by backing the London Cab Driver Challenge, complete with a promo Livery taxi and its Ubiq ‘Mo Bro’ driver, Ian Buckler, who’ll be growing his mo for Movember! The London Cab Driver Challenge calls on London’s black cabbies to get behind the moustache and help start conversations around men’s health.

So guys, this month, don’t be surprised if your cabbie is a Mo Bro or Mo Sista who kick starts a chat about Movember and looking after your health as well as your moustache! Oh and don’t forget to look out for Ian in his Movember taxi – tweet a picture of his cab or his mo to #Movember.

Not a cabbie? No problem! Here at Ubiquitous we have a few of our own Mo Bros and Sistas taking part in Movember and we’ve set up a Team Ubiquitous page so you can watch our progress and make a donation! Set up your own individual or team page here.

There are now official Movember campaigns in 21 countries and to date over 4 million participants have signed up to Movember.com, raising £345m globally; the Movember foundation has now funded over 800 programmes around the world.