A Visit to Pixformance in Berlin

Last week, I visited Pixformance in Berlin with the Fitbrand team. At Pixformance, they are working to revolutionize the fitness world. In 2014, the Pixformance Station won the innovation award at FIBO, the world’s leading fitness conference.

Last year, I worked extensively on the Pixformance website. Initially, I was almost full-time on the project, then mainly focusing on weekly updates and fine-tuning the site. The website turned out great, and the online marketing campaigns have been very successful. (text continues below the video)

Berlin is not exactly around the corner from Groningen, so last year, most of our contact with Pixformance was through email, project management tools, and phone calls. This works well, but it’s always nice and useful to meet your clients face-to-face. Therefore, last Thursday and Friday, Peter van der Steege, Marc Cornelius, and I traveled to Berlin to visit the Pixformance office.

Peter is responsible for overall branding and project management, Marc handles online marketing and advertising, and I am responsible for the design and technical aspects of the website.

Pixformance Station? Tell us more

With the Pixformance Station, everyone can train functionally in an accessible way. The motion-controlled interface provides direct instructions on the screen. The built-in sensor analyzes the movements made and gives real-time feedback to the user. The Pixformance Station is best described as a large iPad (approximately 1.70 meters tall). It is equipped with a large touchscreen display and a Kinect motion sensor—yes, the one from Xbox! 😉

The Pixformance Station has been on the market since 2015 and is available worldwide. The largest customer is currently the German fitness chain Mrs. Sporty, with multiple Pixformance Stations in each location.

Time to Play the Tourist in Berlin

Our trip had two parts: on Thursday, we explored the city and prepared for the meeting, and on Friday, we held discussions all day. I was the only one in our group who had never been to Berlin, so I got a quick tour of the most popular tourist attractions.

Checkpoint Charlie

A historic site that you could easily pass by if you’re not paying attention. It’s special to walk around Checkpoint Charlie, but there’s not much to see. However, the commercial aspect is very prominent, which leaves a bit of a strange taste.

Berlin Wall

A few meters from Checkpoint Charlie, you’ll find a section of the Berlin Wall. It’s impressive to see, but the numerous food and souvenir stands next to such a significant location are somewhat disturbing.

Brandenburg Gate

An impressive building. There were several peaceful demonstrations and a lot of police presence. Unfortunately, the back side was closed due to the World Cup, as a large screen was being set up.

Reichstag (German Parliament)

A huge building. It’s beautiful to see how the old and new come together. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit it as the registrations for Thursday and Friday were already full.

One afternoon and evening are really too short to explore Berlin properly, but it was a nice preview. I’ll definitely book a private city trip to Berlin soon and am especially looking forward to exploring the less touristy sides of the city.

Time for Business!

On Friday, it was time for business. Around 10 a.m., we drove into the parking lot of the massive building where Pixformance is located. That wasn’t so bad, as the local Porsche and Audi garages are right next to it.

After a tour of the Pixformance office, we had an in-depth discussion about the past year. What went well, what could be better, and what are we proud of? Peter talked about Fitbrand’s overall approach, Marc explained online marketing and advertising, and I spoke about the developments on the website.

Then it was time to talk about the coming year. I can’t share too much yet, but we’re going to do some really exciting things. Additionally, it’s been decided that the Fitbrand team will gradually hand over simpler tasks to Pixformance’s internal team, giving Fitbrand more time to focus on conceptual development for new ideas.

What’s Next

In the coming months, we’ll be launching two new concepts with Pixformance. We’ll be updating the current website to make space for these new concepts. Regarding online advertising, we’ll be rolling out the successful Dutch campaigns in Germany.

Furthermore, the Fitbrand team is in discussions about a potential partnership with Pixformance for a very cool new concept. More to come soon…