The journey from a new tone of voice to a new website content strategy. Discover how content fed into the digital transformation of the UK's leading health and fitness charity.

1. Case study:
Central YMCA
website
Joe Heaney / joeheaney.com

2. Central YMCA is a leading UK
health, education and wellbeing
charity.
It's also the world's first YMCA.

3. The charity runs four commercial operations:
➢YMCA Training (apprenticeships provider)
➢YMCA Club (central London gym)
➢YMCA Awards (fitness qualifications awarding body)
➢YMCA Fit (fitness-industry training)
But Central YMCA as a brand had been pretty much
dormant.
The charity wanted to change that with a new website that
would become the hub of a fresh content-led approach.

4. I was brought in at a fairly late
stage in the build to fill the new
site with content.

5. This is what
the old site
looked like.

6. First steps

7. Tone of voice
The old house style
was perceived as tired
within the organisation
and didn't fit the dynamic
new direction the brand
was taking, so I
developed a new interim
tone of voice. Read it
‘Our story is what makes us different.
And because we’re different, we really
want our website to sound different –
and show that we are different too.’

8. It fed into everything from
the long-form articles to
the microcopy.

9. User personas
The next step was to construct some web-user personas.
The digital team had already drawn up a longlist so I worked
with stakeholders to identify the primary two.
They were then fleshed out to include motivations and other
info to help make them more “real”.

10. Now we knew who the
web content was for and
what they wanted when
they came to our site.

11. Content objectives
The final piece of the puzzle was to work out the point of the
website content...
➢What did we want it to do?
➢And how could we measure it?

12. I drew up some
website objectives –
along with some rules
about appropriate
web content.

13. More ymca.co.uk
copy examples

14. Our history
View it. Or read it on the
next page...

15. The Central YMCA story began in the
early 19th century with a young
Somerset apprentice called George
Williams (1821 – 1905).
Like many others then – and today –
George came to London in the hope of
finding work.
London was the largest city in the world at
that time. A beating heart at the centre of
the Industrial Revolution. A dirty, busy place
bursting with opportunities – but also
danger.
When he arrived, George was shocked by
what he saw. Taverns and gambling dens
filled the city’s streets – but where were the
opportunities for young arrivals like him to
socialise in safety?
So George and a group of fellow drapers
came together with a plan. Their goal was
to create a place where young men could
gather and adapt to city life. Somewhere
healthy and happy. Somewhere where they
could do something more fulfilling.
That space was the YMCA Club.
Founded in 1844 the idea spread quickly.
Today the YMCA has grown to become a
worldwide organisation with 45 million
members – each YMCA adapting to the
needs of its own local community.
George’s vision to get people happy,
healthy and more fulfilled still informs
our work today at Central YMCA.

16. Eudaimonia
Campaign
View it. Or read it on the
next page...

17. Let's kickstart a rethink about what
living well means in the 21st century –
and bring about real change.
Eudaimonia! is our movement to learn about
– and overcome – the barriers to
the UK’s wellbeing. We're taking a radical,
grassroots approach. We want to rip up the
rule book, look past assumptions and
ultimately come up with real, practical
solutions that help people flourish.
We’ve commissioned a new Eudaimonia!
research report to give us fresh insight.
We organised a TEDx-style event to share
inspiration. And throughout the next 12
months we are incubating pioneering new
ideas with a variety of partners – from
individuals to organisations – before deciding
which ones to roll out nationwide.
Get involved
and join the
movement

18. End