The Team Behind Gronks New Site
Re-Launch Promo Code for 15% Off
Code: MindRight-15
Some Exclusions Apply - Sale Items, WaterRower
Great things don’t just happen, they are carefully constructed by a team of experts. Even Gronk needed the help of his family, coaches and teammates to become the historic tight end monster he now is.
Similarly, the newly-launched Gronk Fitness Products website was created by a team of experts combining their skills to bring you the best of the best.
Meet the people behind the site behind the Gronks.
We caught up with Ryan McDermott, web design expert for Bold Commerce in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and photographer/training center owner Dave Laus about how they created the kick ass site that is inspiring people around the country to get Gronk’ed.
McDermott had never worked with the Gronkowskis before, and while he’d seen their skills on the field, this was his first experience of their business smarts.
“They were referred to us by our friends at Shopify as they felt confident we were the team that could build them the site the Gronkowskis had envisioned,” he said. To set up your own Shopify ecommerce site visit HERE.
Just like Rob, there are many things about the site that makes it unique, McDermott explained. “There are some great custom aspects of the site (from interactive videos to workout breakdowns) that really help it stand out, and we also incorporated a wholesale aspect to the site that opens new doors for the Gronk Fitness Team,” he said -- so clients can literally watch, try, buy.
Of course, every new project comes with special challenges, but “the only real challenge was trying to implement all of the great ideas that both parties were coming up with!” McDermott said.
For fitness photographer Laus, the biggest thing to overcome was getting the whole family together at once – and the perfect time came the weekend of the NFL draft when they all came together to celebrate Glenn starting his professional career. They had to try and everything – photos, videos and workouts for Stacked.com – shot in two days, but luckily the Gronkowskis are used to tight schedules and grinding it out.
Fortunately, Laus already had plenty of Gronk Fitness equipment at his Optimum Training Centre in Toronto – such as Olympic bars, water rowers, sleds and battle ropes -- as they train a lot of athletes, especially hockey players there.
“The athletes like the Gronk name on the equipment as they trust it. They associate it to fitness and dominating their sport,” he said.
Laus had shot with Rob and Dan before, but this was the first time he’d been with the whole family. “It was an amazing time, they weren’t acting like celebrities, they were normal and easy – and they love to play it up in front of the camera,” he told us. “We shut down the gym for two days, so they were pretty relaxed and were able to be themselves.”
Laus was able to bring the guy’s personalities out in their profile pics.
“Rob was focused, Dan was the pack leader, Glenn is happy go-lucky, Gordie Jr. is just goofy, Chris is all serious, and Gordy Sr. was having fun,” he said. Yep, that sounds about right!
And McDermott said it was the personal touches that really made the site click.
“Their fitness programming and their desire to be the go-to fitness experts is amazing, reading about the family and being able to buy their favorite products is another great aspect that I think people will love,” McDermott said
“It was great to get to know the Gronk Fitness team and to be able to help put their thoughts into reality. Their enthusiasm and desire to be the best and have the best site was infectious,” he said. “We're now helping Chris Gronkowski with his new site, and we are thrilled to be able to keep working with the Gronk family in the future.”
Always a diligent worker, Laus said that Chris “trained really hard for the shoot and dieted for it. He was really dedicated!” Always pushing it, Chris … we love that.
“Then they did a running man video, and that went viral!” he added.
Some of Laus’ favorite shots were outside on the rooftop, “they are really cool,” he said. “The group shots of the family are really good too, we had to do a lot of that on white backgrounds to show off the equipment.”
And then after the work was all over, Laus got to celebrate with the boys on Draft Day when Glenn was picked up by the Buffalo Bills (he has since signed with the Patriots practice squad). No official word as to whether he has actually recovered from that party yet …
Click here to visit GronkFitnessProducts.com and keep up with the boys' latest workouts, and meet Dave Laus from OTC Toronto below.
Launch Promo Code for 15% Off
Code: MindRight-15
Some Exclusions Apply - Sale Items, WaterRower
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