After years of touting its in-home, internet-connected fitness equipment, Peloton is making a sharp turn to assert that its true central products are its app and its fitness guides and classes. And that they are for everyone, everywhere.
The new positioning includes a new brand identity and advertising campaign, as well as new app-usage membership tiers and a new Peloton Gym content feature. The overall message is that Peloton and its content are appropriate for all fitness levels and for use in a variety of locations.
To move away from the perception that it is a hardware company, Peloton has restructured its consumer offerings, creating five distinct membership tiers for its app. The tiers are designed to offer something for everyone at all fitness levels to work out with or without its equipment, independently or with instruction.
“This is an opportunity to showcase how we meet our members where they are,” said Jaisa Dominguez, senior corporate communications manager for Peloton. “It’s an opportunity to take ownership of what we are, rather than what we have been perceived as.”
Central to the new positioning is a marketing campaign that includes a new brand identity with a vibrant color palette and imagery showing off the glow one might feel after a workout, Dominguez said. The campaign uses images of current Peloton members photographed before and after their workouts to show the difference exercise makes.
“That’s real sweat,” Dominguez said. “It was our intention to show how members use our content [using] before and after pictures.”
In addition to the still imagery, the brand has created a 90-second film showing people going through their exercise routines in a variety of different ways and places. The spot starts with a slow-motion image of someone clicking on the brand’s app and slowly building momentum as the users prepare for their workouts. The energy builds as they begin various activities, from calisthenics to running to lifting weights (and babies). The workouts occur in homes, in gyms and outside to further highlight the “anyone, everywhere” approach.
“The perception [of Peloton] was that it was for a certain demographic, but the reality is that we are for everyone,” Dominguez said. “It’s an opportunity to show everyone that Peloton is what you want it to be and can be accessed from anywhere.”
The new campaign is live in the United States and Canada and will be featured in television commercials, paid digital advertising and streaming. Local market creative campaigns are scheduled to roll out later this year, Dominguez said.
Peloton has been a closely watched brand for years. The brand was an early pandemic success as lockdowns encouraged people to find ways to workout at home (often using Peloton’s pricey bikes and treadmills). The company’s fortunes have faltered since, as it struggled to keep up with that pandemic demand and more competitors began to enter the market.
Additionally, the brand’s marketing has drawn negative attention, first in a holiday commercial that featured a husband giving his wife a Peloton bike for Christmas (resulting in a backlash about a man presuming his spouse needs to be in better shape). Later, Peloton was depicted as the cause of a major character’s death early in the run of HBO’s “And Just Like That…” program.
