The brand is also trying to appeal to younger people. This
summer, 13-to-17-year-olds will be able to get free memberships
when they join with paying adults, for example. Grossman recalled
how as a 14-year-old with aspirations to be a cheerleader, she went
along with her mom to Weight Watchers meeting, saying she felt
"very insecure" back then.
There are plenty of other health, fitness or diet brands out
there, from Jenny Craig and SlimFast to Atkins and Nutrisystem. But
the biggest challenge for any of them may be consumers' belief that
they can become healthy, lose weight or be better on their own.
Only 5 percent of people use a commercial weight-loss program,
Grossman said. Weight Watchers wants to be "the partner" of that
other 95 percent.
Other goals include adding new members, keeping them on the plan
longer, growing profit more quickly than revenue and topping $2
billion in annual revenue by 2020. That last one is a lofty target
considering revenue was $1.16 billion in 2016 and $994.4 million
through the first nine months of 2017. (The company won't report
2017 results until Feb. 27.)
Weight Watchers had 3.4 million subscribers to its program at
the end of September; it's aiming for 5 million in the program plus
another 5 million engaging with the brand through experiences and
content.
Planned new Weight Watchers branding, including packaging and
digital elements, was not discussed in much detail during
Wednesday's event. The meeting took place two days after Weight
Watchers named Gail Tifford as its chief brand officer, tasked with
"activating the evolution of the Weight Watchers brand." Tifford
was most recently Unilever's VP of media North America and global
digital media innovation.
The Oprah effect
The company's connection with Winfrey, announced in October
2015, has clearly helped the company.
A Weight Watchers member in one of the many videos played during
the event called the company's app "o-mazing" in a reference to
Winfrey.
Then Winfrey took the stage, charming the audience with jovial
comments on things like cronuts (which she says contain 53 points
under the Weight Watchers system) and announcing that she's stopped
gaining weight during the holidays since she joined the
program.
"Healthy is the new skinny," said Winfrey, who turned 64 last
month and says she has never felt better. "I was in such bad shape
Weight Watchers called me," Winfrey joked about her relationship
with the company.
Weight Watchers on Jan. 1 rolled out DJ Khaled as its latest
endorser. The music star shares his personal updates as a social
media ambassador, broadcasting his progress on its Freestyle
program on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and
elsewhere.
Weight Watchers' other efforts include tweaks to its own Connect
platform, which allows members to communicate with one another.
It's also trying to get more personal with members, for example,
sending texts or little gifts when people reach milestones or seem
to be struggling. And it's opening an office in San Francisco to
help recruit tech talent.
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The stock, which soared when the relationship with Winfrey was
formed, has continued to climb. On Wednesday, it was trading above
$74 for the first time since 2012.
