The Scrooge campaign is certainly different from another memorable holiday campaign, Peloton’s 2019 work, which was created with a different agency (Mekanism) and internal marketing team. The brand was widely panned for its “The Gift That Gives Back” spot, which showed an already quite trim woman trying to get skinnier at the apparent behest of her husband. Though the ad’s criticism did not ultimately impact sales, Peloton shortly thereafter saw revenue skyrocket as homebound consumers invested in bikes during pandemic lockdowns. Sales rose so much that Peloton pulled back in marketing.
But now, Peloton is turning up the marketing, as it strives to boost new products like the treadmill, which was recently rereleased following a safety recall, and persuade customers to stick with home products versus returning to gyms.
On a late August earnings call with analysts, executives said sales and marketing expenses for the fourth quarter were 25% of total revenue, compared to 14% in the year-earlier period.
“We are planning fiscal 2022 as an investment year in marketing our products,” said Jill Woodworth, chief financial officer, on the call. At the time, Peloton reported fiscal 2021 revenue of $4 billion, more than double 2020’s $1.8 billion.
Peloton reports first-quarter earnings later today.
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