Peloton tries to bounce back with new marketing push

Peloton is promoting a new member-focused campaign as it tries to regain its footing. The recently beleaguered fitness brand released “Love Every Journey” this week as a way to highlight its current customers and encourage engagement. The push follows a series of negative news reports for the once high-flying Peloton, which in recent weeks has slashed staff and named a new CEO following sales slips. The new push includes a 30-second TV spot that reuses some footage of real members, which a spokeswoman described as "resourceful." The commercial features four Peloton members and the reasons they each began working out with Peloton. “Every journey starts with a reason,” a voiceover says. “Love every journey. Peloton.” The campaign will also include social media, print and out-of-home. Digital posts contrast members’ opinions about Peloton before they joined with more favorable comments written now. For example, a customer called “Jared” referred to Peloton as an “overpriced coatrack” in 2020; now he wrote, “I love that Peloton bike. I love how fit it has made me.” Register for Ad Age Next: Health & Wellness at AdAge.com/NextWellness. “This campaign is leading with the unvarnished voices of our members at a time of heightened skepticism because nothing is sharper than the truth,” said Dara Treseder, senior VP and head of global marketing at Peloton, in a statement. Indeed, Peloton is seeing skepticism from a variety of places. Earlier this month, the brand announced it was cutting 2,800 jobs, or 20% of its workforce. It named Barry McCarthy as its new leader as former CEO, co-founder John Foley, moved into a chairman role. The brand also came under fire for reports that said many laid-off workers found out they were dismissed simply because their office Slack access was revoked. New marketing is an attempt for the brand to regain its former luster as a pandemic darling, when the home fitness market was booming and Peloton could not make its bikes fast enough to meet swelling demand. Two years ago, Peloton cut back on brand marketing and relied on growth from word-of-mouth. Now, the company has said it is boosting its marketing investment again as more people return to gyms. In its recent quarterly earnings report from early February, Peloton reported a sales and marketing expenses increase of 97% to $349.6 million, representing 30.8% of total revenues versus 16.7% in the year-earlier period. But Peloton is spending less on this campaign than on previous efforts, a spokeswoman said, because the work is regional and not global. Peloton’s internal brand team worked on the TV work with Mekanism, one of its agencies; Stink Studios handled digital, print and out-of-home. Register for Ad Age Next: Health & Wellness at AdAge.com/NextWellness.

Peloton tries to bounce back with new marketing push

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