How Hydrow, a rowing rival to Peloton, is building its brand

Hydrow is hoping to make this holiday season a happy one as it merrily rows along in building its three-year-old brand. The seller of rowing machines has been able to take advantage of the surge in popularity of at-home connected fitness equipment that has helped grow competitors such as Peloton and Mirror, the interactive device recently acquired by Lululemon.
Hydrow sells through its e-commerce site and also in physical locations such as at Best Buy and some Fabletics stores.
Last month, Hydrow hired Gretchen Saegh-Fleming as its first chief commercial officer, tasked with helping to grow brand awareness and marketing, as well as handle sales across both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar partners. She joined Hydrow after two years as chief marketing officer of L’Oréal USA.

Gretchen Saegh-Fleming, Hydrow.
“We’re a young, upstart, growing brand,” says Saegh-Fleming, speaking on the latest episode of the “Marketer’s Brief” podcast. “In order to win as a challenger brand you have to go fast, be creative, take chances and create really superior consumer experiences.”
She notes that Hydrow has an edge over competitors because rowing works 86% of muscles, or nearly twice that of running or cycling. It’s now Saegh-Fleming’s job to educate consumers on that point.
A new ad campaign should help. Earlier this month, Hydrow debuted a holiday campaign that showcases a newer, trimmer Santa played by Toronto’s Fashion Santa, the influencer with 43,600 Instagram followers. Hydrow worked with Fair Folk, based out of Boston, on the ad.
“The seed of the idea of the campaign was how do we re-imagine the classic Santa Claus figure for 2020, someone who is savvy, who cares about his health, and living an active lifestyle?” says Saegh-Fleming. “It shows a modern man doing a modern workout.”
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