There's No Yoga in Lululemon's First Global Campaign

Spot by Virtue Worldwide Shows How the Practice Can Be Part of Everyday Life

Published On
May 15, 2017

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In Lululemon's new video, the retailer highlights activities from surfing to singing and almost everything in-between. The new spot, which runs nearly two minutes in length, excludes the traditional yoga for which the 19-year-old brand is known. Instead, "This Is Yoga" emphasizes how the meditation, breadth and self-discipline learned from yoga translates into other pursuits.

"The irony is that it's all about yoga," said Duke Stump, exec-VP of brand and community at Lululemon. "One of our goals was to make it aspirational but both accessible and inclusive so people can see how yoga can be part of their everyday life."

Rather than spend a lot on advertising, the Vancouver-based brand has traditionally relied on grassroots marketing and word-of-mouth by loyal fans. Such a strategy, of course, could also have the opposite effect as illustrated by Lululemon's now notorious see-through-pants disaster of 2013. But now, Lululemon is flexing its dollars to include more of a marketing push as the athleisure market grows more crowded and consumers begin to spend less on apparel.

Lululemon's new push includes digital and social, some over-the-top TV and global out-of-home.

This is the retailer's first time working with Brooklyn-based Virtue Worldwide, Vice Media's ad agency, and its first time working with a creative agency on a project of this scale. The relationship, which came about because Virtue's global reach fit well with Lululemon's hopes for expansion, is ongoing, Stump said, noting that Virtue is expected to handle Lululemon's holiday work.

"When I first met the team from Lululemon, I barely knew what yoga was, but we gelled immediately and collaborated exhaustively," said Virtue's founder Spencer Baim.

The new push follows the retailer's successful holiday campaign "The Air Out There," which was primarily product-focused.

Read more on the campaign over at AdAge.com.