Introduction
Company Overview
Peloton was founded in 2012 and released their first product, the bike, in 2014. Today Peloton has grown into a fitness community that offers two different bikes, a tread, and their newly released Peloton Guide, for connected strength. Beyond their equipment, Peloton has a line of fitness accessories and an array of fitness classes to take from the comfort of your own home and have created an expanse community in which customers can immerse themselves in for support and camaraderie. Additionally, the brand offers an extensive apparel and accessories store (Peloton, 2022).
The new subcategory is a division of athlete fuel supplements including vitamins, pre-workout products and recovery products. The new supplements will be available through Peloton's app and online store and the various products will be incorporated into Peloton's existing training programs to suggest what to take with various workouts.
Using a customer story that is present throughout much of the campaign, and is a common story seen in Peloton's digital storytelling elements, I worked toward creating an emotional connection with the audience. The idea of creating a "stronger you" with the new products is present throughout. The press release announces the product, which coincides with Peloton's Homecoming where they often showcase new products when it is held each year. The Facebook post announces that the product is now available. The blog, podcast, and Instagram post are much more personal to reinforce the emotional connection and the story, as opposed to in depth facts about the new products. The last piece of the campaign, the longform video, takes a more general approach but still connects back to the idea of empowering the individual to be stronger - for themselves and for those that look up to them.
My goal was, by drawing from Peloton’s mission of “empowering people to be the best version of themselves,” to create a story that people can relate to (Peloton, 2022). Previous Peloton campaign, “We All Have Our Reasons” featured real riders and the reasons they had for being a part of Peloton’s fitness community. But Peloton is not just the bike anymore. They have the tread now and adding supplements to their product line helps the brand be able to grow their stories of those fulfilling fitness goals other than on the bike. For this campaign, the story of a young mother and her dream of running a marathon and making herself healthier not just for herself, but for her children. This will all be done with Peloton’s help. Not just the running program to help her prepare for a marathon and the community to support her, but with the added help from the new subcategory to help her successfully fuel her body to meet her goal for herself, and those that look to her for inspiration. The story ends with her completing the marathon and realizing stronger, with her family awaiting to celebrate her at the finish line, with some recovery products to assure she has the best overall experience possible.
Audience Profile
Peloton currently has a strong customer base in four countries - the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany. Additionally, the app with classes and workout programs was just recently released in Australia.
Demographics: Peloton started out targeting an affluent audience of customers - consumers 35-65 years old who had the money and space but not necessarily the time to be active participants in classes at gyms or in-person boutique cycling classes. More recently however, Peloton has been working to expand their demographics into a wider range of consumers that are willing to splurge for convenience. The brand now offers different tiers of products and payment plans. In addition, the recent pandemic helped to expand their market when people couldn't go out to the gym.
According to the CDC, 60% of U.S. adults 20+ use some sort of dietary supplement and that number rises to over 80% of women ages 60+ (CDC, 2021). With so many Americans using dietary supplements, breaking into this industry could help Peloton continue to expand their market outside of their original 35-65 demographic, meaning 20-35 and 65+.
Psychographics: The younger 20-35 age range should be the first targeted age group as supplement use appears to be on the rise especially among Millennials. For this age group, supplement use went up 5% in just one year in their journey towards being healthier (Eskin, 2019). Millennials are also searching for higher purpose goals, which helped when creating the stories for the campaign.
Geographic Information: While Peloton products are being released in a growing number of countries, the New York based company will first release the new line of workout supplements in the United States.
Campaign Objective and Timeline
Peloton provides a lot for their customers. They provide the fitness equipment and accessories you need to workout. They provide the heart rate monitor you wear and water bottle you drink out of. They provide the clothes and shoes you wear. The objective of this campaign is adding a product line of workout supplements so they really can provide it all to their customers to make them as strong as they can be, in every way. The pieces of this campaign were created to inspire customers to believe that they too can become stronger with the help of Peloton.
The new sub-category for Peloton will be announced during Peloton Homecoming weekend, May 13-14, 2022. The supplements will be made available the following Monday, May 16, 2022.
- May 13: Press Release
- May 13-14: Peloton Homecoming Weekend where the subcategory will be announced and promoted by the brand
- May 16: Product officially available - Facebook post is published
- May 23: Longform Video Released
- Week of June 27: Six weeks following the release, the items that highlight the customer story will be released - the Instagram post, Blog post, and Podcast. This aligns with the length of a training program that a customer could have completed with the workout supplements and told their success story.
Digital Press Release
Goal: This digital press release announces Peloton's new line of supplements by catching the attention of the audience right away. I tried to make it feel like this was something for the audience to be excited about, that wow factor - that this is something you can do for yourself. It's important for a brand to continue to build the connection with consumers for the new subcategory to be successful and this was the goal of the press release.
Updates: After feedback, I cut a section of the press release to make it more direct, informative, and professional without being too long.
Blog Post
Goal: For the blog post, I utilized a customer story to create a story with a higher purpose goal to appeal to the Millennial target market. Not only is supplement use on the rise for this audience, but this age group responds well to higher-purpose goals for a signature story as it helps toward creating that relationship with a brand beyond the selling point (Aaker, 2018). In using the customer story, it helps reinforce the emotional connection with a vivid character and meaningful challenge (Aaker 2018) and ties in perfectly with Peloton's mission of connection and empowerment.
Updates: The biggest change I made to the blog post was adding more about the actual product into the post. I got caught up in the story and while trying to tell the story in the hopes that it would help the readers connect emotionally, I didn't add enough of the focus for the subcategory so I added more about that as well as a visual to go along with it. With the story created, my goal was to transport the audience into the narrative through empathy with the characters as well as visual imagery (Aaker, 2018).
Micro-Podcast
Goal: For the podcast, I returned to the customer story to connect with the audience. By using this way of communication, people's stories in interviews with the real users on the podcast, I was hoping to shine a light on those higher-purpose initiatives (Aaker, 2018). By talking about how the product helped the individual feel and what she got out of it, I was hoping to help energize and inspire the community listening - this community being both the customers and the trainers working for Peloton, as through the story they could hear how their company was affecting individuals lives for the better. My goal was to make the host sound inspired, energized, and excited, which I was hoping would contribute to the emotional connection with the community members (Aaker, 2018). I tried to show that the message was not only about the words, but one of actions in the effect the product was having in a real person's life and personal goals.
Planned Social Media Posts
For both social media posts designed, I chose to tie in the logo as well as two of Peloton's two main colors, red and black, for most of the design elements. My goal was to make both posts relate to fueling yourself and making yourself stronger with the new product and make the audience believe that it can happen for the consumer too. I tried to provide that "we can do that" proof point to increase connection with the consumer (Aaker, 2018).
Instagram post
Goal: With this piece of the campaign, my goal was to offer "user-generated content in referencing a "real person." (Aaker, 2018). I tried to make it intriguing and authentic to help with the ability of the post to connect emotionally to the audience and focus on the story that tied the product in instead of a list of facts about the new subcategory of products (Aaker, 2018).
Updates: There were no updates made to this social media post.
Facebook Post
Goal: For the Facebook post, I was going for the "wow!" factor as opposed to a list of facts about the new products (Aaker, 2018). I hoped that talking about the "next step" would add to the credibility of the subcategory as a reminder of what else the brand has already successfully delivered to its customers (Aaker, 2020).
Updates: I originally had more text on the bottom half but after considering feedback, I decided to change it and just have "Now Available" with a picture of the app and an icon depicting the web, to show the product was available through the app and website. In addition, I added a copy for the post to give more information and encourage interaction with the question. I think taking away some of the words on the visual and adding the words to the copy, it helped communicate the strategic message in a better way with less clutter, as it's important to offer more than hard facts to break through the clutter and be heard (Aaker, 2018).
Longform Video Layout
Goal: For the longform video layout, I tried to be a bit more general than previous pieces in the campaign. I used this platform to tie in the story of where Peloton has been to lead up to adding this important subcategory to the brand. My goal was to strive for the "once upon a time" narrative, highlighting what they've done and now where they're going with their new offering - to create a message to break through the clutter and working towards impacting the audience through shared passions (Aaker, 2020). By reminding the audience of the success of Peloton's other products, I hoped to emphasize the credibility of the new product (Aaker, 2018). In addition, I wanted to incorporate the brand community into the campaign, as that is such a big part of the brand itself. In wrapping up the video script, I was going for the "we can do that" proof point to really emphasize the emotional connection (Aaker, 2018).
Updates: The only edits I made for this piece of the digital storytelling campaign came from instructor feedback. I was trying to stay on brand for Peloton and used their "We All Have Our Reasons" commercial with voice over as an inspiration for this commercial. However, as was pointed out, I had no clips of instructor messages, which Peloton is known for. I went back and added in-class instructor quotes in the two scenes in which I already had the classes featured. I think this will help stay more on-brand for Peloton and am really happy with the addition.
Reflection and Takeaways
I've always been drawn to storytelling. Throughout every piece of this campaign, I worked to focus more on the created story to gain the attention of the audience with substance, as opposed to simply listing facts about the new product line (Aaker, 2018). My focus on every piece was working towards that emotional connection and creating the passion within the audience that can make such a difference for a brand (Aaker, 2018). While I focused on the story as opposed to facts, I learned that I had to be careful not to focus so much on the story that I didn't highlight the new product - it's definitely a balance.
Coming from a film background, I've always seen the impact of storytelling. This class reinforced the power of storytelling for a brand as well. It also made it clear how challenging it can be to communicate a strategic message "amid the media clutter of the digital world" and how the right strategic story can provide that missing interest and help with authenticity and credibility (Aaker, 2018). "Stories are powerful" (Aaker, 2018) - this is something that I've always known but I really enjoyed learning how to apply this to storytelling for a brand and sharing that cohesive story in a different way through so many platforms. I really enjoyed utilizing the impact of emotion in a story and the effect of that on audiences.
Another important aspect that I really enjoyed learning about in the class was the importance of creating barriers for a successful subcategory and how many different barriers there are, the loyal customer base being one of the most important parts of that for a brand's new game-changing subcategory, as well as the importance of brand leadership in a brand's growth (Aaker, 2020).
References
Aaker, D. (2018). Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging that Persuades, Energizes and Inspires. ProQuest Ebook Central. Morgan James Publishing. Retrieved April 2022, from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uncw/detail.action?docID=6448758.
Aaker, D. (2020). Owning Game-Changing Subcategories: Uncommon Growth in the Digital Age. Morgan James Publishing. Retrieved April 2022, from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uncw/detail.action?docID=6448465#.
Abrahamson, R. P., & Frank, G. (2022, January 4). 9 Peloton instructors share the motivational quotes that inspire them. TODAY. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.today.com/health/diet-fitness/peloton-instructors-quotes-rcna10763
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, February 19). Dietary Supplement Use Among Adults: United States, 2017-2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db399.htm.
Eskin, S. (2019, June 19). Dietary Supplement Usage High for All Ages-Including Millennials. The Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2019/06/19/dietary-supplement-usage-high-for-all-ages-including-millennials
Facebook. (2022). Peloton. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.facebook.com/onepeloton/?ref=page_internal
Habit Fitness Club. (2021, October 7). Best 50 Motivational Quotes From Peloton Instructors. Medium. Retrieved April 2022, from https://medium.com/motivate-the-mind/top-50-inspirational-quotes-from-peloton-instructors-670a4cbb290b.
Hopkinson, C. (2022, March 25). How motherhood shaped my training: Peloton instructors Susie Chan and Joslyn Thompson rule. Peloton: The Output. Retrieved April 2022, from https://blog.onepeloton.com/how-motherhood-shaped-instructors-training/
Instagram. (2022). Onepeloton. Peloton. Retrieved April 30, 2022, from https://www.instagram.com/onepeloton/
Oyeneyin, T. (Host). (2022, March 10). Stress, Member Story: A NICU Doctor Finds Her People (No. 3) [Audio Podcast Episode]. In Fitness Flipped. Peloton Studios. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stress-member-story-a-nicu-doctor-finds-her-people/id1612340113?i=1000553529217.
Paul, S. (2020, September 17). Why Is On-the-Run Fuel So Important? Runner's World. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.runnersworld.com/beginner/a20866652/why-is-on-the-run-fuel-so-important/.
Peloton. (2020). Meet Our Members|Peloton Commercial. YouTube. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjH8OjwZHoo.
Peloton. (2022). The Peloton Story. Peloton. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.onepeloton.com/company.
Peloton Interactive, Inc. (2022). Homecoming 2022. Retrieved April 2022, from https://homecoming.onepeloton.com/
Peloton Interactive, Inc. (2022). The Output. Retrieved April 2022, from https://blog.onepeloton.com/
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