Building a global brand and a brand new category, one workout at a time

The original challenge was to get people to work out at home – and pay for it. The subsequent challenge was to motivate them to keep it up. 

Thankfully, Peloton is much more than just premium hardware. The real magic of Peloton lives in the energy of connection – member to member, instructor to member. Instructors and community are the beating heart of the brand. Building the brand meant building the community and keeping it motivated by an ever-expanding product offering.

Over a multi-year period, this was achieved across a series of product innovations, each guided by research into the global mindset of the consumer, the state of the category, company ambitions and cultural attitudes towards fitness.

2017’s original Peloton Bike launch campaign, “Hello Let’s Go”, introduced fitness enthusiasts to the unique experience of working out in the privacy of their home while connected to an instructor and thousands of other participants.

All campaign launches were based on an audience tension, backed by research. For example, Peloton Tread (2019) and surrounding campaign content was based on the insight that 70% of the Peloton target audience believes cardio alone is not enough, so it introduced a treadmill that included a strength training component.

To turn free trials into paying memberships, 2020 saw a global event dubbed Pelothon – 4 weeks of challenges taken on by 6 teams designed to get people to work out more often. It was based on the insight that increasing the number and variety of workouts results in more sign-ups. Over 324,000 members competed for a total of 9 million workouts. It was the largest conversion of trialists to paying members in Peloton’s history.

The same year saw the launch of Peloton Bike+, essentially a bike with a screen that could pivot to allow the user to dismount and switch from cardio to strength training.

Then in 2022, Peloton Guide was launched with supporting campaign content focused on the e insight that while audiences engage in strength training, there’s uncertainty around correct form, how to advance, and how to measure progress. Peloton Guide was designed to work as a standalone device which, when placed under a connected TV, turns the room into a live strength training studio.

Each of the launches was based on the following:

• A single idea and line that resolves the audience tension

• Scaling this idea from top funnel TV to educational press kits and conversion-focused digital/social.

• Continuous testing, learning, and optimization

• Always hero’ing the community alongside the hardware