How Peloton Can Reclaim Its Narrative
How the mighty have fallen. Just months ago, Peloton was the darling of the at-home fitness industry. Its stock value had soared to an all-time high. Its high-tech stationary bikes and treadmills were so popular that the company literally could not ship them quickly enough to keep up with demand. But as 2021 comes to a close, Peloton’s stock value has plummeted thanks to problems ranging from a product recall to a slump in sales. Peloton’s latest challenge: fighting rival Lululemon in court. Lululemon recently sued Peloton for copyright infringement in Peloton’s new clothing line. How should Peloton protect its reputation as the lawsuit escalates?
It’s crucial that Peloton get control of its narrative by amplifying its competitive advantage: the strength of the Peloton community.
Why Is Lululemon Suing Peloton?
The legal dispute has unfolded like a tennis match, with each side lobbing legal volleys at each other. Here’s how things break down:
- Until recently, Peloton and Lululemon had a co-branding relationship through which the companies distributed workout apparel to Peloton subscribers. But Peloton wanted to fly solo with its own line. So, Peloton launched its own apparel line, Peloton One, and ended its relationship with Lululemon.
- Lululemon threatened to sue Peloton for copyright infringement. Lululemon said Peloton One’s clothing ripped off Lululemon’s own apparel.
- Peloton decided to file a pre-emptive strike. In November, Peloton filed a lawsuit against Lululemon claiming that Peloton One did not infringe on Lululemon’s design patents.
- Lululemon followed through with its own lawsuit on November 29.
Meanwhile, Peloton remains mired in a world of hurt. Its stock price as of December 6 continued to plunge.
What Peloton Should Do
Peloton needs to take control of its own narrative, especially now. Regardless of how the legal spat turns out, the company needs to protect its reputation especially among shareholders.
Sharing a stronger narrative starts with Peloton articulating its mission more effectively. Peloton is much more than treadmills and bikes. It’s about personal empowerment through technology. As its mission statement says, “Peloton uses technology and design to connect the world through fitness, empowering people to be the best version of themselves anywhere, anytime.” One of the company’s problems right now is that formidable businesses such as Apple and Amazon are getting into at-home fitness. These companies are so influential that they can control the narrative and peg Peloton as a hardware company. The Lululemon lawsuit, while it dominates news about Peloton, amplifies just one aspect of Peloton’s business, apparel. To its credit, Peloton’s website cranks out announcements about the company’s commitment to purpose and improvements to its customer experience.
The core mission of empowering a community of people through innovative technology gets lost, though. The Peloton community – known collectively as One Peloton – is a core competitive strength. Peloton’s technological innovations are not about building better exercise equipment for the sake of improving last year’s model. They’re about empowering that community. But this competitive differentiator doesn’t always shine through as well as it could.
The stories about Peloton’s commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are commendable. And it’s great to see how Peloton continues to create a more interesting work-out experience with content such as music and fashion oriented news. Where Peloton can help itself is to dial up stories from its core base of customers – the people who wear Peloton apparel and improve themselves with Peloton’s fitness equipment and workout programs. You have to hunt for those stories on Peloton’s blog.
And they are compelling stories. Peloton needs to amplify them with tactics such as:
- Paid social and search campaigns
- Organic social and search
- Email marketing
- PR
Peloton might also want to consider making the testimonials more prominent by placing them above the fold on its website. Here’s what its front page looks like right now:
To be sure, during the holiday season, promoting holiday discounts on the website is important. But as noted, gear in and of itself does not differentiate Peloton. People do. By amplifying the ways Peloton empowers people to be the best versions of themselves, Peloton will:
- Remind shareholders of its powerful mission
- Reframe its story beyond equipment
- Humanize the Peloton brand
- Set apart the company in an increasingly crowded field
Your move, Peloton!
Contact Investis Digital
Investis Digital helps businesses build trust with all their audiences through an approach known as Connected Content, in which we align all aspects of a brand’s narrative with its values and culture. To learn more, contact us.