Peloton.
Everyone knows the story now.
It's so omnipresent that Peloton was the punchline to two SNL jokes last night and even Ryan Reynolds is using the attention to sell gin.
This situation was bound to happen.
Maybe not with all the jokes, memes, and most certainly future MBA marketing case studies. But once Peloton went public, the company had no choice but to go broad, wide, and average.
Mass revenue generation and shareholders demand going mass market, seeking commoditization, and securing the mushy middle of consumers - hence this ad.
Peloton used to mean fierce, independent, sexy, and aspirational. This new comms effort is all about timorous, dependence, sensible, and apathy.
Hence why this ad is so disappointing, off-the-mark, and brand negative.
It should be no shock that shares dropped as much as 15 percent with the final trading share price removing almost $1.5 billion off the value of the company.
The Financial Times' How To Spend It magazine says: "Yes, they have the sexiest carbon-steel stationary bikes on the planet."
But sexiest is only good enough for 1.4 million members - current company claims on its ridership and engagement.
Founder John Foley's public aim is to reach 50 million people in new markets.
But consider the current market for bike/treadmill owners is believed to 34 million.
So Foley and his team need to acquire 100 percent of this current market and still add 16 million more people.
This move to add so many new customers moves the company from being Porsche to being Honda.
Seth Godin talks about this frequently:
"Marketers must learn to shun the non-believers and only focus on the people at the edges who will be prepared to listen and engage with your product.
“The challenge in marketing a commodity is that you are in a race to the bottom, and the problem with a race to the bottom is that you might win. Even worse you might come in second. If you are a mass marketer your goal is to make something that normal people want to buy. The problem is that normal people are ignoring you because they have chosen to be normal and what it means to be normal is that they are able to ignore you.
"What we should be saying is that we are going to make stuff for people who get us. We have to shun the nonbelievers and say it’s not for you.”
It is not wrong and not without merit to have goals to build a huge brand, have millions of customers globally, and chase billions in market capitalization - it is just that the company you want doesn't mean the market is there.
In 2018, worldwide sales of Porsche cars reached a new record of 256,255 vehicles. Honda, on the other hand, sold nearly 5 million vehicles.
Porsche can't be Porsche by seeking Honda vehicle sales.
- Marc
Marc A. Ross is a business strategist and communications advisor working at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics. Ross specializes in communications for economic diplomacy and global commerce. Ross is the founder of Caracal.
