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Peloton has been hard to keep up with over the past few months. Take today, for instance: The company announced…
- 2,800 layoffs
- Its co-founder John Foley is stepping down as CEO
- Former Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy will take Foley’s place
For those of you who aren’t eating exercise-bike news for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (can’t relate), here’s a roundup of the company’s recent happenings—and how its marketing department could respond to everything going on.
In December: The highly anticipated Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That…killed off Chris Noth’s character via a heart attack after using his Peloton. The fitness brand attempted damage control, quickly rolling out an ad featuring Noth himself…which it then pulled after sexual-assult allegations against the actor surfaced.
In January: Yet another TV character had a heart attack on a Peloton bike (this time, on Billions). The company also paused production on its bikes as demand waned. And Insider obtained a leaked recording of some execs reportedly discussing laying off 41% of the company’s sales and marketing teams.
In February: Peloton’s shares are down more than 80% from their January 2021 peak, per CNN. Amazon and Nike—who apparently love a bargain basement deal as much as the rest of us—are reportedly interested in an acquisition.
Today: Peloton bumped its earnings call up from this evening to this morning, announcing it lost $439 million this quarter.
Looking ahead: Between high supply and low customer acquisition, the brand’s marketing department is “under pressure to deliver,” per Ad Age. Experts told the pub that fewer pricey campaigns and more investment in brand loyalists could be the company’s best plan of attack.—PB