Peloton relaunches brand, subscription pricing and app

When Peloton unveiled its 2019 holiday commercial depicting a husband who gifted his wife a stationary bike for Christmas, the ad was widely panned as sexist, dystopian and reminiscent of a hostage video.

People took umbrage at the commercial’s characters – a white, upper-middle-class family – and said it sent a range of dangerous messages about everything from gender norms to body dysmorphia. 

While the controversy eventually faded from the headlines, the public remembered. The ad solidified Peloton’s nascent identity as a high-end bike company reserved for a certain type of person at a certain income level.

Now, the company is ready to change that perception. 

Peloton on Tuesday is launching a new marketing campaign that bills the retailer as a company for anyone, regardless of age, fitness level and income – or whether they shelled out thousands for a pricey piece of equipment. 

The brand relaunch comes a little over a year into Barry McCarthy’s tenure as CEO. He has worked to transform Peloton from a hardware-focused company into one that’s just as invested in its app and the high-margin subscription revenue that it brings. 

Since McCarthy, a former Netflix and Spotify executive, replaced founder John Foley in February 2022, the company has been on the defense.

It has worked to rein in its gargantuan costs, remedy recalls and find new revenue streams as demand for its connected fitness products slowed and consumers became more cautious about their discretionary spending. 

While the company has yet to return to profitability, it has managed to stop the bleeding. With a new marketing chief at the helm, Peloton says it’s ready to reintroduce itself to the world and shed the image the holiday ad seared into some minds.

“We know that the perception externally does not match the reality of who we are,” Peloton’s chief marketing officer, Leslie Berland, who started with the company in January and led the relaunch, told CNBC in an interview. “This company historically has been thought of as an in-home bike company for fitness enthusiasts but over the years, it has evolved into something that is much more bigger, much broader than that.”