Retail’s New Year Wellbeing Strategies with Lasting Benefits
Published 24 January 2024
4 min read
With 50% of New Year’s resolution-making Americans pledging to exercise more, and 47% to eat healthier (Statista, 2023), January is boom time for wellbeing brands or those pivoting towards health-consciousness. The opportunity here is longevity – 21% of Brits will have ditched their resolutions by February (Forbes, 2023) – with strategies including TikTok workouts, a healthy-diet supermarket pop-up and challenge-based campaign countering “gymtimidation”.
- Peloton Debuts Live TikTok Workouts: American fitness company Peloton’s partnership with TikTok continues its evolution from at-home exercise equipment-maker (bikes, treadmills) to creator of subscription-based fitness content accessible (via mobile devices) anywhere and follows its May 2023-updated brand identity “Anytime. Anywhere”.
Launched in January 2024, the #TikTokFitness Powered by Peloton hub is the first time Peloton has created content for a third-party platform and broadens access beyond its subscribers to attract younger fans (who it hopes will later translate into paying customers). It offers a selection of live classes (up to 20 minutes, with and without equipment), including two of Peloton’s star instructors, Cody Rigsby and Ally Love. Rigsby featured on American TV show Dancing with the Stars in 2021, and Love is an entrepreneur and Adidas ambassador. Also on offer are shorter clips (like 10-minute shadowboxing) and behind-the-scenes footage of instructors hosting live classes in Peloton’s New York studio. The hub will be available to TikTok users in the US, UK and Canada, with the scheduling of live classes pending.
The move to TikTok broadcasting reflects the platform’s dominance, having overtaken YouTube as the number one video-viewing channel among American Gen Zers (YPulse, 2023). It also chimes with The Long-Form Renaissance flagged in Pop Culture & Media Futures 23/24 and The Rise of Long-Form Content in Gen Z Now: YMS 2023, with audiences craving longer-lasting viewing experiences beyond TikTok’s original seconds-long format.
@tiktok_uk Peloton 🤝 TikTok. Meet #TikTokFitness, the ultimate collab with exclusive Peloton content, streaming straight from TikTok. Follow along for endless energy. @Peloton ♬ original sound - TikTok UK
- Planet Fitness Tackles ‘Gymtimidation’ with Megan Thee Stallion: Also on TikTok, affordable US-based gym chain Planet Fitness has partnered with American rapper Megan Thee Stallion for the Squat Girl Fit challenge, designed to take the intimidation factor out of workouts. Globally, one in three Gen Zers report avoiding the gym because of feeling out of place (Adidas, 2024).
Challenge participants are encouraged to use everyday items – vacuum cleaners, desk chairs – as weights while doing squats, accompanied by Megan Thee Stallion’s track Body. The rapper is a mental and physical health advocate, with her own social advocacy charity and wellness resource platform Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too.
Videos captioned #SquatGirlFit (currently 852,000 views) and tagged @PlanetFitness can win limited-edition Planet Fitness x Megan Thee Stallion merchandise, like Real Girl Hot Fit water bottles. Inventive squat props so far have included a TV, toddler and full laundry basket (also used by Megan in her video). Merch sales (now sold out) via Planet Fitness’s online shop benefitted the aforementioned charity.
@theestallion Show me your #SQUATGIRLFIT by dropping a squat with whatever your hottie heart desires! Big thanks to my hotties that sold out Thee Judgement Free swag!!💜💜💜 All the proceeds will be donated to the @Pete & Thomas Foundation . But if you missed out on the drop share your #SQUATGIRLFIT video for a chance to win some Stallion Swag from me and @Planet Fitness ♬ Body - Megan Thee Stallion
@lifewithklately If youre going to skip a gym day , try to incorporate things around the house to get a quick workout in 💪🏾 Im adddicted to squats right now so i chose to do a few while i was home 🤍 Whats your favorite at home workout? -#BecomingHeronaBudget #fyp #foryoupage #regularblackgirltiktok #gym #gymmotivation #athomeworkout #squatgirlfit #amazonworkoutclothes #planetfitnessfriend #megantheestallion #planetfitness ♬ IT
@brett_cra You know i had to move my body-ody-ody and join @Megan Thee Stallion in the #squatgirlfit ♬ Body - Megan Thee Stallion
@ariieul #squatgirlfit @Planet Fitness ♬ original sound - ariieul
- Asda’s Pop-Up Supermarket Spa: Explored in Crucibles for Culinary Discovery in Supermarket Strategies, experiential hybrid store formats are proving effective at capturing shoppers’ imaginations. Based on its own research showing that 76% of Brits view healthy meals as too expensive, British supermarket Asda promoted its new Health Menu range with a two-day pop-up (January 23-25) – the Asda Health Menu Spa – at its Islington (North London) store.
It offered 60-minute treatments, echoing the benefits of the Health Menu items served as part of the session while priced to match. Options included The Gut Health abdominal massage – £2.25 ($2.85) with a choice of Crunchy Mixed Seed, Berry & Nut Granola or Delicious Fruit & Nut Muesli – and The Bone Health hot stone massage – £4.75 ($6), with a choice of Creamy Butternut Squash Linguine or Fragrant Prawn Laksa Pot.
The initiative was bookable via Eventbrite and fully sold out in advance, with proceeds going to Asda’s breast cancer charity partner Tickled Pink.
Look out for Grocery Retail’s New Wellbeing Wave, publishing February 22.