When Peloton unveiled its 2019 holiday commercial depicting a husband who gifted his spouse a stationary bike for Christmas, the advert was extensively panned as sexist, dystopian and paying homage to a hostage video.

People took umbrage on the business’s characters – a white, upper-middle-class household – and mentioned it sent a range of dangerous messages about every thing from gender norms to physique dysmorphia. 

While the controversy ultimately pale from the headlines, the general public remembered. The advert solidified Peloton’s nascent id as a high-end bike company reserved for a sure kind of particular person at a sure revenue degree.

Now, the company is prepared to change that notion. 

Peloton on Tuesday is launching a new advertising and marketing marketing campaign that payments the retailer as a company for anybody, no matter age, fitness degree and revenue – or whether or not they shelled out hundreds for a expensive piece of kit. 

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

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

It has labored to rein in its gargantuan prices, treatment remembers and discover new income streams as demand for its connected fitness products slowed and shoppers grew to become extra cautious about their discretionary spending. 

While the company has yet to return to profitability, it has managed to cease the bleeding. With a new advertising and marketing chief on the helm, Peloton says it is prepared to reintroduce itself to the world and shed the picture the vacation advert seared into some minds.

“We know that the notion externally doesn’t match the truth of who we’re,” Peloton’s chief advertising and marketing officer, Leslie Berland, who started with the company in January and led the relaunch, advised CNBC in an interview. “This company traditionally has been considered as an in-home bike company for fitness fanatics however through the years, it has advanced into one thing that’s far more larger, a lot broader than that.” 

Peloton can also be saying goodbye to its trademark hearth engine purple and black colours in favor of a new mixture of hues it says higher captures the “vitality” of a exercise and the “afterglow” that comes. New branding supplies embrace shades of purple, pink, inexperienced and a lighter purple.

In a splashy 90-second advertising and marketing video shared with CNBC, Peloton’s app takes heart stage. It exhibits individuals of all shapes, sizes, fitness skills and ages utilizing it to take energy and yoga lessons at residence, but additionally in gyms, which have long been considered a threat to Peloton’s enterprise. 

While Peloton options its Bike, Tread and Row machines within the clip, it doesn’t present the {hardware} till about 30 seconds into the video.

The message is a far cry from Peloton’s earlier commercials and advertising and marketing supplies, which predominantly featured ultra-fit athletes utilizing its gear.

“[We’re] now leaning in for the primary time to the concept that OK, not everybody goes to carry premium Peloton {hardware} into their residence,” Tom Cortese, Peloton’s co-founder and chief product officer, advised CNBC in an interview. “Our members have a cellphone, we’re on their cellphone, they take their cellphone the place they need to go and if you need to put [the Peloton app] on another person’s {hardware}, that is tremendous, and if you need to carry it into another person’s health club, that is nice.”

Peloton insisted the focus on promoting subscriptions doesn’t imply it has deserted its {hardware} enterprise, and mentioned the company is on a twin observe with each. The new marketing campaign focuses on the app as a result of there’s been so little promoting of it, and market analysis exhibits simply 4% of shoppers learn about it, the company mentioned.

“When we first began popping out of Covid, and the press likes to be powerful on Peloton, it was ‘everybody’s going again to the gyms’ however we all know that our members have been utilizing our merchandise within the health club,” mentioned Jennifer Cotter, Peloton’s chief content material officer.  

She identified that Peloton’s energy coaching content material, not its biking or working lessons, is the No. 1 kind of sophistication for digital members and the No. 2 amongst those that have Peloton {hardware}. It exhibits how keen customers are to devour Peloton content material that has nothing to do with its gear.

“When it comes to this initiative, we’re simply excited that No. 1, our members will really feel mirrored and new members will really feel like Peloton is for them,” mentioned Cotter. “And then, you understand, the tiering construction permits us to welcome individuals up the ramp.” 

Briana Deserio, 32, has been a Peloton member because the early days of the pandemic. She mentioned the model’s aggressive and aspirational enchantment initially led her to purchase a Bike. 

When briefed concerning the company’s new advertising and marketing technique, she advised CNBC she helps the transfer and its focus on being inclusive. But she mentioned there’s a likelihood making Peloton accessible to everybody may dilute its model.

“It’s sort of like a membership and now everybody’s coming into the membership,” mentioned Deserio. 

Berland, Peloton’s new advertising and marketing chief, is not involved concerning the model shedding energy. She mentioned the brand new advertising and marketing technique displays what the company already is.

“Our members, our instructors, our lessons, our content material. That is unchanged. The company has advanced into all of this,” mentioned Berland. “It’s time for the model and the advertising and marketing to symbolize all of that and all of its vibrancy.”

Liz Coddington, Peloton’s chief monetary officer, mentioned creating totally different factors of entry to the company’s content material will set it up for long-term development. 

“What we’re doing is we’re opening up the overall addressable market to Peloton to individuals who could not have thought-about us up to now as a result of we weren’t actually talking to them,” mentioned Coddington.

“The actual aim actually is simply to carry extra individuals into the ecosystem of Peloton nonetheless they need to are available in, after which assist them on their journey in how they need to devour our content material over time, whether or not it is via the free choice, via the decrease tier or via the upper tier or ultimately shopping for or renting our {hardware},” she mentioned.

The company has not integrated potential upside from the app and advertising and marketing technique into its monetary outlook, and mentioned some paid app members will seemingly downgrade to the free membership choice. 

In the previous, churn charges have briefly spiked when Peloton changed prices, however quickly returned to typical ranges, she mentioned. 

“We are optimistic about it,” mentioned Coddington. “But it is arduous to know till we all know.”