Poppi hit with a lawsuit, Peach Perfect female marketing strategy, and Alo announces new mixed reality app...
Here’s what we got this week in the business world of health, fitness, & wellness:
🗞️ The Story - Poppi gets hit with a class action lawsuit
📈 The Strategy - Peach Perfect supplement marketing strategy
🛍️ The Product - Alo announced a mixed reality app
So Poppi is being sued in a class action lawsuit that claims their cans only contain 2g of prebiotic fiber per serving.
Alleging that the prebiotic soda, is not indeed a healthy prebiotic soda. And instead, just a glorified sugar water.
I’m not gonna get into the details of the ingredients and tell you if Poppi is healthy or not.
That’s not the purpose of this newsletter, we talk business and trends here.
Here’s what I care about, and what YOU should take away from this:
In recent years, new health & wellness CPG products have been popping up left and right.
Partly due to the rise in consumer awareness of what they put in their bodies and wanting it to be clean and optimal.
But the other factor in play is that people are also reaching for the “aesthetic” brands that have good marketing.
Nothing wrong with that either. I myself reach for the product with sleek packaging.
Brands like Magic Spoon, Belli Welli, Wilde Chips, & Smart Sweets all are marketed as healthy snacks and have packaging that is fun and attractive to the consumer.
And I am not saying these brands are also potentially misleading you like Poppi.
But what I am saying is that you as a consumer, need to be aware of these marketing tactics.
Don’t just take the brand’s slogan or big headline on the package at face value.
The world of marketing & packaging has a lot of blurred lines so the only way to cut through the fluff and find the truth, is by understanding food labels and making an educated decision yourself.
A debate that will never be resolved:
Is product-led growth or sales-led growth a better strategy?
Well Peach Perfect would say sales-led growth is the way to go.
And it’s hard to argue with their results.
The quick version of what Peach Perfect has done:
So Peach Perfect sells supplements.
But their products are not especially unique.
They sell supplements that have been around for years such as protein, creatine, pre-workout.
Their secret sauce is in who they sell to, how they package the product, and how they market it.
So first, they are going after the female market.
A market that is extremely underserved in the supplement space. Most other brands have masculine packaging and sell you on big muscles - not what most females want.
And the female market statistically buys more online.
Second, their packaging is feminine. Pink colors, hearts, flowers, product names such as “booty builder” and “happy hormones”.
Any female that sees the product will instantly trust it. Thinking it is made for them and that the brand understands what they are looking for as a female.
Third, and lastly, they market their product with the messaging of “We help you grow your butt”.
Simple, to the point, and something most females would say yes to.
Overall, just a masterclass from Peach Perfect on differentiated marketing and addressing pain points of an underserved market.
In business building, you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel with your product. Picking the right customer to sell to and nailing a marketing strategy can be your million dollar ticket.
Alo announced they are launching a new mixed reality app for the Meta Quest 3 later this year.
In partnership with VR studio, Magnopus, they will be combining photo realistic instructors & zen 3D environments to make your home yoga session fully immersive.
My thoughts:
VR & AR headsets have made headlines several times in recent years.
From Meta Quest, to Snapchat Glasses, and now most recently the Apple Vision Pro.
And at the time of the headlines, we are sold that VR is “finally here and ready to be mainstream”.
But I am just not buying it yet.
I have yet to see someone out in public with a VR headset on.
Which I get is not totally the purpose, as many of the offerings for VR are catered to at-home use, such as this new app by Alo.
And I appreciate brands like Alo trying to be innovative and stay ahead of the tech curve.
I just believe it is still too early for the general public to start using these types of products in their everyday lives.
The time is coming though, it’s just not here yet.
Curated fitness industry trends, products, and tools. Join 1,000+ fitness professionals and consumers getting weekly insights and tools in the space.
