Active Overwatch 039

Here’s your weekly roundup of news, trends, and stories in the health & fitness space. A list of what’s happening, new innovations, interesting finds, and more.

Recent Headlines

Beats launches Powerbeats Pro 2. Built completely with athletes in mind. Including new built in heart rate monitors for real time workout data.

• Besides watches, this is really the first time we’ve seen a common fitness tech product integrate heart rate monitoring. And it makes perfect sense. The most common pieces of tech for working out are fitness watches and headphones. But watches aren’t always the most practical. The fit, rubbing, notifications, sizing, etc… Being able to just wear headphones and get the same tracking benefits is extremely appealing in my opinion.

Olipop valued at $1.85 billion after raising $50 million in a Series C funding round. Led by J.P. Morgan Private Capital’s Growth Equity Partners. Planning to use the money to add to its product lineup and expand marketing efforts.

• This space is officially mainstream. Olipop and Poppi have been slowly building up to this point. After spending years in marketing efforts to make consumers aware of this new healthy soda space, it is now safe to say it’s not going anywhere. New brands are popping up left and right. Controversy is happening. Billion dollar valuations are in play. This is the new soda.

Poppi receiving backlash over influencer campaign. Where they sent 32 fully stocked, custom branded Poppi vending machines to popular influencers.

• Now I can’t mention Olipop without addressing the biggest news story of last week. Boy, did people not like this move from Poppi. Countless articles, reaction videos, and more. People are basically saying they should have used the money to give Poppi cans away for free to people who really need it, not to big influencers who are rich. And my opinion? This is all such BS. They are a business. They want to make money. They ran a unique influencer campaign. This is nothing new. I’m team Poppi here.

Peloton launches new Teams feature. Allowing you to build public teams up to 50,000 members with shared goals and leaderboards. To enhance their digital community beyond just friends and family.

• Community features kinda feel like AI features to me now. Companies add them because it’s a buzz word and feels like an obligation. But is this a deciding factor for consumers? My guess would be no. It’s a nice to have in some instances, but it’s really never been a sticking point for me. They just don’t quite hit like IRL fitness communities.

Athletic Brewing signs big concert partnership. As they become the official non-alcoholic beer partner for over 100 concert venues.

• There’s no denying that there’s a growing demand from younger consumers for alternative drink options. From non-alcoholic beer, to THC or CBD drinks, mushroom infused drinks, etc… To play devil’s advocate, I see stats get thrown around like Gen Z only spends ~$3B on alcohol compared to the ~$20B from other generations. But Gen Z is between the ages of 13 and 28. Half of this group can’t even buy alcohol. Regardless, I do think this generation is drinking less and it’ll be interesting to see the stats as they get older.

ICYMI On Social

• Hoka’s one of a kind pop up running store.
• Database product telling you plastic levels in consumer products.
• Growing space of nicotine and “productivity” pouches.
• “This week in fitness” video featuring new Nike Pegasus shoes, Chubby Snacks shutdown, and Hiveact training device.