Active Overwatch 040

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

Nike & SKIMS unveil a new brand for women. NikeSKIMS will focus on activewear for female athletes. Combining Nike’s expertise in sports science and SKIMS expertise in female form function. Set to debut in the U.S. this spring.

• A couple weeks ago I highlighted Nike’s impressive run recently, saying that it feels like Nike is back. Now, I’m not gonna cash my ticket yet, but this makes me even more bullish about their future. In a video I posted earlier this week, I highlighted their Super Bowl ad, which featured popular female athletes, such as Caitlyn Clark, and was targeted directly at females. Which made sense. Nike has been losing female market share due to the rise of brands like Alo, Lululemon, Vuori, and the countless other athleisure brands. And now they unveil this new brand NikeSKIMS, and it makes even more sense. This is extremely calculated and just a brilliant move in my opinion. Well done Nike.

BPN takes over the Austin Marathon with their Fuel Station. Built out like a local gas station, this pop up at the marathon’s expo included free BPN product, a meet & great with Nick Bare, and exclusive BPN apparel.

• I am a sucker for well done pop up experiences. I recently made a video about Hoka’s pop up store in London, and not only did I love it, but the engagement on the post proves everyone loves a good pop up. And this BPN fuel station is just as good. BPN absolutely crushes their community experiences and has built a cult like following because of it. Brands need to take notes and learn from this.

Coke officially launches their prebiotic soda. Going by the name of Simply Pop, falling in line with their Simply juice brand. It will feature 5 different fruit flavors including strawberry, lime, pineapple mango, fruit punch, and citrus punch.

• The takes on this topic have been FLYING this week. People saying the branding sucks. People saying Coke is trying to flood the market so that they can get a cheaper price to acquire Olipop or Poppi. People saying this is going to ruin Olipop and Poppi. The list goes on and on. I don’t really have a hot take here. But my general opinion is 1) Ya the branding could be better and 2) If they prioritize it, it will do well simply because of Coke’s distribution and retail presence. What happens after that, I guess we shall see.

Gymshark introduces flagship store in New York. Gymshark has done pop-up stores and events in the U.S. numerous times, but this is their first ever permanent location. Set to open later this year.

• I have done a couple videos that mention Gymshark and the sentiment of the comments shock me. They are overwhelmingly negative. Mostly related to the quality of the product or the culture of Gymshark. From my experience, the quality is fine, it’s on par with other similar brands. But I’m more interested in the people who comment negatively about the culture. Even if you aren’t a “gym bro”, how can you not look at what they’ve built and just tip your cap out of respect. A $6B+ company valuation, flagship stores across the world, and in person events that are always packed. What they’ve built is cool, and congrats to them on the U.S. expansion.

New brand, Cushy, unveils their first product. An organic, plant-based anti chafing stick for athletes. Founders, Adam Saks & Ben Parens, noticed this space lacked effective products that are also clean, leading to the creation of this product over 18 months.

• I got introduced to this brand months ago as it was getting built out, and the branding instantly stuck out to me. I love it. Along with that, it is right in line with the growth of “better for you” brands that consumers are increasingly reaching for. This space is largely run by incumbents and could use a shake up, especially with the rise in popularity of endurance sport events. And FYI for builders out there, there are countless verticals that are run by incumbents that could use a “better for you” shake up.

ICYMI On Social

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