Came for the cleats, stayed for the micro-community: a Peloton journey
Cause they lovin’ the crew.*
I’m going to attempt to not fall into the camp of annoying members of #Pelotonia, but I *will* rate the recent addition of a Peloton bike in my life. Stick with me, there’s a point to this that doesn’t centre on a humblebrag.
To quote the Peloton post-ride rating system:
Instructor: Cody Rigsby and Hannah Frankson. EVERY. DAMN. DAY. The calibre of instructor is a huge factor in what makes Peloton so effective— a necessary mix of low-key teachers and other more energetic leaders. Knowing who to pick to suit the mood you want to be in is everything. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Playlist: 00s pop, RnB and hip hop, always. Didn’t think I would hear Mandy Moore in a spin class one day, then a long-time favourite Drake album track the next. Impressive is curation to suit riders’ eclectic music taste. 👍🏼
Stream Quality: Hackney’s high-speed broadband is pretty reliable, but sometimes prone to the dreaded mid-class cut-out. 8/10
Difficulty: I won’t lie, a low-ceilinged flat in an old Victorian building should have stopped me, instead I hastily ordered my bike…but somehow we made it work. Alas, no on-bike weightlifting, unless our upstairs neighbours want a skylight… 6/10 for practicality.
All of this serves to say that, despite multiple barriers to entry — not least cost, space in London flats, and self-motivation to get on the thing lest it become the equivalent of a Swarovski-encrusted drying rack — I get it, I rate it, I can’t stop talking about it. I’ve come to realise that my love for Peloton shares a commonality with other things keeping me sane as we slide back into another UK lockdown; it centres on my membership into some newly-founded communities.
Spending time building your own community is a value-add I repeatedly stress to my own partners — develop relationships with your customers so that they feel as motivated and impressed as I am with my new crews.
We should look at micro-communities as the new form of loyalty card — perks for members, but also rich insights for you. There’s also accountability at play for brands committing to these micro-communities — not letting the side down when you’re in it together.
The likes of Glossier and Outdoor Voices made the concept of “community” a thing — Glossier taking notes on forum conversations in order to develop products beauty fans really wanted💄; Outdoor Voices with their IRL events schedule which saw people ‘Doing Things’ all over the States 🧢. For other DTC brands looking on in awe, it looked like a no-brainer to copy-paste. However, many brands soon realised that developing that community is harder than it looks — it takes commitment, transparency and follow-through — particularly if you want it to pay dividends.
So, for the micro-communities that are getting me through Lockdown 2.0, and how brands might want to follow suit:
1. Peloton. Whether it’s #HannahsPushPushCrew or #EssexGirlAtHeart, these groups, fellow rider-members and the many who have high-fived me mid-class have kept me at my workouts, which in turn has helped my mental health ten-fold.
Investing in the Peloton was a no-brainer (oh I do sound like the guy in the video…) once I did the maths:
- Zero travel, except from bed/desk to bike — ideal not just in lockdown, but generally.
- Cancelling my membership to multiple gym subscription services that I barely used, and that penalised with sky-high class cancellation fees.
- Klarna repayments, interest-free. Not one to usually advocate BN,PL schemes, but if it’s for your health, rather than your wardrobe, it helps.
I couldn’t put a price on the cost of my mental health, particularly in my first year running Enid and in the midst of a global health pandemic. So where in Lockdown 1.0 doing any form of movement was not on my list of things I fancied, now my partner now has to deal with me chuckling along to a Peloton ride with Britney-obsessive Cody Rigsby (complete with perfect ad-libs and dance moves TO.THE.BEAT.) or breathlessly trying to keep up with the powerhouse that is Ally Love and her #LoveSquad. The mottos, the allegiances to recording artists, the nostalgic playlists — plus knowing you’re in the same position (in or out the saddle) as someone else globally that, up until that point, was probably also having a pretty mediocre day.
As a brand, Peloton focuses a great deal on the extent they can work with their community in order to reap the rewards of genuine brand-consumer connection: gamification, organic word of mouth, social proof, endorsement of community-created sub-groups, and constant insights to further improve on the product.
Handled well, brands can involve community members in a business’ critical path — from the creation of your next product to the campaign you launch with. The most successful micro-communities that I’ve seen brands build are those operating a consistent feedback loop. Members are part of the conversation from day one — from ideation and product sampling, to launch, feedback, and back again. Fit-centric underwear brand NUDEA launched their hero tool, the Fit Tape, with the involvement of over 1,000 bra-wearers, and that’s now evolving into further innovations. That depth of connection is important — it goes beyond the one grid post or brand hashtag — you know there’s work behind it.
On that, #PushPush isn’t just a care-free hashtag created by Peloton — in fact, it’s a movement independently created by instructor Hannah Frankson’s loyal followers quoting Hannah’s motivating mantra — Push Push, to the beat of the track. And it’s been a motivator these past few months, to push myself in areas I know I can, and areas that I enjoy. Being in the saddle, with like-minded members, is just one of those.
2. Balanced eating. It all started with ‘treats’ from the local bakery, to “support the economy”, to “ensure the businesses we loved were still with us on the other side of this”. Then it morphed into a clear-cut sugar addiction. Whether you buy into ‘you are what you eat’ or not, you can’t deny the positive effects of a balanced set of eating habits. After years on and off sugar and caffeine, I’m now firmly back on both. In a bid to find slightly more balance in my food-centric life, I’ve recently delved into the world of Ayurveda with a very special private practitioner called Geri Li of Wholesome Ayurveda. Having read up on the medicine system over the years and never actively following through, I accepted the opportunity to work closely with Geri on a bespoke plan.
On our bi-weekly chats, we’ve covered everything from my doshic makeup (the dominant substance my body is made up of, that determines which lifestyle is best for me) to anxiety levels and we recap not just on the food I’ve eaten — this isn’t about calories — but instead on the guna properties of each thing, and the overall effect it’s had: we call it food, feelings, faeces.
This accountability, and having someone pushing me, is productive, much like the Peloton community. Additionally, when I recently tried a Kitchari Reset (a 3-day detox centred on a spiced mung-bean dish!), Geri invited me into a Whatsapp group for other participants, as well as a group video call to top and tail our reset experience. In our group chat, Geri narrated passages from The Gene Keys and nudged us when we needed to soak our mung beans (!).
How you communicate with your micro-community is key. Geri’s welcoming and supportive group environment not only held the group accountable, pressure-free, but also provided that supportive crutch that I certainly needed in embarking on this very new Ayurvedic journey.
We’re seeing brands set up members-only offshoot accounts operating in stealth mode under different Instagram handles, and closed Facebook groups as a safe space. Brands are making good use of Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’ functionality in really interesting ways — as membership models like thingtesting, or as a separate space for specific conversations.
Jewellery designer Jessica de Lotz offers incentives to a tight-knit group of her customers — the Helping Hand Circle — via the Close Friends function, enabling her to broadcast sale news and collection sneak-peeks to members. Upon admission to the circle, Jessica sends each member a wax seal lapel pin on a beautifully crafted bookmark (cc: Enid, we worked closely with Jessica to create a physical manifestation of her brand — jewellery that stories can tell), bearing her signature hand maker’s mark — a hand of care and support.
3. Music, shared: Music has always been a valuable tool for my mental health, and this year’s minutes listened has certainly reached an all-time high. I’m eager to see Spotify’s Unwrapped campaign for this year, and learn which music got the world through this strange, testing and tragic year. Ariana Grande’s thank u, next on repeat, anyone?
I’ll be the first to say a yearning for sun-drenched shores and my younger years has been a dominant theme of my search history and playlist curation. But I’ve also spent a considerable period of time seeking out artists old and new to support, particularly in these testing times for the industry as a whole. Patreon, streamed gigs and buying vinyl** has all been part of my commitment to helping the artists I love and hope to see again in a future where live music can blast out freely.
Plus looking to other communities to find new recommendations. Community initiatives — be it a playlist shared in a Slack channel (cc: Ernest Wilkins for his say-what-you-hear titled playlists, over on Spotify) or 202’0’s virtual Record Store Day — provided welcome breaks from the monotony of the first lockdown.
For brands wanting to truly build, spend time determining who the members of your brand community should be— this is an opportunity to seek out those who really put their money where their mouth is: the everyday consumer. Behaving differently to the ‘influencer’ — who works in exchange for gifting or payment — everyday consumers will work with you on the basis that their involvement will give them a deeper attachment to your brand. That could be in the form of perks, discounts, free product, exclusive access to events — and a direct line to the company. Virtual and physical trips to East London record store Stranger Than Paradise were savoured moments. Coleen, Phil and the team there look after me with early access, exclusive merch and recommended listens. In return, I sing their praises, take people to their store, and go back to them time after time.
I don’t have enough limbs to count the number of times a brand has told me they have “a really strong community” — but when I dig deeper, all it means is an Insta following. Quite often, there’s little depth to that community. This is about so much more than Instagram followers — seeking out communities and tapping into like-minded motivators.
Ultimately, they’ll be there for you when the COVID-rain starts the pour, hoping to see you on the other side of this pandemic. That’s #crewlove.
www.enid.fm — Amplification studio building brands that resound.
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*Crew Love, Drake ft. The Weeknd
Why? ’Cause they lovin’ the crew
They lovin’ the crew
They lovin’ the crew
Oh, they lovin’ the crew
Oh, they lovin’ the crew
They lovin’ the crew
They lovin’ the crew
They lovin’ the crew, ooh.
**My recent vinyl purchases, if you’re asking?
Caribou, Lana del Rey, Death Cab for Cutie’s back catalogue, Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple (Tidal on vinyl for the first time!) and SEX (Stranger Than Paradise’s first ever release on their own label — a compilation of Jukebox cuts from Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s legendary King’s Road SEX boutique).