Target Markets of Lululemon Athletica and Gymshark

Living a healthy lifestyle is crucial for everybody, as it helps to avoid many diseases. Going for sport is an inseparable part of a healthy lifestyle. While people sometimes can be discouraged from going for sport, wearing the appropriate and beautiful apparel can motivate them to do so. Lululemon Athletica and Gymshark are two successful representatives of athletic apparel retailers. To understand what factors lie behind their continuous growth, let’s analyze their target markets.

To begin, let’s start with the overall marketing strategy of fitness apparel manufacturers.

It is essential to note that although Lululemon Athletica and Gymshark are pretty new to the industry, through having successful marketing strategies, both brands have expanded to sell their products worldwide not only in a traditional but in a virtual way as well.

Beginning with Lululemon Athletica, let’s look at one of its campaigns and discuss marketing strategies the company implements.

Through the use of several marketing strategies this athleisure company Lululemon Athletica is on continuous growth.

Lululemon Athletica’s marketing strategy is community-based as they invoke a sense of belonging in the customers and make them use the company’s products repeatedly. This brand is very attentive to social media content because they believe that social media marketing is an effective way to attract customers.

 As a pattern, the company regularly posts easy yoga tutorials on their YouTube account; Lululemon even has a separate catalog representing their products on Pinterest. They also try to expand the number of their users through creative posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and other social platforms.

Moreover, high-quality is always on top of their requirements, so even if the price can sometimes be higher, people shopping from this brand know that high-quality always justifies the price.

Besides, to create a strong brand image, the company takes part in various charitable events. Many famous athletes and influencers are the ambassadors of the company. This way, Lululemon Athletica motivates many people to stay active and go for sport.

Let’s now watch this video, presenting “This is Yoga” campaign.

This campaign is from 2017 and is considered to be the first global brand campaign of Lululemon Athletica. Throughout the video, the viewer can see some people, with different interests and from different cities and countries.

Lululemon has chosen these participants on purpose as all of them are influencers- from grime stars to athletes and punk drummers. For instance, some of the participants are Kerri Walsh Jennings, Olympic gold medalist, professional surfer Maddie Peterson and others. Through this marketing strategy, the company puts yoga in a wider culture.

The background song of the advertisement is neither dynamic nor relaxing, which creates a mysterious atmosphere and makes the viewer dive into the video to understand the real meaning of the campaign.

While the commercial is about yoga, it does not show any actual yoga. This is because the creators of the advertisement focus on the values that yoga holds. These values include trust, meditation, self-discipline, and many more.   

This advertisement is created in partnership with Virtue Worldwide, and the founder of this organization once said that “This campaign is made to broaden the idea of what yoga is all about and expand the understanding of what the Lululemon brand is all about.”

Now, let’s understand the company’s communication strategy, through discussing its logo.

As red is the color of love, power, passion, and white represents purity and understanding, the combination of red and white communicates the message that Lululemon Athletics is passionate about what they are doing and always considers its users’ ideas.

This choice of this logo is a bit confusing because it was initially meant to be the logo for a different brand name. However, some say that the logo is letter A and stands for “Athletica.”

There is also a belief that the logo represents women’s hair and face outline, pinpointing the fact that the company’s core demographic is women.

Moving forward, it’s time to analyze the target market this brand has chosen. 

For that purpose, let’s watch this commercial.   

As the main participant of this commercial, Lululemon Athletics has chosen Sara Clark.

Sara Clark is the company’s yoga ambassador, who is also a certified vinyasa and mindfulness teacher. Sara is also one of the influencers in 15 Yoga Journal.

In this video, Sara Clark shares her childhood memories. Sara states that playing in nature was one of her favorite activities back in childhood. 

However, by the time when her family moved to another city, she faced many challenges. She appeared in continuous chaos, and yoga is what has helped her to escape from that chaos.

The main heroine believes that everyone can find calm in chaos because it starts with our breaths, thoughts. And yoga is what can help a person to have control of their breaths and thoughts. Clark believes that when we take in the present moment, that’s when we live, and that’s where life exists.

After watching the video, it becomes clear that the person involved in the ad is one of the representatives of Lululemon Athletics’ target segment.

A self-focused person who has a strong tendency to stand in the crowd is indeed very close to the target audience called Peacocks.

So, let’s find some interesting facts about this segment.

Lifestyle and Values.

• Peacocks are usually self-focused and self-motivated people who want to be different from the crowd. It can be noticed in their unique style, the places they prefer going.
• These people usually have strong leadership and communication skills. As a result, one can primarily meet them in the role of a leader.
• Representatives of this target segment are well-organized. That is why these people will always find time for education, shopping, fun places, GYMs, and many more.
• Peacocks do believe that learning is a continuous process, and it is a necessary skill that can help every person achieve their desired goals. 
• People belonging to this target segment try not to pollute their surroundings as they really care for the future of their country and world.
• Although peacocks are pretty “modern” people, these people become more traditional when it comes to family values.
• Peacocks try to follow the news as much as possible, as they believe that being informed is essential in this developing world. While old mediums such as magazines and radio do not interest them, TV is where they get information.
• Going to cinemas, clubs, and other entertaining places is always on high on their to-do lists.
• Half of the Peacocks enjoy driving, and they believe that a car can always say something about the person, which is why the representatives of this target group try to do something on/with their cars that can catch other’s attention.

Brand usage

• Peacocks need to be seen, which is why these people are active when it comes to shopping.
• These people believe that wearing brands is better; hence, they will always do their best to wear brandy items.
• People representing this target segment get motivation from various magazines. They can even sometimes compare themselves to models.

16 Personalities (Which one is for your business?)

Gymshark targets Peacocks in their marketing campaigns. Before any marketing activity, companies build a persona that identifies their perfect customer, and develop marketing campaigns based on that. This strategy helps in accurate structuring of a campaign, so that it touches sensitive points of customers and brings to connection with the brand. 

Peacocks demonstrate some key characteristics which makes them easily recognisable.

• Are self-focused and have a tendency of standing out in a crowd – perfect for a typical client of Gymshark. 
• Money is of important value and a symbol of success.
• Pay a lot of attention to their looks, as it adds to building their personality in the eyes of others.

Peacocks are the main target for Gymsharks, and the spectrum of customer segments includes other personalities suited to different brands. You can find more on this in our book 16 Personalities, which includes much more on types of clients than you can imagine. The book describes in detail different target segments with different behavior, preferences, values, and attitudes, which can help in shaping on-point marketing strategy.

It is time to move on to Gymshark and learn about its marketing strategy by analyzing one of its campaigns.

Gymshark began its activities in 2012, and in 2017 it was already considered one of the fastest-growing retailers in the UK. This success is a result of having the best marketing strategies, and some of them are listed in the following paragraph.

• Influencers as the brand’s ambassadors

As the company is e-commerce, the founder Ben Francis decide

d to send Gymshark apparel to several influencers in order to raise awareness and target consumers. This strategy turned to be highly effective, so Gymshark decided to sponsor 18 influencers, who combined had more than 20 million followers. Most of these influencers later became the ambassadors of the brand.

• Marketing through Tik-Tok

Tik-Tok is the most downloaded media app, and that’s the main reason why Gymshark is also promoting its products due to Tik Tok influencers.

In 2018, Tik Tok influencers collaborating with Gymshark started a “66 Days / Change your life” challenge, where the followers were asked to choose a personal goal, upload their initial photo and 66 days later photo of the result and the progress of themselves.

The person who could reach their plan, who had changed her life the most, could gain a year of supply of the brand’s products. This way, the company could raise awareness about its products and help others have an active life.

• Costumer-brand strong communication

The company always asks for feedback from its customers and tries to follow their suggestions, understand their concerns. Gymshark is actively doing polls on their social media channels, which makes their consumers feel appreciated.

Now let’s watch one of the famous campaigns of the company and analyze some of its main points.

Powerful words written by Gymshark copywriter Harry Foley for this campaign and the great visuals transfer a message that one can always achieve his/her goals through hard work. The campaign says that nobody is born heroic, and no icon is born iconic.

The campaign represents several people who have built their legacy. For example, at the beginning of the video, Lex Griffin, the first Gymshark athlete. His presence represents dedication and commitment.

The commercial creator also included Matt Ogus, Chris Yucky Lavado, David Laid, who have worldwide fame and have already built their strong legacy. So, in this way, Gymshark encourages everyone to start working and build their legacies.

To understand communication strategies Gymshark uses, let’s look at the following slogan.

“Be a visionary” is a slogan describing the ideology this brand lives with. According to Ben Francis, Gymshark founder, this slogan means that the company believes that you can change the world, and if you also believe in it, you are a visionary. Francis thinks that when passion meets vision, everything can be possible.

One of the core values of Gymshark is the vision itself. The brand believes that one should always stay true to their vision and respect others’ as well.

Gymshark always reminds its users that they are here to help everyone’s ideas come true. With this slogan, which is very catchy and easy to remember, the company motivates everyone to think outside of the box and reach their goals.

Moving on, let’s understand what the company’s target segment is.

For that purpose, let’s have a look at this commercial.

The commercial begins when beautiful Karina Elle starts wearing legging and a top from Gymshark’s Flex Collection for Women. Karina Elle is an American fitness model, gym instructor, and former cross-country runner. In that sense, Gymshark has already made its choice on purpose because Karinna Elle is very influential.

When our heroine goes out for a walk and puts on her air pods, which plays the famous song “I don’t worry myself” by Johnny Adams, the commercial already starts to be entertaining and energetic.

Throughout the whole video, Karina Elle is walking very confidently, always having a beautiful smile. Simultaneously, people around here cannot take their eyes off, as the model looks incredible in that beautiful legging and body fit top. One of the boys even falls on the person standing before him.

After watching the commercial, it becomes clear that the American model, the main character of the advertisement, is one of the representatives of the target segment Gymshark has already chosen- Chardonnays.

Now, let’s learn some interesting facts about this target segment.

Lifestyle and Values:

• Chardonnays are positive, energetic, and optimistic. These people are highly sociable and usually have many friends with whom they can hang out. Chardonnays are open to the world and are always happy to meet new people.
• People belonging to this target segment are stylish and believe that having a unique style is an essential part of their lives. That is the reason why new, beautiful and exciting things can always attract them.
• Representatives of this target group always take care of themselves, as being attractive to the opposite gender is crucial.
• Going to GYM and exercising is a regular activity for them, as it is one of the best ways that can help them to always stay in shape.
• These people are highly dedicated to their families, so they always try not to miss family gatherings.
• One can sometimes find them in cafes and clubs because social activeness is crucial for their lives.
• When it comes to relationships, Chardonnays are usually loyal and believe in long-term commitments.

Brand Usage:

• As these people give importance to their appearance a lot, shopping is also one of their favorite activities.
• They strongly pay attention to the quality of the product; hence, they can even pay more for lesser but qualifies products.
• Chardonnays always buy what they exactly want, and if the money is not enough, they will save up money to get their favorable choice.

This article mainly focused on the communication and marketing strategies that Lululemon Athletics and Gymshark use, as these are the critical components of every company’s success. To read more posts like this, check the main page of our website.

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