client.
W.O.D. Nation
What I Did.
WOD Nation, whose name comes from the CrossFit acronym “Workout Of The Day”, was an equipment brand that had grown like wildfire during the rise of CrossFit. By the time I took over the creative direction, the brand had been bought and sold several times, resulting in a mixed bag of product mix and brand identity. They had a large following of several hundred thousand followers across social media, but their content was receiving very low engagement due to the lack of strategy and understanding from the previous owner. Their sales were decent because the most recent owner had pivoted to an Amazon business model and found a niche in price-point fitness equipment, but their brand was in shambles due to the lack of overall authenticity.
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They had a core CrossFit following from the original owners but were operating as a generic Amazon business model. My job was to restore brand authenticity, reinvigorate raving fans, and add DTC online sales while maintaining the sales momentum on Amazon. We began by developing a marketing strategy that reengaged core fans by working with local CrossFit gyms around the country. We also reached out to some of the company’s original influencers and healed estranged relationships. Additionally, we redesigned the imagery, bringing it back to the core of CrossFit and away from the generic stock imagery that the previous owner had haphazardly adopted as the norm. I also oversaw the creative direction for a new website designed to sell products and reinforce the newly restored brand image with appropriate images and messaging.
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What I Learned.
Working on WOD Nation was the ultimate debate about niche versus broad targeting. This is one of the most interesting and hotly debated topics in marketing summits and company boardrooms across the world. WOD Nation had built a multi-million dollar brand by serving a very specific niche in the CrossFit world and nearly destroyed it by trying to broaden their sales market to “general fitness enthusiasts”. It was a logical approach to growth on the surface; they had a huge following and a brand that seemed well-rooted and ready to diversify and scale. However, if you know any core CrossFit enthusiasts, you’ll know that this is a passionate, somewhat territorial crowd who embraces their culture and does NOT like to be generalized. Therein lay the problem for WOD Nation, whose very name was an acronym for this extremely hardcore niche of the fitness world. They were an extremely core brand that had built their fanbase and reputation on the promise that they were true to the CrossFit culture. Preaching that “we are one of you” is an effective way to reach a niche audience, but it comes with significant guardrails as you grow. When approaching the core of a movement or an industry, it's hard to prove that you are also core and worthy of respect and trust. It’s even harder to maintain that respect and trust as you grow and expand.
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Knowing when to stay niche and when to expand is one of the hardest things in business and is different for every company. Everyone wants to grow and expand their customer base, but understanding your brand’s relationship with your customers is critical. Imagine, for example, if Harley Davidson began making tiny electric cars because they saw Tesla succeeding and wanted a slice of the pie. They might sell a few cars, but they would lose the respect of their core audience and damage their brand and, eventually, their sales.
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WOD Nation was a great example of what not to do in the niche versus general audience debate. However, another lesson I learned is that wounds can heal. Consumers are fickle and emotional, especially core consumers. Core audiences want to be acknowledged and respected. They want to feel like brands understand them and cater to their precise needs. We were able to turn the WOD Nation brand around and gain back most of the core following simply by speaking their language again.
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As marketing expert Seth Godin famously said, “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” This quote underscores the importance of understanding and catering to a specific audience for certain brands. Balancing the need to maintain niche authenticity while broadening appeal is a delicate dance, and WOD Nation’s experience serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of staying true to your brand’s core identity.