Peloton responds to Sex and the City reboot with parody video

Peloton has responded to the death of a key character in Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That, with an ad suggesting he is still very much alive.

Aired on 9 December, the HBO Max programme showed Carrie Bradshaw’s husband John James Preston – aka Mr Big – suffering a fatal heart attack after a session on a Peloton bike. The brand’s shares have fallen by more than 16% since the episode aired.

Voiced by actor Ryan Reynolds, whose advertising company Maximum Effort Marketing created the film, the ad shows Mr Big and real-life Peloton instructor Jess King – who also starred in the episode – seated by a fireside. He asks King if she wants to “take another ride”, adding that “life is too short not to”.

The camera pulls back to reveal two Peloton bikes. Reynolds then informs the viewer that regular cycling improves the heart, lungs and circulation, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. The actor signs off with the line: “He’s alive”.

The ad is a far cry from Peloton’s widely ridiculed 2019 Christmas campaign, which showed a woman recording a vlog to thank her partner for a year of workouts after being gifted an exercise bike. The ad at the time was deemed sexist and dystopian on social media.

The depiction of Mr Big’s death on a Peloton bike does, however, recall the brand’s decision to suspend sales of its Tread treadmill product in May after a child died and more than 70 safety incidents were reported.

Despite benefitting from the lockdown trend for exercising at home in 2020, Peloton has suffered from the return to gyms after society reopened. As a result, in August the company cut the price of its original Bike product by roughly 20% in a bid to make the brand more “attainable”. Peloton recognised at the time that price “remains a barrier”, saying it wants to offer its most popular product at an “attractive everyday price point”.

READ MORE: And Just Like That: Peloton responds with parody ad after shares tumble

JD Sports poised to abandon Footasylum deal

JD sportsJD Sports is reportedly ready to abandon its proposed £90m takeover of rival Footasylum amid pressure from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Finding the takeover would lead to a substantial reduction in competition and a worse deal for Footasylum’s customers, the regulator told JD Sports in November to sell the rival footwear store. The deal itself has been under scrutiny since it was first announced in March 2019.

Through the course of its investigation, the CMA ruled JD Sports is the closest alternative for Footasylum shoppers, even taking into account the continued growth in online shopping and the direct-to-consumer (DTC) operations of Nike and Adidas.

The deadline for JD Sports to appeal the CMA’s ruling passed earlier this month, although the sportswear retailer had been debating whether to ask for an extension, the Sunday Times reports.

Separate to the investigation into the deal, the CMA is also exploring whether JD Sports executive chairman Peter Cowgill broke competition rules by meeting Footasylum boss Barry Bown in a car park, as recorded in footage seen by the Sunday Times. The rules state that two parties involved in a competition investigation cannot share confidential information.

JD Sports, however, denies any such information was passed in the exchange, insisting Cowgill and Bown met to discuss a personal matter and the future involvement of the Footasylum boss in the business. The retailer also claims that the CMA’s position on the deal “defies logic”, insisting the DTC arms of brands like Nike and Adidas are putting pressure on the business.

READ MORE: JD Sports gives up on Footasylum takeover

Government preps £15.4m sale of behavioural insights unit

The UK government is to sell its stake in the Behavioural Insights Team – or ‘nudge unit’ – in a £15.4m deal aimed at attracting investment to tackle key issues in British society.

The social consultancy will become a subsidiary of UK innovation foundation Nesta, the Financial Times reports, the intention being to invest £100m over the next 10 years to explore new ways of hitting net zero by 2050, cutting obesity rates and improving early-years education.

The aim is to combine Nesta’s expertise in machine learning and data science with behavioural insights to create “precision nudges” that target individuals in a more effective way, the Financial Times reports.

In relation to tackling obesity, for example, the Behavioural Insights Team is said to have built a mock up online takeaway food platform to test how to develop messaging that would encourage consumers to choose lower calorie foods over the higher fat alternatives.

The Behavioural Insights Team started as a seven-person team in 10 Downing Street in 2010 and was spun out of the Cabinet Office in 2014. The group specialises in producing low or no-cost interventions that change public behaviour and claims to have carried out more than 700 randomised controlled trials over the past decade.

One such intervention includes a change of messaging on HM Customs and Revenue reminder letters that accelerated the payment of hundreds of millions of pounds to the state.

READ MORE: UK government to boost investment in ‘nudge unit’ by selling stake (£)

Peperami celebrates £100m brand status

Meat snacking brand Peperami is celebrating its status as a £100m brand in retail sales value terms, having grown value sales by 87% over the past five years.

Since the start of the year, the brand claims to have seen sales “skyrocket” due to consumers searching for high protein treats. Head of Peperami marketing, Pavan Chandra, credits a combination of new product development (NPD), an integrated marketing strategy and “strong retail partnerships” for helping drive the brand forward.

In the summer the business invested in a seven-figure campaign spanning PR, social media, TV, radio, an augmented reality game and wider digital push. Dubbed ‘Ban the Bland’, the video content series saw three famous faces create their own snacks using Peperami products. The video series attracted 14 million views and reached 29 million people in the UK over a six-month period, with an average engagement rate of 38%.

Chandra explains that the team were focused on “delivering fame” and an increased rate of purchase despite the uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.

From an NPD perspective, Peperami has experimented with pack formats to suit different snacking occasions, introducing multipacks and single versions of its Chicken Bites range. Compared to 2020, the brand claims more than 20% of growth is being driven by innovation.

To meet the demand for meat-free options, Peperami also introduced its first vegetarian meat-free snack – Vegerami Chick’nless Bites – in June, which the brand claims are high in plant protein.

Hermès takes intellectual property fight to the metaverse

Luxury brand Hermès claims its intellectual property rights have been infringed by an artist producing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on its iconic Birkin bag.

Artist Mason Rothschild created NFTs – known as MetaBirkins – which have sold for 200 of the cryptocurrency Ethereum (equivalent to $790,000/£595,000), according to the Financial Times. Hermès, however, claims the NFTs infringe upon its intellectual property and trademark rights, and are an “example of fake Hermès products in the metaverse”.

The luxury brand adds: “Hermès did not authorise nor consent to the commercialisation or creation of our Birkin bag by Mason Rothschild in the metaverse”.

The legal argument is that the IP exists in the original design and consumers may believe the MetaBirkins are official, which could impact on the ability of Hermès to make money from its own NFTs, should it ever wish to create them.

However, according to the FT, Hermès claims to have not yet entered the NFT market because it values the “tangible expression of handcrafted physical objects”.

READ MORE: Hermès clashes with artist who created MetaBirkins NFT (£)