How Its Community Keeps Peloton Pedaling To Success

With working from home, more people are embracing getting their workout right from the comfort of their own house by getting a Peloton. But their experience doesn't end there: chances are they have found online communities around the product, whether on the Peloton platform or through social media channels. Enter Jayvee Nava, VP of Community, who has seen the many initiatives the Peloton community—or its members—have taken to be more connected and has empowered them to take it further with Homecoming events, surprise and delight efforts and more. Dive into my chat with Jayvee as we talk about what it takes to further nurture an engaged community and how 26 passionate Peloton members initiated one of their biggest annual events: Homecoming. ADWEEK: How did you get to where you are today? Any noteworthy aha-moments along the way? By taking opportunities and continuing to challenge myself. In 2015, just two years into Peloton’s existence, members started to connect with one another off our interactive Leaderboard via social media. They wanted to discuss their experiences and share feedback on class content and features with fellow members, their favorite instructors and the brand in real-time. This inspired me to lead the community at Peloton after running our production studio as the VP of studio operations for a year and a half. I wanted to connect our brand closer with our members and ensure that their feedback is heard and rooted in everything that we do—from delivery to new class types and product features. Since taking this opportunity, I now oversee moderation and engagement on our social media channels, Peloton platform and social groups, community events like Homecoming and surprise-and-delight initiatives to ensure we’re cultivating and maintaining an inclusive and special community. What new or up-and-coming innovation(s) do you think will change the future of marketing? As we work towards being an anti-racist organization, we’ve been adding a social impact element as part of our member surprise and delight efforts. As part of celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, we sourced gifts from BIPOC and/or [minority-owned] businesses—in addition to items from our branded apparel—and gifted them to select Asian and Pacific Islander community Member groups, tags and allies. We received an overwhelmingly positive response from Members on email and social media on how it was a thoughtful and supportive way to showcase the API community. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Novahs Love (@novahslove) What’s one piece of work from your career that you’re the proudest of? Homecoming, Peloton’s annual member event, was started by our Members as a way to bring the Peloton leaderboard to life annually since 2016. Our members forged such strong connections on the Peloton platform and social media that there eventually became a desire to meet in person to celebrate milestones and take live classes together in real life at the Peloton Cycling Studio in New York. The first meet-up happened in October 2015 when an Ohio Peloton member let us know that she and 25 members were flying to NYC to meet and ride together in the studio, calling the meet-up: “Home Rider Invasion” (or HRI). Member-organized meetups continued and got bigger. We decided to host an annual member event, Homecoming, where we invite all of our members to join us in New York for three days to connect with each other, celebrate milestones and work out with their favorite instructors. In 2019, we hosted 3,000 members in New York from 49 states plus Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.K.. Due to the pandemic, we had to pivot the in-person event online and this past May, we had over 50,000 members celebrate virtually across the U.S., Canada, UK. and Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZzHHMzNK8 Was there ever a time where you questioned your career path? How did you handle that? Before Peloton, I ran other cycling studios around Manhattan and the Hamptons for several years. I felt too comfortable with my job and wanted a new challenge. As I explored other opportunities, I found Peloton and it was the perfect fit. While it was terrifying to take a risk to go from a big and stable company to a startup, it’s been rewarding to see how much that decision has provided me with my career at Peloton. As the VP of community, I set the strategy and work with my team on how to engage with Peloton’s growing members. A big part of that is maintaining the deep loyalty that is a key driver in the company’s success. In just over seven years, I went from fully staffing Peloton’s first-ever studio team (around 50 employees) to opening and running our first production studio in NYC, to leading and engaging with the ever-growing Peloton Community. What is one skill that you think is currently underdeveloped in Marketing? We all know how quickly consumer sentiment changes. Your online presence sets the tone for your audience to get an insight to company news, values and stance on social issues. That’s why being able to react and pivot quickly and thoughtfully to your customers’ needs and attention is such a unique skill—and why flexibility is key. How do you pick and develop the talent on your team? I look for is someone who’s willing to take on any challenges and is passionate about the work they’ll be doing. I’m also conscious about finding diverse team members with different experience and background that allows us to think differently and broaden our approach and perspective on things. [In] developing my team’s talent, it’s about putting our values into action by putting our members first, empowering the team to make decisions and take risks and building a diverse and inclusive community through their daily work. What's a way that you predict marketing will change as more people begin traveling/going out again? As more people begin traveling/going out again, I believe our brand and others will have to find a way to integrate hybrid experiences with real-world ones. For example, at Peloton, we want to find ways to meet the demand of connecting/interacting with one another in person via our showrooms or studios, but we need to put everyone’s safety first. Being able to adapt to the changes and simultaneously having a plan to execute is the goal. For community events, we want to lean into initiatives that drive connection opportunities with our members that feel safe and valuable. Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, we’ve been hosting monthly virtual fireside chats with outstanding community members and creating conversations aligned with cultural, brand and community moments. Our members appreciate the authentic and informative conversations that show that we’re continuing to connect, support and celebrate the community—even virtually. What’s the first post to come to mind when you hear “best-in-class social”? Nike’s #YouCantStopUs campaign: Not only do I admire the message of inclusivity and perseverance for this campaign, but I appreciate the timeliness and leadership around driving positive change and strong stance on social issues. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? I often hear this from our instructors when taking a class: “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” When you’re not in your comfort zone, that’s when change takes place, which ultimately helps us learn something and be better. What one question would you ask the marketing community and why? What responsibilities do brands have in providing better moderation to protect their communities from toxic and inappropriate content on social media? There’s a lack of moderation tools across many social media platforms for brands and users, making it unappealing for users and oftentimes this lead to account deactivation. Universal Pictures Celebrates the Resiliency of Black Culture With Candyman

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How An Engaged Community Keeps Peloton Pedaling Its Way to Success

Jayvee Nava shares how members inspired Peloton's biggest annual event

Julian Gamboa

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Julian Gamboa