Kelly Bench & Nick Ferretti
Comm 473
Professor Renea Nichols
February 13, 2023
Introduction
Since its inception in 1961, Weight Watchers has been a leading weight-loss company that focused on science-based research to create diet plans for clients. Weight Watchers was founded in 1961 by Jean Nidtech, a female homemaker who had struggled with weight her entire life. After trying so many diets with no results, she sought medically-backed advice to help her achieve her weight-loss goals. Recently, they decided to rebrand as a “health and wellness” company, not just a weight-loss business. This was due to the overall societal change in approaching health holistically and promoting inclusivity when it came to body positivity.
They rebranded by using several strategies, the first was changing their name from Weight Watchers to “WW” and later to “WW International” to discourage people from associating them with just weight loss and encourage inclusivity in customers. Through this process, they created a new healthy eating plan that gave customers more freedom with what they ate and began marketing to different audiences, known as WW Freestyle. By doing this, they showed consumers that they are invested in their overall health, not just weight loss.
WW also partnered with celebrities to market its brand to new audiences, such as DJ Khaled. This was a year-long media campaign of Khaled detailing his weight-loss journey over social media. Throughout the campaign, audiences were able to watch someone use the program in real-time and see results. In the past, WW had partnered predominantly with middle-aged women, which was their main audience. The company added Khaled as an influencer to reach new audiences of different ages, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds.
Communication Plan
Situational Analysis
Within the past several years, mainstream media has rejected the original concepts of diet culture and is favoring more holistic health strategies. Many brands have been focusing on body positivity as well, such as the Aerie Real campaign, which received a great deal of positive feedback (Rodgers, 2019). Instead of focusing on having a slimmer body, people are more concerned with living a healthy and happy lifestyle, which is why Weight Watchers wanted to reshape their mission and branding. Many companies are refocusing their strategies to promote overall wellness instead of obsessive dieting plans. Recreating its branding strategy would help Weight Watchers reach broader audiences in mainstream media.
While Weight Watchers has been the leading weight-control plan, new dieting companies and tactics have threatened their dominance over the market. The Noom Diet app is one of WW’s biggest competitors and has been described as the “Weight Watchers for millennials” (Osland et al., 2020). The sales of the company are also being threatened by the Keto Diet, which is a high-fat and protein diet with few carbs. Because of this, Weight Watchers needed to set itself apart from its competitors and remind people that their plans are based on scientific research and proven results.
Research
While going through this rebranding process, WW implemented a research study that sought to analyze the effectiveness of their WW Freestyle plan, which was a major aspect of their rebranding (Tate, 2019). The plan was intended to be more flexible with better results by giving participants more “approved” food options. This rebranded their diet plan as a sustainable health option, as opposed to a weight-loss program.
The research spanned 24 weeks and was based on a preexisting WW diet plan. The study included 143 non-randomized participants of ages 18-75 who wanted to lose weight but had not started any official weight-loss programs. The primary outcome measure of the study was to see the body weight change in participants over the six-month timeline. As a result, participants had an average weight loss of 7.7% after six months, and 93.6% of participants agreed that WW Freestyle helped them feel healthier. Among those who reported trying to lose weight in the past, 82.2% of participants reported that WW Freestyle is easier to do and 92.6% reported that it gave them more flexibility in their food choices compared to other times they’ve tried to lose weight in the past (Weight Watchers International, Inc, 2017). This research showed that WW Freestyle was effective and was a reliable way for customers to reach their weight-loss goals while not limiting their diets too much.
WW also performed research on its business model and what customers were receptive to in terms of strategies (Santos et al., 2018). A key takeaway was that they were receiving more subscriptions to online programs than in-person meetings. The profits they were earning from online monthly subscriptions were almost double those of in-person meetings and product sales. Younger audiences were also reached more through online campaigns and advertisements than in-person events or commercial advertising. Additionally, they also found that their business increased as health-related diseases grew across the country, which also influenced the overall push for healthy lifestyles throughout the media. Researchers also analyzed how audiences were more interested in a holistic approach to healthy living, so incorporating that into their rebrand would increase interest and user retention. Finally, they saw that influencer advertising, such as celebrity endorsements, spurred customer growth.
Goals & Objectives
Goal 1: To be viewed by men and women who are 18+ as a company that prompts healthy and sustainable life choices, not just weight loss programs.
Objective 1: Rebrand the name and mission statement of Weight Watchers to be more
supportive and inclusive of consumer health perceptions.
Objective 2: Target men and young women, who are typically not users of WW.
Tactic 1: Use celebrity spokespeople who reach the target audiences through media campaigns.
Tactic 2: Use online programs and advertisements to target millennial-aged
audiences.
Goal 2: To use science-based research to create a weight-loss plan that is flexible, results-driven,
Objective 1: Conduct a research study that shows the results of the new weight-loss plan
to determine its effectiveness.
Objective 2: Launch the new weight-loss plan through media releases, and use
spokespeople to demonstrate the effectiveness in real time.
Target Audience
Weight Watchers’ target audience has been predominantly middle-aged women since it was created. Roughly 90% of WW members are female and the distribution is skewed toward Caucasian women around 50 years old (Santos et al., 2018). With the new rebrand, WW wanted to expand their target audiences to men (10% of the previous audience), young women (<17% of their previous audience), and international customers (outside of America, <33% of the previous audience).
Tactics & Strategies
One of the first major changes that Weight Watchers made was changing their name to WW, which was to discourage people from associating them with just weight loss and show that they are a “wellness company.” They also changed their manifesto, which states,
“We enable you to find and form inspired communities. Person by person, community by
community, health spreads. We believe that healthy living is a human right, and we aspire
to make wellness accessible to all—not just a few. This is our mission” (Weight Watchers International, Inc).
The entire manifesto reinforces their commitment to health and wellness for their customers, and even discusses the increase in obesity in the world.
To reach a wider and more diverse audience, Weight Watchers partnered with DJ Khaled as he documented his weight-loss journey using WW Freestyle. Over the course of one year, Khaled showed a realistic view of the program and shared his experiences over Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The DJ isn’t the typical influencer for their main consumers, middle-aged women, so he was meant to help them reach men and younger women. Khaled is a very dynamic speaker and has been known to promote concepts such as “living your best life,” so his online clout was meant to aid WW in their connection to overall wellness. Also, his social media presence was meant to attract younger audiences overall.
WW also decided to focus on promoting their online subscriptions because it was what consumers were spending more money on, and it helped them target millennial-aged audiences who were more likely to use online platforms than attend in-person meetings. In addition to focusing on online interaction, WW also targeted new customers by eventually renaming themselves as “WW International.” This new name was meant to help them target international audiences as most of their customers were American.
Lastly, WW conducted its 24-week research study, which helped them analyze the effectiveness of their new weight-loss program. This aided them in perfecting the new WW Freestyle so they could show consumers how effective their strategies were in providing weight-loss solutions. They also demonstrated the real-life effects of the program through their partnership with Khaled.
Key Messages
One of the main messages that WW promoted was their new tagline, “Wellness that Works.” They wanted to reinforce that their company is the leader in sustainable weight-loss solutions and has been for many years. The simplicity of the statement also demonstrates the simplicity and easiness of their weight-loss programs. “We’re constantly innovating to make our program even simpler and more livable,” said Mindy Grossman, President and Chief Executive Officer, WW International. “Freestyle is simple, freeing, and it delivers results. It helps you live your best life” (Weight Watchers International, 2018).
Through their manifesto, advertisements, and media campaigns, WW reshaped the language they typically used with audiences to show their commitment to wellness and a holistic approach to health. They wanted consumers to feel that they truly care about their overall health and wellness, not just weight loss.
Through their partnership with DJ Khaled, they want audiences to understand that WW Freestyle is for more than just middle-aged white women; it is for men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities. He stood out against the celebrities they had previously partnered with, which was to make the overall campaign stand out. WW also wanted Khaled to show the easiness and effectiveness of WW Freestyle in real-time to these new audiences.
Content Analysis
DJ Khaled as Social Media Ambassador for WW Freestyle
Overall the addition of DJ Khaled as a social media ambassador for WW at the time was a massive success for the new Freestyle diet. The messaging was consistent across all social media and traditional news platforms about the freedom and flexibility Freestyle allowed its users to have, while still being able to lose weight. The documentation by DJ Khaled of his diet over the time span allowed consumers to engage actively with the program and see real results for someone who has a hectic lifestyle himself. Over the course of a year viewers were able to see the ease of function of the app, the combination of exercise and learning of healthy habits by Khaled, as well as the simplistic dieting scheme of Freestyle helped Khaled shed over 40 pounds and reach his goal of a weight of 250 pounds. As a tactic by itself, to promote the use of Freestyle as well as to bolster recruitment in men as stated previously, WW recruiting DJ Khaled was a popular success.
DJ Khaled and Press Coverage Early Launch: January to February
The announcement and launch of the DJ Khaled partnership and subsequent social media journey were consistent with the themes of WW Freestyle and were successful in bringing attention to the campaign. All appearances and mentions of WW Freestyle and DJ Khaled shared the messaging of “freedom and flexibility,” the ability for people to follow publicly DJ Khaled’s weight loss journey, and even highlighted some early milestones of Khaled himself. This resulted in a cohesive and successful launch that drove many to the socials of Khaled as well as successfully highlighting the benefits of WW Freestyle.
Starting on Jan 1, 2018, WW released a press release to PR Newswire announcing the recruitment of DJ Khaled as a social media ambassador, as well as encouraging people to view his social media accounts to witness his journey and “freestyle” themselves (PRNewswire, 2018). In the release, Khaled stated that “Weight Watchers is about being your best self,” and emphasized that he wanted to be his best self for his family, which is why he is setting out on his Freestyle journey to make healthier habits. In the following days, news stations and papers would pick up the story themselves, and Khaled made some in-person appearances.
On Jan 2, the Associated Press released an article titled “Wild Thoughts’ for Weight Watchers,” summarizing the release, restating the focus on the freedom and flexibility that WW Freestyle grants Khaled and seeking out his socials for the progressing journey (AP, 2018). On Jan 3, WW published a release to Newswire about the success of Freestyle in clinical trials and the overall improvements it provided to consumers as opposed to the older model of points counting (PRNewswire, 2018). On the same day, ABC’s Good Morning America ran the story about DJ Khaled joining WW as an ambassador, and the New York Post ran the article “THIS IS REALLY BIG – DJ Khaled appetizing Weight Watchers e-promoter,” both of which commented on the nature of the journey being viewed by hundreds of thousands of young people who follow DJ Khaled (a key demographic for WW in addition to men), and the increase in stocks following the announcement (GMA, 2018; NYP, 2018). On Jan 9, DJ Khaled himself made an appearance on Steve Harvey’s show Steve TV, where he reemphasized the messaging of the ease of following the new diet plan and showing off the weight he’s lost so far on the plan (SteveTV).
To round off the launch of the social campaign, WW released a video on Feb 16 titled DJ Khaled | WW Freestyle to their Youtube channel essentially summarising Khaled’s reasons for starting the diet and his emphasis on wanting to be better for his family. He also displayed the simplicity of the points system as well and showed off some of the dishes one is able to enjoy while still being within points for a day (WWYouTube, 2018).
DJ Khaled’s Social Media Beyond Early Launch
Following the initial wave of media coverage regarding DJ Khaled’s weight loss journey on WW Freestyle, Khaled regularly posted updates to his Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat accounts, reaching an audience of millions. For the entirety of 2018 and 2019, Khaled posted almost daily about his meals, milestones and how the diet is working for him. The first major milestone was recorded in February 2019, when Khaled showed he had reached his first landmark weight of 250 pounds (Twitter: @djkhaled).
These updates continued until around the beginning of 2020 when the focus shifted to the new myWW program.
Rebranding from Weight Watchers to WW
The Failed Shift of Focus to a Lifestyle Brand
In September 2018, Weight Watchers officially changed its name to WW, starting the rebrand of the formally diet-focused company and beginning the shift towards a lifestyle company off the back of its recent highlighting of Freestyle. It ditched the word “weight” outright by switching to just initials, increased the capabilities of its app to cater to more of a holistic healthy lifestyle, and focused its attention to online users instead of the in-person meetings it was known for. The public view became that WW was trying to maintain its status as a dieting program, while at the same time trying to be a part of the growing body positivity movement and distance itself from losing weight as a focus. What came, as a result, was disingenuously mixed messaging that catered to neither the preestablished nor new target audiences of WW.
On Sept 24, 2018 CEO Mindy Grossman joined CNBC to speak about the shift in company culture on air and on how WW as a company wants to target its new audience of younger, more global subscribers (CNBC Youtube, 2018).
In December 2018, WW released a press release regarding the new additions and partnerships to its mobile app that supported things such as meditation, cookware recommendations, community searching for support groups and on-demand workouts (PRNewswire, 2018).
The media that followed highlighted the unsuccessful nature of the rebrand. A Forbes article was written in April 2019 by Avi Dan titled “The Weight Watchers Rebrand Points To The Risk Of Chasing Trends,” summarized the move by WW to be ineffective on all fronts. WW alienated its previous audience who used the program for weight loss, insufficiently reached the target audience it was aiming for with mixed messaging and tried to do too many things at once without enough preparation (Dan, 2019). Another article written by Jess Miller on Slate titled “Weight Watchers Isn’t Fooling Anyone,” goes into more detail about how the moves by the company feel fake and at the end of the day still rely on the idea of weight loss in order to make money. It details the failure of the rebrand in the long term, and how people still associate, despite their efforts, Weight Watchers with WW (Slate, 2021).
Evaluation of Rebranding
While WW International strived to align itself with sustainable and holistic wellness, critics viewed the change to WW’s approach as superficial, claiming that the foundation of the new lifestyle it promoted was still weight loss (Osland et al., 2020). Even though the company aimed to incorporate new branding that addressed multiple facets of wellness, it would have been very difficult for them to completely separate themselves from being a company focused on weight loss. Having a business structure that is ultimately centered around changing a person’s body is not one that can effectively promote “body positivity.” No matter how flexible their WW Freestyle plan was, it was still a system that controls customers’ food intake, which can become a toxic and obsessive practice. While the rebranding was in good spirit, it was not effective in changing the overall perception of WW as a weight-loss business.
In response to the rebranding, subscriptions went down, which impacted WW’s stock performance. Morgan Stanley estimated that WW had reached only 8% of its addressable market. WW is being threatened right now with lawsuits as a result of them misleading the investment community.
One of the biggest problems with the rebrand was the conflicting messaging across their social media ambassadors, and the whole shift seemed more like a cash grab than a planned or genuine shift in values. The first thing that sticks out to people looking at this entire case is the lead-up to the shift in September 2018. The whole beginning of the year was the showing of DJ Khaled and his weight loss journey on WW Freestyle, and the whole idea behind even recruiting Khaled in the first place was to recruit his more young and male followers. Why then, would WW change the messaging of Freestyle in the middle of his social campaign to try and shift the focus on this lifestyle as opposed to the results-focused weight loss? In essence, it feels poorly planned, and that WW tried to retroactively use Khaled’s experience more for the journey and lifestyle changes than the more impactful and moving weight loss.
Another reason why it sticks out is that the holistic approach that WW tried to implement was never the focus of the company. Sure, WW added support for all kinds of exercise, mental health, and even a better system to form communities that are more personal to a consumer’s individual needs, but it was still centered around a diet program. The main product being sold to customers was the diet program, which happened to come with access to all of these additional holistic perks. This is in the main part of why the schism occurred between the old and new publics. Older users who didn’t care for the new changes couldn’t opt out of them or didn’t see a need for them, and new users who are more in line with healthy lifestyles and body positivity didn’t ever look past the core dietary part of the program one was paying for.
Professional Opinion: Darrielle Carter
Former Event Coordinator for Empire Events Group, Inc and current Special Events and Public Relations Coordinator for the CAC of NEPA, Darrielle Carter shared her opinions on the over state of the rebrand of WW as well as the progression the company took towards a more holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle.
Overall, Ms. Carter found that the intention of the company trying to move towards a more inclusive approach was a good one. “Change is inevitable, and any time you move towards better health or better quality of life I think it’s the right direction,” said Ms. Carter. She supported the addition of the multiple new accessibilities and newly available functions in the Freestyle app. She continued on by saying that since it was the first full rebrand of the company, that it was correct of WW to try and implement more relatable figures like DJ Khaled to their target audience of men.
However, Ms. Carter noted that the current state of WW as well as the decisions following the rebranding have not been followed through with, and she can understand why some critics can see the move as disingenuous. “I think if they actually took their time to get their feedback from the actual people they were trying to target this would have turned out totally different. I’m not a big fan of the logo; this doesn’t say ‘freedom’ this doesn’t say ‘lifestyle’ and I don’t think it’s an accurate representation of the whole [healthy] lifestyle movement.” Ms. Carter also commented on the state of the current social media ambassadors for the company also do not align with the goals of seeking a younger, more male audience, and agreed that it seemed WW backtracked a lot in regards to their target audience.
Compared to Other Companies
CVS to CVS Health
One example of a rebranding that was well-received, concise, and based on a genuine shifting of company beliefs was CVS Health. In 2014, CVS announced that it would be uniting its 4 branches under one umbrella, in order to better align itself with its increasing suite of services beyond pharmacy services. It removed tobacco from all its stores, laid out publicly its plans for expanding its services, and how it could use its existing infrastructure to help people.
CVS Health received high marks from the industry for its strategy of turning its stores into basic care clinics, as reported in on in an article from Health Leaders.
Peloton Shifting To Motivation
In a not-so-drastic rebranding, Peloton after facing the return to outside-of-the-home gyms following the COVID-19 pandemic shifted its focus to motivating its consumers. It focused its new campaign on offering new content and hardware that will make customers more motivated to work out and to continue to work out with Peloton. According to an article Brand Innovators, Dara Treseder, SVP, global head of marketing, communications and membership at Peloton shares in a statement, “The motivating power of the Peloton experience results in helping people lead healthier, happier lives.”
Peloton did not try to entirely change its brand into some kind of motivational speech service. It observed a change in the market and changed its focus to something still within their already existing scope of products and services. The shift was natural and still on brand for the company.
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