Long-term influencer plans
Over the last five years, Alo’s marketing strategy, from the wellness centers to the Euro summer activations, has been underpinned by talent. From Kylie Jenner doing pilates on deck to Anastasia Karanikolaou and Alix Earle’s budding friendship on board, the brand has built a megawatt community that attends events, works out in the gyms (and organically posts about it) to millions of followers. But Petruzzo insists that it’s not just mega-influencers and high visibility that drives the company’s creator strategy.
“The objective isn’t simply visibility. This would be short-sighted,” she says. “We are creating long-term brand advocates. Very differently from others in the market, who transactionally create a relationship where a [talent] just works out wearing the brand. The people that express Alo, it’s really part of their lifestyle. They are in our gyms every day. They enjoy talking to our people and spending time with us.”
While sportswear brands have experimented with in-store gyms, fitness apps, community runs and the like in order to boost local brand resonance, Alo’s wellness center concept is a unique play. The strategy is simple, if not expensive: open a large state-of-the-art gym and reformer studio, with recovery facilities like cold plunge and sauna, have trainers available all day every day, and host complimentary classes and 1-1 sessions for celebrities, influencers and press, complete with gifted product should they need a new set. The setting encourages the high-profile celebrities and influencers who visit to post about it organically.
“These centers are the embodiment of Alo,” Petruzzo says. “So in key markets, it’s important we show up like this, beyond the store.” In Europe, London was “the right place to start”, she adds, but “it won’t end there.”
In July, content creator and podcaster Jake Shane partnered with Alo to launch a four-part workout series called “Shake & Train” on the Alo Wellness Club app (the workouts were all filmed aboard the yacht). Shane, who was new to fitness three years ago and is known for his self-deprecating humor, has posted his body transformation journey at the Alo Wellness Club in LA since 2023, sharing videos of his difficulties doing reformer pilates (named the “Jake shakes”, which inspired the workout series name), and fun moments sharing classes with his famous friends, like Glen Powell or Alix Earle. His post announcing the Alo workout series, filmed on the Alo Yacht, garnered 85,000 likes and over 700 comments. While aboard the yacht, Shane, Earle, and Karanikolaou shared several videos having fun together, which garnered more than 50 million cumulative views across the trio’s TikToks, making Shane one of Alo’s most important ambassadors.
