The Active Times 041
Celsius acquires Alani Nu for $1.8 billion, Lululemon opens NYC fitness studio pop-up, LSKD community event's shine, and more...
Here’s your weekly roundup of news, trends, and stories in the health & fitness space. A list of what’s happening, new innovations, interesting finds, and more.
Recent Headlines
Celsius acquires Alani Nu for $1.8 billion. An energy drink & supplement brand founded by Katy Hearn and Congo Brands. Alani Nu was reportedly doing about 6 to 700 million in annual revenue.
If I was building a CPG product, I’d be extremely excited and motivated right now. There’s been a handful of big acquisitions recently including Promix, Ghost, Siete, Sour Strips, and a few smaller ones. And in related news, big corporations are cutting their venture divisions, such as General Mills cutting G Works. Which could mean these big corporations feel it’s better to just acquire the up and coming brands rather than build their own. I also think physical products are just an attractive space right now given how fast tech and AI is moving these days. Hard to build a digital moat when new AI launches can wipe out your company overnight.
Lululemon announces Lewis Hamilton as newest brand ambassador. Powering the F1 driver’s training, recovery, and lifestyle needs. Along with collaborating on future design innovation for athletic and lifestyle collections.
I’ve been keeping a close eye on Lululemon partnerships. It all started back in January of 2024 when they signed their first golfer, Min Woo Lee, and have slowly been adding more and more athletes including DK Metcalf, Connor Bedard, Max Homa, and now Lewis Hamilton. It kinda feels like Lululemon is taking that next step up the ladder by partnering with big time athletes. Sort of how Nike really made a name for themselves with Michael Jordan and then became the main brand sponsoring athletes.
Lululemon opens NYC fitness studio pop-up. Featuring 2 weeks of exclusive training sessions with industry pros and live music performances. Running from February 24th to March 9th.
Sticking with Lululemon, this is a cool community pop-up. It looks well designed, with experiential events that consumers are craving these days. But what this really made me think about was why Lululemon does not have a bigger in-person gym/studio presence? One that is permanent, like Alo’s gyms in LA and NY. They might not be a money printing machine, but I think luxury or exclusive Lululemon gyms would crush in terms of brand awareness and marketing.
LSKD hosts “Track Day” in Scottsdale. A sequel to their first track event in San Diego called “Run Fast & Break Shit”. Featuring brand pop-ups, a community workout, and competitive track events.
I wanted to highlight LSKD for how well they do community (shoutout Chris Devine & Samson Szeto). They are consistently hosting community events and workouts across cities like San Diego, Scottsdale, Austin, and more. And every single one of them feels engaging, welcoming, and just flat out fun. Brands often ask “How do we build a community?”, as if there is some secret or system to it. Well, there isn’t a “secret” or “hack” to it. The secret is that you have to actually care, bring people together in a real way, and repeat this for years. People can sniff out fake stuff, and they won’t buy in to the community if it’s fake.
Floyd Mayweather launches supplement brand. Called 1O1 (One of One), and will include a variety of products such as whey protein, pre-workout, creatine, greens, electrolytes, and peptide capsules.
I’m sure this product is solid and gonna do just fine, but I am exhausted from these celebrity supplement & drink brands. They are getting launched every other week and it kinda turns me off. I recently talked about how TikTok shop just feels like creators selling snake oil, and I almost get the same feeling when I see celebrity brands now. And this goes for most celebrity brands, not just Floyd’s. The one exception to this is Tom Holland’s brand Bero because it actually has a meaningful story behind it and feels authentic.
ICYMI On Social
Thanks for reading this weeks issue of “The Active Times”. If you enjoyed, please help support us by sharing with a friend 🤝
And yes interesting to see the acquisitions in CPG
Agreed on take about supplement cos