Lululemon is one of the premier athletic wear companies in the world, providing men and women—or "guests" as they like to call them—comfortable and durable clothes for a number of sports and exercise activities. But like any smart company, they aspired to do more for their guests that was brand accretive. That meant expanding from simply an apparel company to one that encompasses health, wellness and fitness at large. In 2019 they approached Boombang to help them think about brand permission and new horizons.
Today lululemon excels at providing guests with products that improve and promote "movement and mindfulness." We wanted to help them look to the next phase of their growth and plot the course for success along that path. To do that, we engaged with lululemon's in house White Space Exploration innovation team to develop a strategy for new product offerings and sub-brands that would support lulu's vision of "empowering people to reach their full potential by providing the right tools and resources." Specifically, Boombang developed a plan to determine how lululemon might enter into the food and beverage and personal care categories with products that would be ownable, scalable, on-brand, and revenue-generating.
To begin, Boombang conducted a comprehensive ethnographic research phase, including an online survey that went out to 200 people with 70 questions. Respondents comprised a range of lulu High-Value Guests (HVGs), lulu casual guests, and non-lulu guests. From those 200, we pulled out 36 candidates for one on one virtual interviews.
By understanding the needs of lulu's guests and the current category landscape, we began to establish lulu strategies to position a wealth of new hero offerings. What we call "feeling-rich products for elevated experiences." These included F&B products like energy-enhancing Lulu Chews and mood-boosting Energy Elixirs. We also explored body care and self-cleaning products like sweat kits, body tonics, and mood mists.
And because we were working with their White Space group, we were encouraged to think as broadly as possible, even exploring what a lululemon branded space (and the elements that would fill it) might look like. We helped lululemon think of an "elevated environment" for every guest from towels, bedding, and sleepwear to home vaporizers and even detergent sheets.
Based on our research, strategic planning, and design thinking, we concluded that the opportunities for lulu to expand into new areas of health, wellness, and even physical spaces are plentiful. So much so that we also devised a smart rollout a roadmap for each new initiative based on what we called Horizons. These tiered, go-to-market phases assess cost, risk, and time to market for each new brand expansion, helping lulu map out a sound trajectory for how and when to proceed with the product platforms we presented. Which, according to our data, could yield revenue of up to over $1 billion in roughly five years.