Fitness equipment leader
Raising connected fitness to the next level
The fitness and wellness economy is growing rapidly, and customer expectations are higher than ever. We partnered with a fitness equipment leader to create a new gold standard for the connected fitness sector.
Our extensive work in the fitness and wellness space, paired with our in-depth understanding of consumer needs, led us reimagine the fitness experience end-to-end – spanning market research, experience design, and the creation of a connected digital platform. We combined deep consumer insight with experience principles, user journeys, and design direction to elevate both the physical and digital experience.
Driving an outside-in approach
As people seek brands that inspire holistic wellness over just functional fitness, incumbents in the market have lagged by focusing on solely physical products rather than wrap-around brand experiences.
The client team’s aspiration wasn’t just to create another new option in the fitness equipment market, but to raise the standard in connected fitness that would set them apart from the competition.
We partnered with the fitness brand to shift that trend and adopt an approach to brand development that focused on the voice of the customer, together with market-led insights. In this way, we could create a genuinely connected user experience, both for physical products and digital experiences for their customers.
In our very competitive market where customers are faced with nearly infinite choice, winning brands need to stand for something and be truly differentiated. The team at PA worked with us collaboratively to transform the way we view the complete brand user experience. They brought a human-centric approach and unrivalled experience in the wellness market.”
Decoding what moves customers
We started by understanding customers’ motivators and expectations for using a treadmill at home. Our human insights experts set about understanding the shifts in the market by interviewing key opinion leaders to explore trends and market forces. Then we uncovered what was top of mind for the fitness equipment customer at home via robust quantitative surveys to explore treadmill needs and behaviours. Through both qualitative and quantitative research, we developed a vivid picture of the US market and customer.
Armed with a set of overarching themes, we were able to develop a clearer understanding of the mindsets, attitudes, and aspirations of existing and potential customers. We found that these customers were increasingly looking for holistic wellness, not just high-performance fitness equipment. For them, wellness goes beyond physical training to include guidance, motivation, recovery, and long-term habit-building. They expected access to intuitive and connected digital ecosystems that help guide them toward personalised health and wellness goals.
Customers want and expect more from brands in fitness and wellness. Our ‘Future of Wellness’ report revealed that four in five surveyed plan new health and wellness purchases, but half of them are not achieving the results they want and are dissatisfied.”
Defining the vision and experience principles
Based on our research, we set out to create a highly personalised digital wellness platform, setting the client up to win hearts as a reliable, digitally connected home fitness brand at the centre of people’s holistic wellness. Our design experts then defined a unifying philosophy and experience principles, applied across both physical and digital touchpoints, and mapped the customer journey into six key ‘moments that matter’ – each shaping the brand’s signature value.
To enhance every touchpoint, we streamlined purchasing and onboarding, personalised the workout journey with an app, improved access to expert support, and enabled more customisable, interactive workouts. We also explored integrating wellness coaching and fostering community connections to build loyalty based on insights gleaned from earlier in the programme.
A product becomes memorable when its most important moments are crafted with care, clarity, and purpose.”
Creating an inspiring design direction
Our vision for the app was to imagine a fitness companion with built-in wellness support, always there for you. Beyond that, offering customers a smooth experience that provided value-adds like real-time coaching, motivational support, and personalised plans to support treadmill customers every step of the way.
For digital and hardware design, we created three visionary thematic directions that all represent a significant departure from typical fitness equipment that is predominantly black, heavy, and monolithic. These provided starting points for the team to ideate from.
Importantly, the three themes we identified used architectural shapes and materials derived from the domestic context, not the gym, basement, or garage. Each concept focused on seamless integration between hardware and software, both experientially and visually, with minimal physical interface to control the experience. “Unifying the digital and physical experiences created an experience that feels natural, elegant, and truly integrated into the task at hand” explained Sonya Mead, digital experience expert at PA.
Building the optimal platform
Our work now serves as a robust platform for future development and activity, at all times informed by an in-depth understanding of customer needs and human insights. The app was launched swiftly in mid-2025 and was entirely informed by our work. A new treadmill design will be launched in 2027.
The PA team stood out for their mastery of human insights and design thinking. The depth of engineering insight and fluency in innovation language made a lasting impression on our team and our business.”
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