Target is teaming up with SoulCycle on a 10-city tour that will include free cycling classes and pop-up shops—making good on two of the retailer's New Year’s resolutions, to get fit and be cool. SoulCycle is the gold standard for studio cycling—complete with candlelight, rocking music, and A-list devotees including Kelly Ripa and Jake Gyllenhaal. It did for spinning what Dry Bar did for blowouts, which is to say, make it extremely popular, and often copied.
SoulCycle studios are concentrated in upscale neighborhoods on both coasts. Target will be able to amplify the brand—and bask in its glow—when the two set out on tour later this month. Stops include Washington D.C., Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Nashville, Denver, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and—can’t forget the hometown crowd—Minneapolis. In each city, Target will offer complimentary classes taught by certified SoulCycle instructors. With the limited number of bikes, the free classes will no doubt fill quickly. Go to target.com/soulcycle for registration information. (Minneapolis sign-ups go live at 2 p.m. on Feb. 5, location still to be announced.)
Each tour stop will include a pop-up shop featuring Soul Cycle x Target merchandise. The tank top isn’t bad, but the gray unisex sweatpants and sweatshirt ($49 each) don’t look like anything you’d see at a SoulCycle studio.
This is the first of what Target promises will be a commitment to "energizing new experiences and products."
"We know that wellness is top of mind for so many of our guests," said Target's chief marketing officer Jeff Jones, in an announcement today on A Bullseye View. "Especially at this time of year when people are looking for ways to reinvigorate their exercise routines."
Nice spin!
