Weight Watchers
Product Development and Content Strategy
I was a key member of the start-up team that designed and launched Weight Watchers plan online and grew a profitable global service.
Challenge and Objectives:
This long-time leader in the weight loss market was arguably late to the online space. Weight Watchers needed to attract and engage a new generation of customers online, amidst fierce competition from established brands (Jenny Craig, Atkins) and nimble digital-first start-ups (eDiets.com). The Weight Watchers plan was traditionally based on weekly, in-person offline Meetings. We needed to reinvent this face-to-face model for the virtual world, and maintain this trusted brand’s hard-won reputation.
Our objective was to grow a strong global subscription base - and ultimately, to realize significant gains for early investors.
Positioning across the offline and online products was hotly contested, and continued to evolve throughout the early days of growth. The original positioning presented offline Meetings as the primary product; Weight Watchers eTools as an online up-sell for Meetings attendees; and Weight Watchers Online as the digital-only alternative.
Leading with the user’s weight-loss journey
Content is central to the Weight Watchers plan, which relies on grounding audiences in accurate information about health and weight loss and motivating them to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Online, we needed to meet audiences where they were in their personal weight loss journey - from pre-contemplation to contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.
In all stages, we focused on helping audiences navigate their daily lives by making wise food and fitness choices. Our content strategy complemented a suite of online tools (Weight Trackers, Journals) designed to promote behavior change.
We also focused on keeping audiences engaged and motivated, through social support (I also oversaw online social platforms - at the time, very active message boards) and user-testimonials.
”Losing weight is one part organization one part inspiration. It’s one thing to know how to lose weight. Perhaps just as important is the believe that we can - and will.
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson as an early Weight Watchers spokesperson and role model.
Responding to new contexts
Watchers Magazine was traditionally packed with healthy recipes. We used to say the plan was all about food. But we discovered through research that online visitors - who skewed younger and more urban - also wanted convenient eating options and didn’t necessarily have the time to cook. For these newer audiences, we developed easy-to-follow interactive meal plans, robust dining out options, and expanded coverage of ready-made and supermarket products.
We also gave people ways to exchange a wealth of real-world food and lifestyle ideas via through robust message boards and a popular community recipe swap.
Think global, eat local
Over five years, we launched online outposts in five countries - CA, DE, UK, SE, AUS. I worked with the VP International to recruit local content directors, and support the launches of those services and efficiently scale global content operations.
Nuanced local food needs made it very challenging to repurpose food content, particularly recipes. We got many of the local market sites up-to-speed by relying on base of content developed for offline meetings. Fitness content was easier to extend.
Results
Our online content and social features consistently received outstanding customer satisfaction scores.
Over five years, we successfully built a profitable online business with $200 million in global revenue - and helped millions of customers build healthier habits.
During this time the online business was acquired and merged into Weight Watchers International (now WW).