If you believe sports supplements (e.g. pre-workout) must be packed to the brim with ingredients, or they shouldn’t be created at all...hopefully you'll have an open mind while consuming this content. In mid-January 2023, Gymshark announced on its social media that it created a branded pre-workout supplement. It would be available only to the UK market and for a limited time only (LTO). Obviously, that LTO time period was super short…because as of recording this in the back-half of March 2023...the branded pre-workout can be nowhere to be found on the Gymshark website. So, why am I even talking about this particular LTO pre-workout launch over the dozens that happen weekly by mid-size or larger supplement brands? It’s solely due to the company behind it. Gymshark is a fashion brand, and not just any fashion brand, but one that generates well over half a billion dollars in global revenue. So, there’s an oddity to what Gymshark did by deciding to launch an LTO product within the dietary supplements market. While I can’t remember everything, I’m pressed to pinpoint any like-for-like comparison with this business strategy made throughout history by other fitness apparel brands like Nike, Adidas, Under Armor, or Lululemon. That being said, I did once explore the idea of fitness equipment/content companies like Peloton, Tonal, or Mirror would explore buy, build, or partnership opportunities within the functional CPG categories. It was in that previously mentioned "most probably" strategic direction that unlocked the Gymshark Pre LTO playbook. They created a strategic partnership with a supplement brand Applied Nutrition and essentially white-labeled their popular pre-workout product called ABE (which stands for All Black Everything). While it seemed most "advanced consumers" and industry professionals were hating on the trendy fitness apparel brand for this LTO supplement launch, I think most were completely missing the valuable insights and lessons to learned...

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