Peloton Power Moves: How Carli Hall Embraced The Challenges That Have Transformed Her Career

“Go with it, run with it, and see what happens.” 

That’s how Carli Hall describes her role as an Associate Brand Manager at Peloton, where she focuses on retail and showroom marketing. “Everything I do helps us figure out how we can create awareness for our showroom and drive traffic to them.” Carli, who is based in Detroit, Michigan, sits on the Brand team and works very closely with retail.

She’s a veteran in retail management, most recently working with high-end fashion brands before joining Peloton in September 2016 as a Showroom Manager. Since then, Carli has moved from working on a showroom floor to bringing to life unbeatable experiences for current and prospective Peloton Members.

“Events and local marketing were always something I was very interested in and were a big part of my role when I started as a Showroom Manager at Peloton. I thought it would just be an extra thing I did as part of my role to drive business. But it turned into my full time role and I’ve learned so much and experienced a ton of growth in the way I work.”

Having always worked in brick-and-mortar retail environments, Carli says her first two years as a Brand Manager were an adjustment. “I’d never had a ‘desk job.’ I didn't have a team of people that worked for me or peers that I worked with, so figuring out how to work outside a store setting was a challenge, but has been really exciting because it's such a pivot.”

One of Peloton’s core values is “Empower Teams of Smart Creatives”, and feeling that sentiment made the experience of pivoting easier. Even though she had spent her career working on retail floors, Carli says she seldom felt allowed to draw in her own customers. That changed when she came to Peloton. “We had a lot of freedom to figure out how we are going to make business happen and not just sit and wait for it to come to us, which was very empowering. That sense of freedom and autonomy to find creative solutions is still one of my favorite parts of what I do every day.” 

Every day, Carli comes up with new ways to build upon the excitement that draws Members into Peloton showrooms. “What we’re building within retail marketing is new and different, and we're always trying to figure out the next thing or the best new way to do it. How can we make it better than we've done it in the past? Go with it, run with it, and see what happens.” 

Peloton team members outside of a mobile Peloton showroom in Aspen

Picking up speed: How Carli grew her career

Carli’s trajectory within Peloton changed in 2018 when the company conducted a summerlong initiative called The Grassroots Tour. The initiative included a trailer, outfitted to look like a furnished apartment complete with Peloton Bikes, traveling to locations across the country where Peloton did not yet have a physical presence. Retail team members staffed each stop on the tour, and Carli got the opportunity to work the Aspen stop.  

She immediately felt inspired. With the Grassroots Tour already being an incredible initiative, she wondered how she might be able to use her retail and staffing expertise to enhance the experience on future tours. “So when I learned we were doing it again the following year, I thought, ‘Oh, I want to be a part of this.’” She raised her hand and the Marketing team gave her that opportunity.

The changes made to run the mobile apartment like a retail store included bringing in a manager, establishing sales goals, and having clear staffing schedules and breaks—just like any other retail location. Carli’s design worked so well that she - along with three other Peloton team members - traveled to London to help train the staff that would run the launch of Peloton House, a Convent Garden immersive pop-up event, in Fall 2018.

Leaders at the company couldn’t help but notice her bias for action, and the decision to create a new role that would oversee the growth of this retail marketing opportunity was made. Carli was invited to interview for the position of Associate Brand Manager, Retail, and she landed the job.

The creative life of a Peloton Brand Manager

Carli’s job is to bring Peloton campaigns to life in showrooms. “Any campaign we have going on—it could be a social campaign, it could be a brand campaign, it could be a product campaign, whatever it is—we bring that to life in a way that helps people understand the benefits of visiting a showroom and really makes them want to come see us.” Her favorite retail extension of 2021 was the Black History Month campaign, in which she worked with Black artists in select cities to paint showroom windows with the inspiration of ‘We See You’.

Florida Peloton showroom display window as part of the Black History Month campaign.

New York City Peloton showroom's display window as part of the Black History Month campaign.

Not only does Carli have to focus on engaging current Members and attracting the new, she also has to consider today, tomorrow, and a year from now. “What are we doing in six months? How will we make those things happen? How can we impact things right now—today? What’s the best way to bring our ideas to life? 

“Really, our showrooms are hubs for potential and current Members to get their questions answered, to become a Member, to shop the apparel, and to just get to know the community.”

How growth takes us further together

Carli has seen plenty of growth in her time at Peloton. When she started five years ago, the company was not well known—there were just 15 showrooms, now there are more than a hundred. 

“We are a larger company now, but it feels like we are still the small company that we were when I started. [At my other jobs], we got bigger and bigger and bigger, and it felt like you were just part of this really big corporation and it felt less special. It doesn't feel like that at Peloton, and that is what makes it feel so special.” 

So, what’s next for Carli’s Peloton career? “The short answer is, I don't know,” she laughs. “The long answer is I know I’m not done with Retail Marketing. I feel very strongly about seeing it through and making sure that we can create something that in the future we could say, ‘Oh, remember when we did this? That was awesome. Let's do that again—and make it even better.’”