lululemon: No Holding Back
Community fitness experiences that reframed New Year movement around joy, spontaneity, and connection, and not within the confines of resolutions.
Agency: Optimist Inc.
Role: Project Manager/Brand Experience Lead
The Context
As part of lululemon’s 2025 brand campaign, No Holding Back challenged conventional narratives around movement, pushing beyond discipline and self-optimization to celebrate joy, expression, and human connection.
To bring this campaign into the physical world, lululemon activated a series of community fitness experiences that intentionally tapped into New Year fitness resolution fatigue. Rather than reinforcing rigid routines or outcome-driven goals, the brand sought to reframe movement as something expressive, social, and emotionally rewarding during a moment when audiences were craving relief from pressure-driven fitness culture.
The activation needed to reinforce lululemon’s position as a movement brand grounded in community, creating moments that felt inviting, inclusive, and culturally relevant without replicating the prescriptive tone common in fitness marketing at the beginning of the year.
The Strategy
Insight
People are more likely to engage in movement when it feels expressive, communal, and emotionally rewarding. By shifting the focus away from outcomes and toward shared energy, lululemon could reframe how movement feels at the start of the year.
What we did
Designed community-led workouts that prioritized joy, expression, and shared energy over intensity or performance
Created low-pressure movement experiences that welcomed all fitness levels, allowing participants to engage without fear of judgment
Seeded each guest with a head-to-toe lululemon outfit, retrieved through personalized lockers, reinforcing a sense of belonging and care
Guardrails
Movement needed to feel joyful, inclusive, and unmistakably lululemon without relying on rigid instruction, intimidation, or elitism.
The Experience
The No Holding Back activation came to life through community workouts in New York City and Atlanta, each tailored to the local audience while reinforcing a shared campaign ethos.
In New York, the experience centered around a high-energy dance workout that emphasized freedom of movement and spontaneity. In Atlanta, programming expanded to include a mix of spin, yoga, and HIIT, offering multiple entry points for participation and allowing guests to engage in ways that felt authentic to them.
To make each guest feel personally welcomed and supported, participants were seeded with a head-to-toe lululemon outfit, including tops, bottoms, and shoes, which they retrieved from personalized lockers integrated into the space. This moment helped remove barriers to participation while supporting a sense of care, confidence, and belonging before classes began.
Following the workout, guests gathered to cool down, connect, and enjoy refreshments, extending the experience beyond the class itself and reinforcing the social, community-driven spirit of the activation.
Social Proof
Impact
300+ attendees across both markets
Strong organic social sharing driven by participants
Reinforced brand perception around joyful, community-driven movement
While success wasn’t measured purely by numbers, the experience succeeded in creating meaningful, culturally resonant moments that audiences chose to engage with and share.
My Role
I led the execution and experience delivery for No Holding Back, shaping the guest journey to reflect lululemon’s campaign goals while managing cross-functional teams, partners, and on-site delivery across both markets.