Pivoting from Willpower to Pill Power Shed Core Customers and Revenue
5/7/25 – – WW International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. The company, better known as WeightWatchers, is hoping to shed the weight of $1.15 billion in debt and reorganize to continue in business.
I’ve written about WW before in the context of what I call “brand betrayal,” a cause of some very nasty crises.
My concern for the company’s long-term health began two years ago when WW announced its acquisition of Sequence, a subscription telehealth platform offering obesity medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus for weight loss.
How could this business decision be interpreted as betrayal?
If you’ve ever been a member of WeightWatchers or had dinner with one, you know that the company has stood for dietary discipline, self-control and group support. Crash diets, drugs and other “quick fixes” have been scorned as the antithesis of willpower.
I worried that the company’s core customers, having embraced a very different approach to what can be a life-long health challenge, would feel abandoned by the sudden surrender to emerging high-profit prescription drug treatments. Was WW ditching what set them apart?
Change Must be Communicated with Care
At the time of the acquisition, one 15-year WW member told Bloomberg News, “Weight Watchers has kicked us to the curb.” Another complained, “They’re not practicing what they preached.” And one online observer likened the pivot to having an open bar at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
But Wall Street applauded the move. And WW’s CEO, who was forced out late last year, defended the new direction, insisting, “The WeightWatchers you know and love is not going anywhere. It’s an ‘and,’ not an ‘or.'”
Turns out, with WW International stock trading on Nasdaq at less than one dollar per share, it has been more of an “or” than an “and.” The drug side of the business is growing, while the traditional offerings that defined the company for more than 60 years continue to decline.
It’s Hard to Recover from Perceived Betrayal
In Chapter 4 of The Crisis Preparedness Quotient we discuss how crises unfold and examine ways to prevent their occurrence. One of the 10 tendencies we highlight is:
The severity and duration of a crisis are determined in large part by the level of organizational betrayal.
The closer a company comes to violating its core purpose and the promises it makes to consumers, employees, communities and investors, the more damaging a crisis will be. What a company or individual stands for is important. Crisis situations that run counter to that are especially hard to handle.
How can companies pursuing change avoid falling into a crisis of betrayal?
- Have a clear understanding of and commitment to your purpose.
- Communicate change with care and empathy.
- Respect the customers you already have.
- Stay in character and live up to the promises you make to all stakeholders.
- Treat trust as one of your most precious and fragile assets.
Current WW CEO Tara Comonte’s message yesterday to investors was optimistic: “The decisive actions we’re taking today, with the overwhelming support of our lenders and noteholders, will give us the flexibility to accelerate innovation, reinvest in our members, and lead with authority in a rapidly evolving weight management landscape.”
Cleaning up the balance sheet is a good first step toward recovery. Then comes the hard work of earning forgiveness from WW’s members who feel betrayed. Win them back and there can be a healthy future for a more sensitively positioned WeightWatchers.
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