Why All Brands Should Study Stanley Cup CEO Terence Reilly's Marketing Masterclass

Imagine going back to 1994 and asking people what a popular product would look like in 2024. It probably won't look like a Stanley Cup, but here we are. Reusable water bottles are one of the most sought-after forms of beverage containment, largely thanks to Tik Tok Stanley's revenue rose from $74 million in 2019 to $750 million in 2023, but if we look behind the massive sales , there is a more in-depth case

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on effective product

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and leveraging cultural momentum. I think with the Stanley Cup brand you're not really buying Stanley. you are shopping in the community of all the other girls who have one in their hand and in my opinion it is very similar to Jolie, the shower head company that has become quite popular through customers posting about it and On the one hand, you know it's something to show off that you have this amazing piece of hardware in your house, it's that with the Stanley Cups as well, but it's also this sense of community like if everyone has their Stanley Cup, you know that everyone They keep you hydrated, it is something that indicates that you only know good things.

The

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of Stanley Cups has been successful in the diversity with which it has come to market, which means that sany cup is a 110 year old company and the products are not as new since their conception 110 years ago as the only new product that you have had until now. An actual new product was thought of in 2016 2017, the Quinter Tumblr, they have had different color combinations since then, but the product has been overall very similar, but the marketing skill of the Stanley Cup is its ability to not only use the traditional marketing means but also. Take advantage of other vehicles through which the message not only reaches new people but is carried out in new contexts.

This diversity of media spin-offs provides new opportunities to attract new people to the brand idea, which is why they have partnered with content creators throughout. Tik Tok that has taken the brand by taking its products and reworking them through its own cultural frameworks for people who self-identify or subscribe to a culture similar to that Creator. Stanley's marketing success is primarily attributed to his company's president, Terrence Riley, this is the same man who made Crocs great during his 5-year stint as the shoe company's chief marketing officer after Riley saw the now famous Tik Tok of the Stanley Cup of a woman surviving a fire and still containing ice, he said it showed that the product is made for life. and I offered the Stanley woman free and a new car when I saw that he was in the H of all this, oh of course, because it is a very similar Playbook not in its executions but in its spirit in the sense that the

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They are not owned by the company, they are managed by the company, but they are co-created, their meanings are co-created by people and if you invite people to co-create you as co-author of La Narrativa, you share the pin with them people to be a part of mythology and folklore will do things you could never do take you places you can never be will provide you with a level of media creation you can never buy because people trust people more than they trust any other form of marketing communications Stanley, the best All Steel Thermos bottle that is completely defensible Stanley has always been a sort of blue collar utilitarian male product, true, it had an efficacy, it had a utility and not much different from what Yeti has done with the coolers and probably his own glasses. and a portfolio of things that have really found a way to broaden the appeal to invite new users to capture a higher margin by redefining the brand for a new generation and new audiences, but it's all rooted in the quality of the product that we see . the absolute power of scarcity, the absolute appeal of limited editions and most importantly what we also see is desire and demand on full display, the right social commerce has not only catalyzed this, it has created a community around it, which is another thing we see here.

Which is the power of community and ultimately identity. Naturally, Stanley's skyrocketing popularity has not been without obstacles. There were uncivil situations at Target, the woman who was arrested for allegedly stealing $2,500 worth of mugs and customer concerns about possible lead content, the company responded. The concern says it uses lead-containing sealing material during the manufacturing process, but that the lead-containing parts are covered with stainless steel, making the tumbler safe, leading to competitors like Hydro Flask and Aala. to take shots at Stanley in social media posts and promote the safety of their own products, but neither seems to be stopping Stanley.

They have a much better idea of ​​who their customer is, who buys and why they buy than probably most of the retail players in their category if you Look at Stanley as a company, it's not a venture capital backed company and forced to grow a couple of years after launch; It is a brand that took its time to grow, mature and develop brand affinity and I think that is a great lesson because many Many people who start a brand today want it to explode tomorrow and they want you to know that millions of fans who are die-hard fans of your brand are really excited about what they're doing, but that takes a long time. and consistency and continuity over the years, the other one, I think, is figuring out how to turn your brand or your marketing engine into, you know, instead of a megaphone, more of a peer-to-peer marketing engine.

I mean, it's interesting because Yeti Hydro flas like these people were like Main stays in the category and again, I've never seen an ad for Hydro FL, you know, I've only seen content for Yeti, particularly around the coolers online, but I've never seen an ad, but it's the cultural contagion of Stanley, which has created such a gravitational pull and I haven't seen the other brand being able to harness its power in this way, which tells me there are probably a lot of people watching this

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case and its competitors ask how can we do our version of this, but how do we do it from a smarter way of looking at it?

How do we ignite our own version of cultural contagion in ways that are unique to us and the people who know and love us? No doubt. This isn't just net positive, it's NE incredibly positive, right? And you know Mayhem at Target, which is what we saw when they released a limited color edition. You know, first of all, people go to people and that's not Stanley's fault, it's not Target's fault. right, you know idiots are going to be idiots, but again what it does is show shows demand illustrates desire puts it on full display we're all desperate right connect belong express who we are have a means of identification that's culturally relevant and that's just that humans are humans as if we were the same way as in The Capes, the architecture of our brains hasn't changed and I don't think it's that bad to have what is a quote unquote relatively affordable luxury. accessible aspirational vehicle you know if it makes you happy do it as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else