The reusable Stanley cup brand was established in 1913 and has primarily focused on marketing towards blue-collar workers and outdoorsy consumers. Stanley has been selling water bottles for decades and yet the most recent news surrounding the reusable items has had many people stumped. Just this week the brand was having a special sale of a Valentine’s Day hot pink and red colorways with Target, and a viral moment ensued. In a TikTok video that has 16 million views from New Year’s Eve, people are seen feverishly grabbing for the special cups, making it seem like it was a Black Friday sale. Some in the video grabbed two or more cups. The tumblers retail for $45–other variations of them have been selling for nearly $100 to over $1,000 with people reselling cups on Grailed, StockX, and eBay due to the high demand.
In November 2017, a women-run blog The Buy Guide sold 10,000 Stanley tumblers by marketing to a different demographic than the blue collar workers: women. The blog experimented with this tactic since Stanley had announced that they were no longer going to stock the cups. The cups sold out with ease and the women running the blog convinced the brand to sell them again after they stopped in 2019. Then, The Buy Guide partnered with Stanley to sell 5,000 cups and they sold out in 5 days.
Right now the most popular design from the brand is the “Quencher H2.0” which comes in a plethora of colors, launched in 2016. This is thanks to the brand’s president Terence Reilly, who was appointed in 2020. Reilly was previously the executive at Crocs, another brand that offers the same product in a myriad of colors. Stanley has grown in notoriety over the years thanks to other viral moments too.
Back in November, the brand’s popularity skyrocketed when Danielle Faudree posted a TikTok. In the video, the “Stanley cup car fire girl” shows her battered, burnt up and disheveled Kia car–but she also moves her camera to present that her Stanley cup was almost as good as new. Next, the brand reached out to Faudree. In a viral TikTok company president Terence Reilly declared he’d replace her cup and her car. Nine cups were delivered to her, and she received a 2024 Mazda CX-90. She also has thousands of followers now on social media.
On TikTok there are now over 6 billion views of #Stanleycup. The company is also up from $74 million in revenue to $750 million, according to USA Today. There are even viral videos of kids getting emotional over receiving a Stanley cup for Christmas–this is all a part of what makes the brand continue growing and selling out. Today Stanley is being supported heavily by so many different types of people which points to its strong brand recognition and the quality of their products. Gen Z, women, and sustainability are pushing this 110-year-old company into its newest and most successful era yet.