Fans of Stanley’s tumblers and drinkware products are dedicated. They post about their cup collections on social media and keep up with new releases, particularly brand collabs and movie tie-ins, like Sunday’s release of the Stanley x “Wicked” collection of Quenchers inspired by the upcoming film’s Elphaba and Glinda characters. The limited-edition green and pink collection was very popular, quickly selling out after shoppers flocked to Target and its site to buy the Quenchers, and millions of TikToks from happy fans flooded For You feeds.
Complementing its online presence, Stanley has been ramping up its experiential strategy over the last three years, having hosted a holiday pop-up in New York City in 2022 and then a Summer of Color pop-up in Venice Beach, CA, last year. This summer, the brand went all in on events to introduce its new product collections: the Cross Bottle and the Barbie x Stanley Quenchers in celebration of Barbie’s 65th anniversary (Agencies: Pink Sparrow; MKG; Acceleration Community of Companies).
“We’re a brand that’s over 110 years old, and we’ve been really proud to be part of such a digital and social conversation through the lens of culture,” says Graham Nearn, chief brand officer at Stanley. “But as it pertains to where we want to go, one of our most important to-dos is to deepen our emotional connection to consumers, learn more in person from them and tell more powerful stories.”
SUMMER OF STANLEY
In June, the brand brought iconic New York City landmarks and staples into Spring Studios as the backdrop for the launch of its wearable Cross Bottle. Showing how the product can fit into different on-the-go lifestyles, the pop-up space was divided into vignettes, each dedicated to a user persona: a newsstand for the urban commuter, a Central Park-inspired Stanley Café for the outdoor enthusiast, a music booth for the festivalgoer, an airport baggage claim for travelers, and a color trend analysis bar to match participants with their ideal bottle shade. The first day of the activation hosted invited influencers before opening up day two to consumers.
“We were able to create four amazing, deeply authentic New York hands-free experiences, and the immersive nature of the event helped us deepen an emotional connection between the product innovation and the use case scenario,” Nearn says. “When you allow consumers to tell their own story when they’re there through great user-generated content, we think real magic happens.”
For its next event, Stanley continued the Barbie hype kicked off by last summer’s “Barbie” movie frenzy, with a Legends Records pop-up party in New York City, Aug. 16-18, the first in a four-city tour tied to nine limited-edition Barbie x Stanley Quenchers for the doll brand’s milestone anniversary. The pink-washed space featured rows of rooms open for content capturing, including a music recording booth, a hair and makeup studio, a disco photo op and a Howdy Ken Western bar. Attendees received free posters and totes with the purchase of a Quencher.
The Legends theme carried over to the Houston stop of the tour on Sept. 7, with tweaks to the experience to fit the host city. The Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon was transformed into the Western Ken Legends Saloon, named after one of the Quenchers from the Barbie x Stanley collection. Attendees took part in line dancing classes, customized their own bandanas with embroidered details, sipped on mocktails like Barbie’s Brew and Ken’s Koolade, generated content in themed spaces, and enjoyed a performance from country singer Chase Rice.
ON THE ROAD
But that’s not all on Stanley’s calendar of events. The brand is also on the road with the Stanley Studio H2O tour, hitting 13 college campuses this fall through Nov. 9 (Agencies: Newbridge Marketing Group; Lime Media). At the pop-ups, students can shop Stanley’s best-selling products and new releases, and have a chance to win select merchandise. The Stanley Create customization platform is on-site at each stop for complimentary engraving of Stanley products purchased at the pop-up.
“We’ve been able to engage with a new generation of consumers digitally and socially,” Nearn says, “but we want to ensure that we meet those consumers at points in their new life as college students and have them embrace and enjoy our brand, with the end game, of course, of hoping that we generate engagement and loyalty at the event, but also with a more medium- to long-term trajectory of ensuring that we can build for their lives in the same way as we built for their parents’ lives and grandparents’ lives before that.”
Stanley’s college engagement strategy started in the spring, ahead of the tour, with the launch of a student ambassador program, where the brand partners with student reps to organize activities for their peers like picnics, pool parties and hikes. Working with philanthropic organizations is also important to Stanley and its sustainability values, Nearn says about “walking the talk,” which is why Stanley Studio H2O is running in partnership with Water For People, an organization that is helping to combat the global water crisis.
As for measuring the success of their events, Nearn says the Stanley team pays close attention to dwell time (“Where are consumers clustering, and what are they gravitating toward?”), social amplification on TikTok and Instagram, and the distribution of giveaways: “When we provide experiences where consumers can customize, how engaged are they? What are they doing with the product giveaways? Are they posting?”
But some of the most important KPIs come from consumer insights gathered at events on product innovation; favorite colors, prints and patterns; wish list items; needs; and areas of improvement.
“What we discovered through engagement with our consumers on social, TikTok and Insta, is that our Stanley community seeks to find out how we’re going to show up and be super relevant in their lives, but also that they really value the originality of our brand,” Nearn says. “So the balance and the pivotal point between originality and relevancy, I think, is really powerful.”
Stanley is one to watch—on TikTok and IRL.
Photo credit: Stanley; Anaheim Studios
