You’d be forgiven if you had no idea where this trend came from, or even what it is! However, as a result of agile marketing and listening to your audience this company has skyrocketed into massive profits by a simple pivot. Stanley started out life over 100 years ago. A manufacturer of steel vacuum sealed thermos flasks aimed at the average blue collar worker. A Stanley was more at home on a construction site or farm land than in the hands of influencers and teens. But how did it happen?
First and foremost, they looked at the data, and they listened to their audience.
When sales of the Quencher cup began to spike, Stanley noticed that they had been recommended by a popular influencer, The Buy Guide who bought and sold Stanley Quencher cups to their audience. When they contacted The Buy Guide, they discovered that sales were predominantly women between 25 and 45 years old – NOT the target audience they were aiming for.
Image: PopCulture.com
Instead of putting this down to a fluke, Stanley didn’t hesitate and put their marketing into action. The 25-50 year old female user group are the main buyer of brands, and so an opportunity presented itself to pivot their strategy.
And this is where the craze begins.
Now the target audience is women who enjoy a contemporary lifestyle and the marketing strategy followed suit to TikTok and Instagram, where this audience is primarily based.
With a new array of colours, brand partnerships, and exclusive product ‘drops’ for each new line, Stanley were able to capitalise on Gen Z TikTok trends and engage with their audience in a new way. If you haven’t seen the viral video of the lady who’s car burnt down but her Stanley cup had survived, with ice still in-tact, then where have you been? What better advertisement for a thermos flask could you ask for? Stanley didn’t stop there. The president actually took to TikTok and offered to buy the lady a new car – now THAT’S how you do marketing well. That – is listening to your audience and tapping into their community. And it’s boosting your brand exposure more than you could ever hope.
Here’s the link to the original TikTok
And here’s the link to Stanley’s response
Image: @danimarielettering/TikTok & The Daily Dot
As a result of moving quickly and thinking astutely, Stanley’s profits rose from $73million in 2019 to a projected $750million in 2023.
What can we take from this?
Marketing is ever moving. You need to keep up with your audience, and if that means looking at a whole new generation, then so be it. Trends don’t stick around forever, so move quickly, and if you are listening and engaging with your audience, they’ll lead you where to go.
