Unless you live under a rock or in the middle of nowhere you’ve seen a Stanley Cup being carried around. No, not the hockey trophy, a somewhat offensively large drinking cup. Usually toted around by a young woman or even middle school girl and it’s adorned with all sorts of accessories like die cut stickers and clip on accessories. But why are they so popular? Where did they come from?
The History of the Stanley Cup (not the hockey trophy)
In Barrington, Massachusetts in 1913 William Stanley fused vacuum insulation with steel and created a small bottle that was not only portable but kept drinks hot for long periods of time. Early uses of this product aside from keeping coffee hot for soldiers in WWII included transporting human organs, cooking hot dogs and transporting temperature sensitive medicines.
Some other things happened, in fact many things like Stanley being acquired several times by larger companies but let’s fast forward over a hundred and ten years to get to the good stuff.
How the Stanley Cup Got So Popular
With over a hundred years in business Stanley was doing well with a solid $70 million in sales based out of its Seattle area home. In 2016 Stanley released a cup called the Stanley Quencher, a 40 oz insulated cup with a handle and a tapered bottom to fit in a standard cup holder. It hit the market and nobody noticed. In fact by 2019 Stanley was going to discontinue production. That is until Stanley got a new CEO Terence Reilly that changed the direction of how Stanley was marketing itself. One thing Reilly did was listen to his employees and someone mentioned a blog that was big fans of the Quencher.
This led to a partnership with a Utah based blog and a rather quick explosion of exposure on social media. Within a few months viral videos of the Quencher in action and in beautiful locations with influencers canvased Instagram and Tic Tock. This led to increased sales with retailers such as Target, Walmart, Starbucks, Amazon and others and from there it was off to the races. Stanley hit $750 million in sales for 2023, a ten fold increase in just two years.
It’s been a very impressive run in the past few years for Stanley and it doesn’t seem to be slowing up any time soon. What’s really interesting is the power of social media and how it’s influenced even large retail brands to dedicate precious shelf space to stock a wide variety of Stanley mugs in an array of colors. Customers are buying multiple colors at $40 to $50 a mug and shooting their own viral videos. The Stanley cup craze is really spreading like wildfire and a true testament to amazing marketing and the power of social media in our current economy.
Stanley Cup Accessories, another amazing craze
Another thing worth mentioning is the Stanley cup craze has gotten so hot that Stanley cup accessories are becoming their own huge market. All sorts of items from Stanley cup labels to chapstick and keychain holders to backpacks. Yes, you read that right, a backpack that goes on a cup.
