Chances are, you’ve seen or owned a Stanley. They seem to be everywhere now, from advertisements, TikTok, to a vast majority of students in our school owning one. However, they weren’t always as popular as they are now. In fact, in 2016, they were just any regular old brand. So what made them an internet success overnight?
At first, Stanleys were marketed as steel water bottles that would keep drinks warm while still being strong, as all other thermos cups at the time were made of glass. However, there were many problems with the commercialization of this product. At first, they only came in one color, an army green. Not only that, but they were really only marketed towards men, with other gender groups only recently coming into the picture.
However, Stanley was still vaguely popular, and made decent enough sales. Eventually, they came out with other sizes and uses for Stanleys, such as barglasses and, finally, the infamous Stanley Quencher H2.0 FlowState cup in 2016.
Surprisingly, the Stanley Quencher was not popular when it came out, being passed over by other infamous brands. However, it soon became a viral sensation because of one person: Ashlee LeSueu.
LeSueu, who bought the Stanley Quencher while it was still unpopular, decided to share it with a website she co-founded called The Buy Guide. Her readers loved it, and soon the Quencher was flying off the shelves. However, a new dilemma soon came into play.
Stanley, because of substandard production, stopped producing the Quencher in 2019. LeSueu and The Buy Guide group were devastated. They decided to try and revive the Stanley Quencher. Sending the Quencher to Emily Maynard, a popular celebrity who previously starred on The Bachelor, they held their breath and hoped for the best.
The Quencher immediately gained popularity, with 5,000 cups selling out in just 5 days on The Buy Guide site. Even so, their original army-green thermos cup was still more popular than the Quencher. But in 2020, the tide started to turn.
In May, Stanley hired Terence Reilly as their global president, and he soon started to enhance the Quencher, making it even more of a sensation than it already was. Reilly added new colors, styles, and appeal to the Stanley, and the general population ate it up. After the long 110 year wait, the Quencher finally made more sales than the original Stanley thermos, or the Classic Legendary Bottle.
From there, everything just kept going up for Stanley business. Stanley quickly went viral, and was idolized and promoted on every possible media outlet. TikTok has especially been an essential outlet for Stanley, with #WaterTok, a section of TikTok focused on water, constantly promoting Stanley, and, of course, the infamous TikTok video of a Stanley surviving a car fire. During the video, the TikToker @danimarielettering shows her totaled car, burned and scarred, with a single Stanley bright and unscathed in it. When the TikToker opened the Stanley, there was even still ice in it!
Stanley sales are through the roof, and buyers often get very intense. Workers at Starbucks say they were harassed and cursed at by Stanley fans wanting a Stanely and Starbucks collaboration cup.
However, for the most part, Stanley cups are a fun, if not unusual, trend that has changed how the world views water bottles.
From being one of the first metal thermoses to becoming a viral sensation, Stanleys have been a mainstream part of American culture since 1913, and will continue to be by far the most durable water bottle out there!
Sources:
https://www.today.com/food/trends/stanley-cup-craze-rcna132901
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/emily-maynard/
https://abc7.com/stanley-cup-fire-tumblers-viral-tiktok-videos/14082972/
