What Can This 300% Growth Story Teach Us About Marketing?

This article with the marketing genius that revolutionised Crocs and is now in charge of the viral success that is Stanley water bottles grabbed my attention because there is at least one lesson for every marketer.

Every brand, even a staid 100-year old tumbler company, can sell more products by reflecting cultural trends.

There are other reasons behind the success - from smart affiliate programs to strong retail relationship management - but the core shift was a conscious decision to give consumers what they want, as evidenced by what’s popular on social media platforms.

Let’s dig into how this happened…

An Unintentional Scarcity Strategy

After a shopping publisher shared their love for a specific Stanley bottle, it became impossible to buy it anywhere. Interest skyrocketed because people always want what they can’t have. The brand smartly doubled-down on this and collaborated with a host of brands (from Olay to Starbucks) as well as a host of famous faces for limited edition bottles.

Practice Makes You Lucky

A car catching fire isn’t lucky. But if the only thing that survives the fire is your product and a video of the wreckage is shared online, you should jump on it. Stanley did that because they clearly monitor social conversations very closely and they offered the car owner a new vehicle. Social media success and an earned media story for good measure.

Ignore Your Competition

Ok, maybe don’t ignore them, but the obsessing over the category will give you parity at best. This is summed up well by Stanley’s SVP of Product Creation and Design when he discusses how the fashion world was more of an influence on the new colour range than other water bottle brands:

“We obsessed on what was happening with colour outside of the drinkware industry…”

Obsessing over the consumer and culture will give a brand a better advantage than the competition ever will.