Next time you go to Target, you may need to wear a helmet. The store sells them, come to think of it.
That's because Stanley, the company known for trendy cups, released special cups for Valentine's Day this week – a collaboration with Starbucks. It caused an uproar at several Target stores across the country. There was a steady stream of videos on social media showing customers nearly confronting each other or otherwise rushing the store to grab their own 40-ounce pink or red water glass. Some even camp – camp! – outside Target to make sure they can get their hands on one.
If this all sounds like we're speaking a different language, or you're confused by the videos that have been popping up on your social media feeds, we're here to help.
Who is Stanley?
Well, Kubrick was the legendary director. Then there's Flat Stanley, who traveled the world with a bulletin board after an unfortunate encounter, and then there's –
No, the cups.
Oh sorry. Naturally. Stanley, which primarily sells bottle-related products and is headquartered in Seattle, has been around for more than a century and was the brainchild of inventor William Stanley Jr. In 1913, he combined vacuum insulation and steel to create a water bottle. For most of its existence, the company focused on outdoor types.
But in 2017 there was a change. The Buy Guide, a blog that recommends products to consumers, featured Stanley's 40-ounce Quencher cup, calling it “the one” in an Instagram post. This was a stroke of luck for Stanley, who didn't advertise the bottle much. When it was released the year before, it was a little-noticed product. Two years later, the team behind The Buy Guide — two sisters and their cousin — reached an agreement with Stanley to sell the cups wholesale and quickly sold 5,000 units.
“The brand has really shifted now from marketing primarily to men to women,” Shelley E. Kohan, a professor of retail management at Syracuse University, said of Stanley.
The partnership continued to prove exponentially more fruitful as the Buy Guide helped bring Stanley products to its predominantly female audience. And Stanley made the Quencher a priority and released it in different colors.
(Our own Wirecutter review: “The Adventure Quencher is good! But it's also overrated and depending on how you plan to use the cup, it may not be worth the purchase.”)
What role did social media play in Stanley's recent rise?
Influencer culture was key. Content creators picked up the bottle and started sharing it, especially on TikTok and Instagram. #StanleyTumbler became a popular hashtag used millions of times. The mug has become a fashion accessory and collector's item.
“The influencers are big influencers, but you and I, the consumers, also make videos about their experiences with the Stanley Cup as an example,” Ms. Kohan said.
Not to mention, drinking water itself has become a weird social media thing. There's a corner on TikTok called WaterTok where people demonstrate various offbeat ways to hydrate. (Aliens want to invade us, confusing social trends included!)
In 2020, the Quencher became Stanley's best-selling product, coinciding with the hiring of Terence Reilly, a former executive of shoe company Crocs, as the company's president. Sales of the product increased by 275 percent from 2020 to 2021.
Haha. A Stanley Cup.
Everyone has made this joke. It's not really a cup!
Starbucks and Stanley collaborated on a limited-edition pink “Quencher” cup
available at Starbucks locations at Target locations in the USACredit…Starbucks
Okay good. What's the deal with Valentine's Day cups?
It's never too early to hydrate for love, which is probably why the special cup was released in late December, more than a month before Valentine's Day. Target is marketing the limited-edition mugs as part of an “exclusive Galentine’s collection.”
The $45 cups are sold out on Target's website. (The company did not respond to an inquiry about how many cups had already been sold or whether more would be produced.) However, a Starbucks representative said the cups would not be restocked. “Many stores are sold out,” the company said in a statement.)
There is a scarcity effect here for consumers, particularly women, which has driven the hype, Ms Long said.
“Now this reusable cup becomes a fashion accessory like a handbag or a belt,” Ms. Long said. Add a special color or limited edition, and a “fashion frenzy” ensues, she added.
You can always purchase the mugs on eBay, where some are currently selling for up to several hundred dollars.
Is a new king of water bottles in sight?
Since becoming a fashion accessory, the water bottle has become a status symbol. The colors are important. The size and shape and how it fits with an outfit. And status symbols are malleable as trends change. (The term “emotional support water bottle” is not uncommon.)
Enter Owala, a water bottle brand founded in 2020 that has become a thirst quencher. The bottle that has become the most popular is the FreeSip model, which allows you to sip or drink as you wish. Hashtags with the brand name have been viewed at least tens of millions of times on TikTok alone this year. (The company has 150,000 followers there and 244,000 on Instagram.) And there was a certain celebrity boost: Both NSync's Lance Bass and author Samantha Irby listed Owala bottles among their favorite items in The Strategist.
Tens of thousands of people have left five-star reviews for the bottles on Amazon.
Owala hasn't introduced camping outside of department stores yet, but it's still early 2024.