Blog # 3 - The Viral Stanley Tumbler Rise From the Ashes
The Stanley Tumbler became a viral sensation almost overnight, capturing the attention and hearts of people worldwide. The Stanley - The Quencher H2.0 FlowState 40 oz Tumbler has been so prolific on social media the past few days. There are tons of keywords and phrases swarming around the internet: car fire, viral video cup surviving, massive surprises, Kia on fire,#accident, #stanleycup, and #all-steelvacuum bottle.
As a college student, I was puzzled to see why such a simple cup device is trending like crazy online.
I did a quick search and saw that from its sleek design to impressive functionality, it quickly became a must-have item for coffee and tea lovers. But what made Stanley Tumbler break the internet? I initially thought it was partly due to many celebrities and influencers who couldn't resist showing it off on social media.
Imagine to my shock when I learned that wasn’t the case. The sad demise of the tumbler started about four days ago when a woman named @Danimarielettering posted a viral TikTok video about her Kia aftermath of her car fire. The picture showed the bright orange intact Stanley Tumbler still in its cup holder that survived a fire. The kicker is that the video also included a demonstration of the woman shaking her cup which still held ice in it. The video had over 8.1M likes, 53.3K comments, and 420.2K added to their favorites.
Watch the video here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@danimarielettering/video/7301724587488759070
People went so far as to tag the company, Stanley, to watch her video.
Stanley’s response:
https://www.tiktok.com/@stanleybrand/video/7302186682831392043
It was pretty impressive that the CEO, Terence Reilly, took the time to watch the video and offered their sympathies. When he offered a new Stanley Tumbler and a new car, that was quite a way to solidify brand loyalty by going above and beyond!
Of course, the consumer and the internet were totally invested in this TikTok #stitch. Stanley’s TikTok video made everyone happy to see how the brand cares and convinced everyone new and repeated consumers wanting to buy another Stanley product! This is a prime free advertisement for the company to shine through.
What can we learn throughout this incredible 00:53-second clip to book The New Rules of Marketing and PR?
This is a great example of the power of real-time business, which involves listening to the social media community to engage with customers and solve their problems. It's a brilliant way to manage and optimize customer and business value. I was surprised to learn how important real-time customer communications are for running Stanley, and this is an amazing demonstration of how the new marketing and public relations rules work throughout an organization.
Social networks are a great place to share content, to interact with others, and to listen in on what's happening. Stanley took it to the next level in being authentic and transparent. Stanley took a few pages from the book by embracing the power of the web, engaging with the audiences, and offering a new car to the customer. Their actions were quite loud, and their customers loved them even more for this genuine response.
The fact that Stanley's president responded to the video in less than 24 hours was quite impressive, even for customers who saw the video response. Companies often take over two days to respond and often have a “canned” response. Due to the quick response and turnaround time, it’s no wonder that the company has received an estimated millions of earned media exposure due to the number of times its viral content appears to viewers. All the usual tools to measure a movement online, including all the likes, clicks, and shares, helped boost Stanley’s engagement and increase their brand awareness and product quality knowledge. This successful marketing move demonstrates the importance of listening quickly to their creative social media team. Responding and engaging quickly is taking the time to care and listen to their customer experiences. As Stanley wrote in its post:
“Stanley has your back ❤️,” - the company wrote in the caption of its post.
