Stanley cups have people flooding stores and buying out shops. What made them so popular?

With the rush of people shoving their way into Target stores across the nation this week, you'd assume at first glance the crowd was battling over a big-ticket electronic or the Black Friday deals of the century.

Instead, the throngs of shoppers were after just one thing - drink tumblers.

When Stanley dropped a limited edition color of their massively popular cups in partnership with Target on New Year's Eve, stores across the nation began selling out instantly. In fact, the thirst for the coveted reusable water bottle is so high, listings on eBay have the originally $45 tumbler selling for upward of $100 to $200.

With hundreds of thousands of searches online and a rapidly expanding profit margin, the century-old Stanley company has seen a massive resurgence in popularity and found footholds amongst new demographics.

What is it about reusable drinkware that has everyone going wild? Here's what we know.

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What are Stanley cups?

Stanely cups or "Stanleys" are a brand of reusable water bottles that come in a variety of colors, designs and sizes. While the brand carries traditional water bottles, the most popular version is "The Quencher H2.0" line, a drink tumbler that comes with a straw and handle in 14-ounce through 64-ounce versions.

The Stanley brand has been around for over 100 years but historically focused on working-class, outdoorsy types as customers. They have largely advertised their products as being for people who love camping and hiking or who work manual jobs such as construction workers.

Traditionally marketed towards men with an iconic green color (that went on an iconic green tumbler,) the brand has opened up to female consumers in recent years, seeing an influx of nurses, social media influencers and now teenagers interested in purchasing its products.

When did Stanleys become popular?

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Originally, Stanley produced simple reusable water bottles that were a success among blue-collar workers and outdoorsmen. It was only in 2016 that it launched the tumblers now known as the Quench line, though they were not very popular upon release, according to CNBC.

In 2020, Crocs executive Terence Reilly left the shoe company and became the president of Stanley, where he soon leaned into social media and influencer marketing to boost sales of the new line, which became the best-selling bottle the same year, reported CNBC.

Now, #Stanleycup has over 6 billion views on TikTok, the platform on which the cups have become most popular, though some of the videos are also about the National Hockey League's trophy. Just #Stanley boasts its own view count of over 2 billion.

Thousands of videos on TikTok feature excited teens and young people showing off their massive collections, crying when unboxing a gifted tumbler or throngs of people rushing stores for limited edition colors.

Stanely's company-wide revenue spiked after the tumblers became a social media fad, jumping from $74 million in 2019 to $750 million in 2023, according to CNBC.

How Stanley cups became a consumer craze

Stanley’s boost in sales has been largely catalyzed by Gen Z and online social media influences, Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago, told USA TODAY.

Stanley saw the potential value in this type of brand recognition when it began gaining traction a few years ago and decided to move with the trend and shift its marketing strategy, said Drenten.

"It created tumblers in new limited edition colors, creating both scarcity and novelty. It partnered with influencers and leveraged existing online chatter," she said. "It moved the product from something useful to something aspirational. But all of this was done without compromising the quality of the product."

Stanley likewise tapped into another power of social media: consumer marketing. It's not only influencers who suggest products online, but normal people who buy them and love them, said Drenten.

"You may have seen recently the instance in which a young woman’s car caught fire and the only thing remaining was a Stanley cup in tact with ice still inside," said Drenten. "The brand was tagged over and over again in the video and finally responded by buying the woman a new car. Social media marketing like this can’t be planned. It has to be community-oriented: letting consumers take ownership in the brand story."

Stanley effectively reached a new demographic and created new offerings for them, creating a reciprocal relationship between it and a newer fan base of women and girls.

For every simple video of a teen girl showing off her Stanley collection, there are dozens of others at her school pining after the same cup, Drenten said. This can do more for a brand than simply paying for influencers and banner advertisements.

"That type of peer influence in face-to-face settings is still some of the ultimate marketing," Drenten said. "Consumers are walking billboards for brands."