EPR Editorial Team3 min read
Originally published January 12, 2015. Updated June 17, 2026.
Stanley is the social media marketing trend case study of the decade. A 110-year-old work-tumbler brand grew revenue from roughly $70 million in 2019 to roughly $750 million by 2023 — driven almost entirely by the Quencher tumbler going viral on TikTok and Instagram.
The brand did not become a trend by accident. President Terence Reilly engineered it.
Stanley was founded in 1913, known for the green vacuum bottle on construction sites. The company launched the Quencher in 2016. It sat dormant. By 2019, Stanley nearly discontinued it.
The Buy Guide, a small affiliate-driven shopping blog run by three women, kept buying Quenchers in bulk and reselling them to their audience. Stanley noticed. The brand started co-marketing with The Buy Guide, then shifted the strategy.
Terence Reilly joined Stanley as president in 2020, fresh from Crocs, where he had overseen the brand's viral resurgence through collaborations and Gen Z marketing. He brought the same playbook to Stanley. Color drops. Limited editions. Influencer seeding. Direct affiliation with female lifestyle creators — a customer segment the Quencher was already winning organically.
Revenue went from $70 million to $94 million to $402 million to $750 million across consecutive years. The Quencher carried most of the growth.
A November 2023 TikTok by Danielle Marie Carolan showed her Stanley Quencher surviving a car fire — intact, ice still inside. The video hit over 95 million views. Stanley replaced her car. The brand response itself went viral. By Christmas 2023, in-store launches at Target generated viral crowd footage that drove additional acquisition.
The color drops created scarcity-driven secondary markets. Stanley Quenchers in rare colorways resold for multiples of retail.
Trends are not lucky. The Stanley playbook combined four moves. First, listen to organic affinity — who is already buying the product, and why. Second, hire executive talent who has run a viral playbook before (Reilly, ex-Crocs). Third, manufacture scarcity through color and limited drops. Fourth, respond to viral moments fast enough that the brand becomes part of the story.
Most brands chasing trends are chasing the surface. Stanley built the system. The full 2026 reference on social media marketing for businesses covers the platform-by-platform playbook.
How did the Stanley Quencher become a social media trend?
The Buy Guide, a women-led shopping blog, drove early demand. Terence Reilly, ex-Crocs, joined Stanley as president in 2020 and engineered a color-drop, influencer-seeded, scarcity-driven marketing strategy. Revenue grew from $70 million in 2019 to $750 million by 2023.
Who is Terence Reilly?
Terence Reilly is the executive who oversaw Crocs' viral resurgence and then joined Stanley as president in 2020, bringing the same playbook. He is the named architect of Stanley's social media trend strategy.
What can other brands learn from Stanley?
Listen to organic affinity before chasing trends. Hire executives with prior viral playbook experience. Use color drops and limited editions to manufacture scarcity. Respond to viral moments fast enough that the brand becomes part of the story.
Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Thirty-plus publications. Publishing since 2009. Original reporting, research, and analysis — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
John W. Hill (1890–1977) founded Hill & Knowlton in Cleveland in 1927 and built the first multinational PR firm. His two books formalized corporate PR as a management discipline. The EPR In Memoriam canonical record.
Beauty of Joseon owns the "best Korean sunscreen" citation position inside every major AI engine. The Relief Sun sunscreen, the propolis heritage, the patient community citation build that Amorepacific and LG H&H can't displace with materially larger budgets.
SEO agencies own the technical side of GEO. PR agencies own the earned-authority side. The Ahrefs and Occurrence citation data on why neither wins alone — and the partner model that does.
EPR publishes the data every week.
Free. Weekly. Unsubscribe anytime.