Modern Retail Podcast: Temu US usership plummets and Spirit Halloween cancels season opener — plus, Stanley 1913’s next era

Later in the episode, Modern Retail executive editor Anna Hensel speaks with Graham Nearn and Kate Ridley, who, respectively, are the chief product and sustainability officer and chief brand officer at PMI Worldwide Brands, the parent company of Stanley 1913. Known for its huge insulated Stanley tumblers, Stanley 1913 has appealed to many different types of people throughout its 112-year history: construction workers, hikers, new moms and more. 

Now, Nearn and Ridley are tasked with overseeing Stanley’s next era of growth. After seeing huge growth during the pandemic and attracting many new customers, Stanley is trying to position itself more as a lifestyle brand. Nearn and Ridley spoke about how Stanley is trying to do that from both a product perspective and a marketing perspective. There are more partnerships with athletes and musicians in the works. Stanley has a collab with Post Malone that is dropping on June 16 and recently announced a multi-year partnership with soccer star Leo Messi. Stanley is also focused on releasing new types of products like soft coolers and other bags that its customers can carry their tumblers in. 

Here are some highlights from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length. 

Consumers’ perception of Stanley 1913

Ridley: “Surprisingly, [consumer perception] is very similar, I think, to what we uphold internally as the great qualities of Stanley. So, first and foremost, people understand the quality of Stanley products. They understand that it can last you a lifetime. It’s very common that you survey people or you ask people on the street, ‘Do you know Stanley, 1913?’ And frequently, you will get the response, ‘I do. My grandfather had the thermos when I was a child, and we would go fishing together, and he still has it today.’ People really gravitate to the quality of Stanley products. I think that female consumer … recognized it as soon as they started interacting with the product [that] the quality is just undeniable.”

The Stanley 1913 twist on soft coolers

Nearn: “We really looked at [our customer], and we recognized that she wanted all the functions of a soft cooler, but she didn’t want it to look, feel or carry like soft coolers that were currently in the industry. And why? Because they’ve been developed for men, mostly, and men who like fishing or hunting. So we looked at how she loves to carry [items] outside of food and beverage. … She loves to carry backpack solutions. She loves to carry cross-body bag solutions. So we’re trying to develop product creation solutions to the food and beverage carriage space that actually mirror what she likes and how she likes to look when she carries, as well.”

How Stanley 1913 approaches collaborations

Ridley: “We think about what inspires our consumers.  Everything in their life is an opportunity to express themselves, whether it is their clothes, the tchotchkes they hang on their handbag or their hydration solution. And so, we think about what’s inspiring them. How do they want to express themselves? And sport is obviously a huge inspiration for so many people. You’ve seen us partner with the greatest athlete in the world, and there are many, many more in the pipeline coming. We know that people are deeply inspired by music and entertainment, … and we have a collaboration coming up with Post Malone. We’ve had several other absolutely smashing collaborations in the past, in style and beauty and fashion. These are all opportunities for us to connect with the mindset of our consumers. And something that we learn in research is that they’re looking for small moments that can spark joy for them, whether it is … the pattern or the print or the color or the way that they accessorize their water bottle to match their manicure — these are small sparks of joy that Stanley can absolutely provide people. So partnerships represents a big opportunity for us to be relevant and to connect with consumers.”