Stanley Car Fire
The car that set Stanley on fire
- Shorty - Real Time Response
How does a century-old brand stay relevant when social moves fast? Social media is designed to distract us. A brand can tap into a trend and get noticed for a few seconds, but people are quickly on to the next. The only thing more valuable that getting people’s attention is actually managing to keep it.
On November 15, 2023, a TikTok started racking up tens of millions of views when a user shared that her car had been destroyed by a terrible fire yet her Stanley had survived with ice still clinking inside.
When fate and the internet hand you the the eyeballs of millions of people you have to act at the speed of social media. Stanley knew it wasn’t time for a polished PR response, it was time for action.
Approach: A viral moment that couldn’t be missed
A viral moment that couldn’t be missed
We immediately tabled our scheduled content plan and turned our attention to responding to the TikTok user within 24 hours. Gifting her a fresh new Stanley was a no-brainer, but the team knew she deserved more. Her Stanley survived the fire, but her car had not. So why not show her the love and gift her a new car too?
We wanted our response to feel authentic and true to the Stanley brand. That’s why Terence Reilly, the President of Stanley, shared the good news through a TikTok duet.
“Hey, Danielle, I’m Terence Reilly, the president of Stanley. We’ve all seen your video, and wow! What an ordeal. We’re really glad you’re safe. Thanks for sharing the video because it shows that Stanleys are Built for Life. What it went through with you, I couldn’t think of a better example of our product’s quality. But anyway, we’re glad you’re safe. I’ve seen a lot of comments that we should get you some Stanleys. Oh, we’re gonna send you some Stanleys! But there’s one more thing…. We’ve never done this before, and we’ll probably never do it again…. But we’d love to replace your vehicle. So check your DMs for details. Thanks, be safe, and cheers!”
And the internet took it from there. People who’d never heard of Stanley were all of a sudden our biggest fans. As one commenter said, “*adds Stanley cup to cart.*”
Results Setting Stanley on fire, indeed!
Overall, this launch campaign garnered 3.3 billion earned media impressions. As a result, the brand saw a 220% increase in TikTok followers (more than the prior two years combined), 200% increase in TikTok engagement, 56M video views, 532K hashtag uses and 4.7M engagements. All this led to $43M estimated media value, a 249% increase from the whole year before.
And more importantly, it let the brand live in every consumers’ mind rent-free right as Black Friday and the holiday shopping season kicked off. Stanley proceeded to have its best quarter in company history, a 275% YoY increase in Quencher sales and elevated sales above forecast through the holiday shopping season.
Woman’s Stanley Tumbler Survived a Car Fire — Now the Company Is Offering to Replace Her Ride!
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