July 15, 2025 • 24 mins
Join Alex as he interviews Kate Ridley, Chief Brand Officer at Stanley 1913, exploring the brand’s remarkable evolution from a traditional heritage company to an innovative hydration industry leader. Kate shares powerful insights on maintaining authenticity through strategic partnerships, harnessing cultural trends, and prioritizing sustainability. Essential listening for anyone interested in brand strategy, consumer trends, sustainability, and the secrets behind long-term brand relevance.
Brand Transformation & Innovation
Authentic Partnerships: Post Malone & Leo Messi
Sustainability Initiatives
Digital Commerce & TikTok Strategy
Consumer Engagement & Global Trends
Timestamps: 00:00 - Welcome & Introduction 02:00 - Stanley’s Brand Evolution 06:15 - Iconic Partnerships 10:20 - Heritage & Innovation Balance 14:35 - Sustainability Storytelling 19:10 - Digital Commerce Strategies 23:50 - Personal Insights from Kate Ridley 27:30 - Future Trends & Stanley’s Growth
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Branding, Hydration Market, Sustainability, Consumer Trends, Post Malone, Leo Messi, Kate Ridley, Stanley 1913, Marketing Strategy, Retail Podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Many people know Stanley for itsmost recent iteration in the
past five years where we truly created the category of
hydration. We redefined it, we grew it.
Lots of other competitors who'vecome into the space.
Now we've got an amazing following through that hydration
business, but we know that we'reso much more than that.
(00:23):
That's really the next phase of the brand is making sure that we
we prove it out, we diversify our product, we invite new
customers into our ecosystem. So that's really where we're at.
We're at this moment of of evolution for the Stanley brand.
(00:48):
Hello and welcome to the Retail Podcast.
It is a Friday afternoon for me and Friday morning for Kate, who
I'll introduce you to in a minute.
Now unknowingly, the product that we're going to talk about
or the brand more importantly that we're going to talk about
in a minute. I've been a fan of for a long,
long time. So when I got the opportunity to
(01:08):
talk to the brand and the brand person, the Chief Brand Officer,
it was something that I jumped to.
And so with without taking any more time, Kate Ridley, chief
brand officer at Stanley 1913, the famous Well, how do you
refer to them? Because you it's like not you
have so many categories that yougo across.
(01:29):
What's the sort of all-encompassing word for the
brand? Well, that's a good question.
We fit into multiple categories,the biggest of which the biggest
of which is hydration. But we we're in the food and
beverage containment industry isis the way is the technical I
was. Just going to say the technical
term, the food and beverage containment industry.
(01:50):
I, I, I'm just a fan because I remember I, I needed, I had to
be fair. You must get this all the time.
You meet someone and they're like tell you their first time
they came across the brand and you're like, yeah, thanks.
Well, it's, you know, that that is something that I absolutely
love. You know, that is such a good
gauge. You know, people are always
(02:11):
asking the question, how do you measure the success of your
brand? And there are so many ways you
can measure it, but just the people on the street and the
stories they tell you about yourbrand is such a good gauge.
And every single person, any, anyone I say I work for Stanley,
or if they see me holding a Stanley product, there's a very
common refrain that they'll say my grandfather had the green
(02:35):
Stanley thermos and we used to go fishing together.
And that's like, that's such an interesting insight that the
legacy is there, but also you got to break out of it.
I mean, it's so funny that you say the green flask.
I, I watch my son who's a goalkeeper on a Saturday
morning. He's nine years old.
It gets cold during and I was looking for exactly that, a
(02:56):
flask that was reliable that I can, you know, go take.
I love this so much. I ended up buying three
different flasks from Target. I remember I was in the US and I
was like, Oh my God, take, take,take, take.
Anyway, let's get into this. Kate, why don't you, if you
don't mind, just give me, give us an overview of who you are
and what you do at Stanley 1913.Yes, I'm Kate Ridley.
(03:18):
I'm the Chief Brand Officer at Stanley 1913 and I've been there
for a whopping 3 months. I'm brand new and I've spent my
career being fascinated with brands that exist at the
intersection of, of culture and and lifestyle and and
(03:38):
predominantly youth culture brands.
And it's a privilege to be at Stanley.
I oversee all consumer facing activities.
So brand strategy, consumer insights, merchandising,
marketing, all of those wonderful areas that I'm very,
very passionate about and we're in a moment of brand evolution.
(04:01):
So I'm really excited to share some of those exciting plans
with you. That's fantastic.
It's really interesting how Stanley 1913 so positions itself
as a brand with heritage, not a heritage brand.
Yeah. I'm just, I was just curious how
you balance the sort of the richlegacy that you have with sort
(04:22):
of staying innovate, sorry, innovative and relevant at the
same time, which it sounds like you do?
Yes, I mean, that's the balance,right?
It's an absolute privilege and an honour to work for a brand
that has been a leader in food and beverage containment since
1913. And you know, the founder of
Stanley was the first person whoinvented and patented double
(04:45):
walled steel vacuum beverage containment.
Wow. And that's a privilege.
It's also an amazing challenge to make sure that you honour
that legacy and all of the things that come with it, but
that you take the brand into thefuture and make sure that it's
modern, it's vibrant, and most importantly, that it's relevant.
(05:06):
That's the biggest challenge that we have.
You know, we, I think Stanley, many people know Stanley for its
most recent iteration in the past five years where we truly
created the category of hydration.
We redefined it, we grew it, lots of other competitors who've
come into the space. Now we've got an amazing
(05:28):
following through that hydrationbusiness, but we know that we're
so much more than that. That's really the next phase of
the brand is making sure that wewe prove it out, we diversify
our product, we invite new customers into our ecosystem.
So that's really where we're at.We're at this moment of of
evolution for the Stanley brand.And, and that's really
(05:50):
interesting because the, the sort of Stanley 1913 journey
that I imagined was where, you know, in the different areas,
like a Taylor Swift, the, the different eras of her tall
almost, although no, no direct correlation.
But the eras that you go throughin terms of from work, work
hydration to outdoors to, to allof these sort of smaller changes
(06:12):
in consumer behaviours. How do you manage that?
How do you sort of connect with those consumers given there are
so many evolving errors? Yeah.
Well, first and foremost, it's about knowing what the consumer,
what consumers want, what they're doing and making sure
that we drive everything throughinside.
So if I take that, you know, thefirst era that you mentioned in
(06:33):
terms of helping Americans predominantly go to work, that
they just weren't solutions for people to have coffee, water,
food while they're at work. So that's the very, very
earliest era and the second era when people started exploring
the outdoors more, Stanley was there making sure that they had
products that could facilitate that.
(06:53):
And then seeing this like healthand Wellness trends really
evolved over the past, let's call it 15 years, but
specifically in the past five years where predominantly young
women were absolutely leading into health, longevity, Wellness
and hydration was a huge part ofthat.
(07:14):
And Stanley bought a solution that allowed for self-expression
was the absolute pinnacle of quality in hydration products.
And it was born out of insights.It was, it was actually born out
of insights of a group of women in Utah who were really adopting
the quencher as their hydration solution.
(07:35):
And it just exploded from there.So the next era also has to be
based on on insights of what people want and how they're
living their lives. And a huge area for us, a huge
area of investment is around sport.
That's only one area. There's many, but sport is a big
area that we're focused on at the moment that we have
(07:56):
fantastic innovative solutions for athletes to be at their
best. And so that's a big focus for
for 2025. I'm.
I'm curious in terms of the relationship that you've sort of
mentioned those brands, but I, Ithink you know your experience
with global brands like Adidas, All Birds, how much of that has
influenced your approach to Stanley 1913 direct consume
(08:18):
partner growth? Yeah, I, I mean, I came up at
Adidas, I was extremely privileged to spend more than 20
years of my my career there. And for me, it's probably the
best example globally of a heritage brand that stays
relevant. Yeah.
And so that those learnings of how to protect your brand,
(08:39):
respect the legacy and keep it intact as you move the brand
forward and keep it relevant. That's definitely informed the
way that I what I'm bringing to Stanley and how I think about
that balance between heritage and and modernity and and
relevance. I would say also my time at All
Beds was just an amazing education in sustainability and
(09:03):
purpose marketing and sustainability is absolutely at
the heart of of Stanley's valuesand our commitment.
So I feel like I have some good,I've got some good groundwork to
bring to the mix. I, I, I think, I mean, it's
just, I'm a big believer in fate.
And as fate would have it, today's shows that we've been
(09:25):
recording or yesterday's shows for today in the USA, in the UK,
in Asia Pacific. One of the brands that I was
waxing lyrical on has master class in how to stay relevant
was Adidas and, and the way thatin the US they've just launched
this campaign with superstar trainers.
(09:46):
They've got a whole YouTube Samuel L Jackson, Missy Elliott
and, and, and you know, basketball skateboard.
So they've got these seven huge media stars that they've created
engagement on. But then my point was look at
how that shifts to the UK where Oasis has staged their 30 year.
(10:06):
Oasis is a sort of rock'n'roll band in the UK, really famous
two brothers. But how Adidas is at the heart
of the And I know this isn't about Adidas, but it's just when
you were talking I was like, yeah, I get it.
In terms of in one country you're this to your consumer and
in another country you're something else.
Maintaining that relevant. Yeah.
(10:28):
And I, you know, something that I deeply admire and that I think
is is quite of our strategic imperative at Stanley is around
authentic cultural partnerships.And it's definitely something
that I learned during my time atAddie.
And we have a really fantastic portfolio of partners at
(10:50):
Stanley. And I just want to dwell for a
moment on the word authentic, which is that, you know, it's an
overused word. I would say in mind grant
management. But at the heart of it, it means
we work with people that are true fans of Stanley that use
the product that it's, it can't come across anymore as you know,
(11:11):
as a pay to play model because consumers, they smell that out.
It feels, it feels bad. You know, it's like the whole
model is shifting. The whole model of influences,
celebrities, athletes, it's shifting and it has to have
depth to it or people just don'tbuy into it.
And so in the realm, you know, we we focus on playing fields
(11:33):
and one of them is around sport and fitness, another one is
around music and entertainment, another one around style and
fashion. And we've had really phenomenal
success in bringing that like authenticity to life.
We had a recent collaboration that launched with Post Malone.
And the reason that it came about is that if you know him, I
(11:55):
mean, he he has, but he, he always has a beverage in his
hand. Always.
Yeah, he is a huge fan. He goes everywhere with coolers.
His team use coolers, flasks, shot glasses, pint glasses, like
they use them every single day. And he is a Stanley fan, He's an
(12:16):
outdoorsman. He grew up using Stanley
products and that was the sort of root of our partnership
together and it was hugely successful.
We built great storytelling, innovative product.
The second partnership that I feel so excited about is our
ongoing partnership with Leo Messi.
And we launched the first iteration of that in 2024.
(12:40):
And the way that that partnership came about is that
Messi has been using Stanley Marte products since he was a
child. And we brought that story to
life through the ritual of him, you know, making and enjoying
Marte. And so I think that that's
something that I I learned it Addy.
(13:00):
I really deeply believe in it that this kind of pay to play
model of partnerships is it's not the path to success.
And so I feel it's Stanley that authentic cultural connection is
coming through a lot of those partnerships really well.
One of the things that I've beentalking about this week is how
(13:21):
the cool girl era in some circles, they're talking about
that coming to an end in the sense that this sort of
lifestyle drinks, but that the messy girl era is now stepping
in where it's more real. And you know, most Malone to me
is that sort of you don't get any real of the most.
But having both eras need some form of device to carry your
(13:44):
beverage of choice in there, which obviously I think presents
opportunities and challenges in the when I, when I think about
the cultural elements that you've just highlighted, then
you know there are the opportunities and there are
challenges. How do you anticipate this?
How What do you do to anticipatethose types of opportunities and
challenges? I think anticipating the, you
(14:08):
know, thinking about the way that consumers are going to
respond to some of those cultural partnerships that you
put forward is really important.And you just mentioned the fine
balance of having a global approach, but ensuring that you
also have local relevance. Yeah.
And I think that's something that I think about a lot in
(14:28):
terms of anticipating reach and connection on a global scale,
but ensuring that there is like real nuances at the at the local
or regional level. And we spend a lot of time
thinking about that and there's different ways that you can
approach it. We think about, OK, there's
(14:49):
nobody better than Leo Messi. He's the GOAT, fakes his number,
his kit, everything about him isrecognisable globally.
The way that people recognise and connect is different.
So in the first iteration of product that we launched in
December of 24, the product was pink.
(15:10):
And pink is a colour that is like so identifiable with messy
because of Miami. And interestingly, the colour
didn't resonate in the same way in Europe that it did in the US
Yeah. And so we evolved, we, we
quickly learned from it. It was, it was still successful,
but it was just a different level of connection.
And we learned from it and we evolved, anticipated that we
(15:33):
need to make an adjustment so that it is truly locally
relevant in different markets. And so the Striker Blue
collection that we're bringing that's going to launch on July
14th is adjusted so that there'slike a different connection of
that Argentinian blue colour with consumers who are are in
(15:54):
Europe, who are in Latin America, who are in Asia
Pacific. And we're just evolving and
adjusting the campaign and the product assortment to make sure
that it's relevant. So I think like that we can't,
we can't anticipate everything, but really trying to think
through how do we scale this amazing legacy brand, how do we
(16:15):
scale it globally, but make surethat there's regional
connectivity. In terms of when you think about
innovation, sustainability that that's so pivotal to sort of
today's market. And then how Stanley 1913 is
sort of integrating those priorities into product
development, which is almost what you're saying about the
(16:35):
colours about the, the themes that you're going to market with
in, in the different markets. What's the, what's the impact on
brand storytelling? How'd you bring that to life
then? Well, I think the, you know,
the, the vision and the values of Stanley are very powerful.
And the reason why I joined the,the vision of Stanley to fuel
(16:58):
the human experience. It extends into a much broader
context of sustainability and social impact.
And it's a deep commitment of the organisation.
So much so, Alex, that I've seen, you know, any, any
product, we had a product that had like a tiny emblem on it
that did not meet the BPA standards.
(17:20):
And there it was no question. There was a lot of units.
But immediately we made the decision, no, we're not going to
sell it. We're going to change it.
And that type of that type of organisational commitment to me,
it's like that's where I want tobe.
I want to be with an organisation and a brand that
lives true to its values. The trick is like, how do we
(17:41):
communicate that? How do we, how do we bring
people into that? How do we shine a light on it
without, you know, there's so many pitfalls, potential
pitfalls around sustainability in consumer brand management at
the moment. And so I, I don't even think
we're, we're really at the starting line in terms of how we
(18:02):
storytell around sustainability because we have a real
commitment to 1st, we have to doit and then we can talk about
it. So once we have, you know, gone
to the very, very end of ensuring all of our products are
created with recycled steel, which we do, once we've gone to
the end of understanding how we can be a part of reducing micro
(18:25):
plastics, then we shine a light on it and we talk about it.
Something that I learned from all beds that I really hope to
embody at Stanley 1913 is people, you know, the world is a
tough place right now. There is so many macro factors
that make it pretty tough to like bring joy into the equation
(18:47):
and sustainability can feel likea very heavy topic.
And the goal that we have is like let's not make it too
heavy, let's make it easy to understand, accessible for
consumers, let's provide them with the maximum amount of
transparency about our products and traceability.
And I think that's really the goal for us in terms of
sustainability. It's like, how do we make it
(19:08):
accessible, How do we not make it too heavy, and how do we
absolutely live through to the commitments that we have and
make sure that we do it and thenwe talk about it.
One of the the massive trends that I've seen and I apologise
for not knowing the answer to this.
I'm just looking at Stanley brand 1913 followers on TikTok.
You've got 1.5 million followers.
(19:30):
Are you on TikTok? Like how do how do these new
digital touch points or digital channels play into your brand
management? Yeah, I mean, digital commerce
is like it's critical. It's where people are.
We are on TikTok, TikTok and TikTok shop not in all markets
though, at the moment. So predominantly focused on, on
(19:51):
the US And you know, we, it's, we have to be there because so
you just mentioned a statistic around how many followers we
have if you search hashtag Stanley Cup.
Over a billion, yeah, there's over a billion mentions.
Yeah, I thought one of your videos and it's the guy Green
(20:13):
Flask that I've got. It's got something like 456,000
engagement. It's real, you know?
And it's like, what blows my mind is that, you know, we
talked about that the terminology of the industry and
food and beverage containment, that doesn't sound extremely
sexy. It doesn't sound like something
that's going to like super entertain you.
(20:34):
And the reality is these amazingquality products are also tools
of self-expression. There are ways people identify,
you know, like the Olivia Rodrigo collaboration that we
have her fans want that product immediately so that they can
showcase messy fans. They want that product
immediately so they can showcasewhat they believe in.
(20:56):
And digital commerce is the place where that transaction can
happen seamlessly immediately where you can identify and find
what you follow what, what represents your identity and
immediately transact and have the product in your hand shortly
after that that gives you that satisfaction.
(21:16):
You know, so we've we've had some really great success with
TikTok shop. We plan to go much further in
terms of digital commerce. So there's a lot more coming.
We have an amazing ecosystem that will continue to roll out
is. That is that, yeah, early 1913
direct. Correct.
Got you. OK.
Yes. OK, final couple of questions
(21:36):
and then and then I'll let I'll let you get on with your day.
If you could go back to a younger self and give some
advice to this budding brand officer, chief brand officer
that you will be in the future, what would be that one piece of
advice you'd go and tell your younger self?
Oh, it's always trust your intuition.
It took me way too long. It took me way too long to
(21:59):
understand that my intuition waslike, you know, 95% right.
And I think we, you know, we're in a world.
I, I studied banking and finance.
You come up in a world where data is everything.
You have to have a proof point for everything and more often
than not my gut noise before my head noise.
(22:20):
And so I would encourage myself to like, listen more carefully
to your intuition, trust it, andrun with it.
And are you still is that? Is that still how you?
Is that play a part in your today life as well?
Absolutely. And what's that one question
that I should have asked you that I didn't?
I mean, there's a lot of attention in my in the industry
at the moment on hydration trends just because so many
(22:42):
competitors have come into this space.
Yeah. And so it's usual that I would
get a question about, you know, growth trends.
And that's a question that I feel extremely comfortable with
just because I love it, you know, the.
Question now. Well, I, because I, you know,
other industries and segments that I've worked in you, you're
(23:05):
normally looking at it Kega that's around 10%, let's say 5
to 10% in consumer goods. And unless you're a breakout
brand. And I'm just so blown away by
the fact that the Stanley Kega in the hydration area has been
since 2021 every single year 116% right.
(23:29):
It's amazing. And so when you ask me questions
like how do you anticipate opportunities and challenges,
it's. Like.
How do I build the infrastructure and the culture
to keep up with that level of demand and growth and
opportunity is? Yeah, it's a new challenge that
I am just like, so stoked about.OK, that's fantastic.
(23:50):
So listen, I said I'll be respectful to your time.
We're at the allotted time. I will just so you know, I will
post a picture of my 2 Stanley products I've had because
that's, I think there's another thing that we, we didn't talk
about, but I'll just quickly mention for me sustainability
about quality products that last.
And So what you're looking for, especially in consumer products
(24:12):
are those products that stand the test of time.
And that for me is what Stanley has, you know, embodied over the
years and hence why I'm a big fan of my little class and what
what the J that they've gone on with me.
The quality is undeniable, I totally agree with you.
Yeah, which which I think peoplewith all the new entrants into
the market, people learn the hard way that not all water
(24:36):
containers, I forget the the theterm they're not all made
equally, which I think people sort of think, well, they're all
the same. You're like, well, no, not
really. But anyway, on that on that was.
Pleasure to meet you. Lovely to meet you.
Thank you for having me.
Many people know Stanley for itsmost recent iteration in the
past five years where we truly created the category of
hydration. We redefined it, we grew it.
Lots of other competitors who'vecome into the space.
Now we've got an amazing following through that hydration
business, but we know that we'reso much more than that.
(00:23):
That's really the next phase of the brand is making sure that we
we prove it out, we diversify our product, we invite new
customers into our ecosystem. So that's really where we're at.
We're at this moment of of evolution for the Stanley brand.
(00:48):
Hello and welcome to the Retail Podcast.
It is a Friday afternoon for me and Friday morning for Kate, who
I'll introduce you to in a minute.
Now unknowingly, the product that we're going to talk about
or the brand more importantly that we're going to talk about
in a minute. I've been a fan of for a long,
long time. So when I got the opportunity to
(01:08):
talk to the brand and the brand person, the Chief Brand Officer,
it was something that I jumped to.
And so with without taking any more time, Kate Ridley, chief
brand officer at Stanley 1913, the famous Well, how do you
refer to them? Because you it's like not you
have so many categories that yougo across.
(01:29):
What's the sort of all-encompassing word for the
brand? Well, that's a good question.
We fit into multiple categories,the biggest of which the biggest
of which is hydration. But we we're in the food and
beverage containment industry isis the way is the technical I
was. Just going to say the technical
term, the food and beverage containment industry.
(01:50):
I, I, I'm just a fan because I remember I, I needed, I had to
be fair. You must get this all the time.
You meet someone and they're like tell you their first time
they came across the brand and you're like, yeah, thanks.
Well, it's, you know, that that is something that I absolutely
love. You know, that is such a good
gauge. You know, people are always
(02:11):
asking the question, how do you measure the success of your
brand? And there are so many ways you
can measure it, but just the people on the street and the
stories they tell you about yourbrand is such a good gauge.
And every single person, any, anyone I say I work for Stanley,
or if they see me holding a Stanley product, there's a very
common refrain that they'll say my grandfather had the green
(02:35):
Stanley thermos and we used to go fishing together.
And that's like, that's such an interesting insight that the
legacy is there, but also you got to break out of it.
I mean, it's so funny that you say the green flask.
I, I watch my son who's a goalkeeper on a Saturday
morning. He's nine years old.
It gets cold during and I was looking for exactly that, a
(02:56):
flask that was reliable that I can, you know, go take.
I love this so much. I ended up buying three
different flasks from Target. I remember I was in the US and I
was like, Oh my God, take, take,take, take.
Anyway, let's get into this. Kate, why don't you, if you
don't mind, just give me, give us an overview of who you are
and what you do at Stanley 1913.Yes, I'm Kate Ridley.
(03:18):
I'm the Chief Brand Officer at Stanley 1913 and I've been there
for a whopping 3 months. I'm brand new and I've spent my
career being fascinated with brands that exist at the
intersection of, of culture and and lifestyle and and
(03:38):
predominantly youth culture brands.
And it's a privilege to be at Stanley.
I oversee all consumer facing activities.
So brand strategy, consumer insights, merchandising,
marketing, all of those wonderful areas that I'm very,
very passionate about and we're in a moment of brand evolution.
(04:01):
So I'm really excited to share some of those exciting plans
with you. That's fantastic.
It's really interesting how Stanley 1913 so positions itself
as a brand with heritage, not a heritage brand.
Yeah. I'm just, I was just curious how
you balance the sort of the richlegacy that you have with sort
(04:22):
of staying innovate, sorry, innovative and relevant at the
same time, which it sounds like you do?
Yes, I mean, that's the balance,right?
It's an absolute privilege and an honour to work for a brand
that has been a leader in food and beverage containment since
1913. And you know, the founder of
Stanley was the first person whoinvented and patented double
(04:45):
walled steel vacuum beverage containment.
Wow. And that's a privilege.
It's also an amazing challenge to make sure that you honour
that legacy and all of the things that come with it, but
that you take the brand into thefuture and make sure that it's
modern, it's vibrant, and most importantly, that it's relevant.
(05:06):
That's the biggest challenge that we have.
You know, we, I think Stanley, many people know Stanley for its
most recent iteration in the past five years where we truly
created the category of hydration.
We redefined it, we grew it, lots of other competitors who've
come into the space. Now we've got an amazing
(05:28):
following through that hydrationbusiness, but we know that we're
so much more than that. That's really the next phase of
the brand is making sure that wewe prove it out, we diversify
our product, we invite new customers into our ecosystem.
So that's really where we're at.We're at this moment of of
evolution for the Stanley brand.And, and that's really
(05:50):
interesting because the, the sort of Stanley 1913 journey
that I imagined was where, you know, in the different areas,
like a Taylor Swift, the, the different eras of her tall
almost, although no, no direct correlation.
But the eras that you go throughin terms of from work, work
hydration to outdoors to, to allof these sort of smaller changes
(06:12):
in consumer behaviours. How do you manage that?
How do you sort of connect with those consumers given there are
so many evolving errors? Yeah.
Well, first and foremost, it's about knowing what the consumer,
what consumers want, what they're doing and making sure
that we drive everything throughinside.
So if I take that, you know, thefirst era that you mentioned in
(06:33):
terms of helping Americans predominantly go to work, that
they just weren't solutions for people to have coffee, water,
food while they're at work. So that's the very, very
earliest era and the second era when people started exploring
the outdoors more, Stanley was there making sure that they had
products that could facilitate that.
(06:53):
And then seeing this like healthand Wellness trends really
evolved over the past, let's call it 15 years, but
specifically in the past five years where predominantly young
women were absolutely leading into health, longevity, Wellness
and hydration was a huge part ofthat.
(07:14):
And Stanley bought a solution that allowed for self-expression
was the absolute pinnacle of quality in hydration products.
And it was born out of insights.It was, it was actually born out
of insights of a group of women in Utah who were really adopting
the quencher as their hydration solution.
(07:35):
And it just exploded from there.So the next era also has to be
based on on insights of what people want and how they're
living their lives. And a huge area for us, a huge
area of investment is around sport.
That's only one area. There's many, but sport is a big
area that we're focused on at the moment that we have
(07:56):
fantastic innovative solutions for athletes to be at their
best. And so that's a big focus for
for 2025. I'm.
I'm curious in terms of the relationship that you've sort of
mentioned those brands, but I, Ithink you know your experience
with global brands like Adidas, All Birds, how much of that has
influenced your approach to Stanley 1913 direct consume
(08:18):
partner growth? Yeah, I, I mean, I came up at
Adidas, I was extremely privileged to spend more than 20
years of my my career there. And for me, it's probably the
best example globally of a heritage brand that stays
relevant. Yeah.
And so that those learnings of how to protect your brand,
(08:39):
respect the legacy and keep it intact as you move the brand
forward and keep it relevant. That's definitely informed the
way that I what I'm bringing to Stanley and how I think about
that balance between heritage and and modernity and and
relevance. I would say also my time at All
Beds was just an amazing education in sustainability and
(09:03):
purpose marketing and sustainability is absolutely at
the heart of of Stanley's valuesand our commitment.
So I feel like I have some good,I've got some good groundwork to
bring to the mix. I, I, I think, I mean, it's
just, I'm a big believer in fate.
And as fate would have it, today's shows that we've been
(09:25):
recording or yesterday's shows for today in the USA, in the UK,
in Asia Pacific. One of the brands that I was
waxing lyrical on has master class in how to stay relevant
was Adidas and, and the way thatin the US they've just launched
this campaign with superstar trainers.
(09:46):
They've got a whole YouTube Samuel L Jackson, Missy Elliott
and, and, and you know, basketball skateboard.
So they've got these seven huge media stars that they've created
engagement on. But then my point was look at
how that shifts to the UK where Oasis has staged their 30 year.
(10:06):
Oasis is a sort of rock'n'roll band in the UK, really famous
two brothers. But how Adidas is at the heart
of the And I know this isn't about Adidas, but it's just when
you were talking I was like, yeah, I get it.
In terms of in one country you're this to your consumer and
in another country you're something else.
Maintaining that relevant. Yeah.
(10:28):
And I, you know, something that I deeply admire and that I think
is is quite of our strategic imperative at Stanley is around
authentic cultural partnerships.And it's definitely something
that I learned during my time atAddie.
And we have a really fantastic portfolio of partners at
(10:50):
Stanley. And I just want to dwell for a
moment on the word authentic, which is that, you know, it's an
overused word. I would say in mind grant
management. But at the heart of it, it means
we work with people that are true fans of Stanley that use
the product that it's, it can't come across anymore as you know,
(11:11):
as a pay to play model because consumers, they smell that out.
It feels, it feels bad. You know, it's like the whole
model is shifting. The whole model of influences,
celebrities, athletes, it's shifting and it has to have
depth to it or people just don'tbuy into it.
And so in the realm, you know, we we focus on playing fields
(11:33):
and one of them is around sport and fitness, another one is
around music and entertainment, another one around style and
fashion. And we've had really phenomenal
success in bringing that like authenticity to life.
We had a recent collaboration that launched with Post Malone.
And the reason that it came about is that if you know him, I
(11:55):
mean, he he has, but he, he always has a beverage in his
hand. Always.
Yeah, he is a huge fan. He goes everywhere with coolers.
His team use coolers, flasks, shot glasses, pint glasses, like
they use them every single day. And he is a Stanley fan, He's an
(12:16):
outdoorsman. He grew up using Stanley
products and that was the sort of root of our partnership
together and it was hugely successful.
We built great storytelling, innovative product.
The second partnership that I feel so excited about is our
ongoing partnership with Leo Messi.
And we launched the first iteration of that in 2024.
(12:40):
And the way that that partnership came about is that
Messi has been using Stanley Marte products since he was a
child. And we brought that story to
life through the ritual of him, you know, making and enjoying
Marte. And so I think that that's
something that I I learned it Addy.
(13:00):
I really deeply believe in it that this kind of pay to play
model of partnerships is it's not the path to success.
And so I feel it's Stanley that authentic cultural connection is
coming through a lot of those partnerships really well.
One of the things that I've beentalking about this week is how
(13:21):
the cool girl era in some circles, they're talking about
that coming to an end in the sense that this sort of
lifestyle drinks, but that the messy girl era is now stepping
in where it's more real. And you know, most Malone to me
is that sort of you don't get any real of the most.
But having both eras need some form of device to carry your
(13:44):
beverage of choice in there, which obviously I think presents
opportunities and challenges in the when I, when I think about
the cultural elements that you've just highlighted, then
you know there are the opportunities and there are
challenges. How do you anticipate this?
How What do you do to anticipatethose types of opportunities and
challenges? I think anticipating the, you
(14:08):
know, thinking about the way that consumers are going to
respond to some of those cultural partnerships that you
put forward is really important.And you just mentioned the fine
balance of having a global approach, but ensuring that you
also have local relevance. Yeah.
And I think that's something that I think about a lot in
(14:28):
terms of anticipating reach and connection on a global scale,
but ensuring that there is like real nuances at the at the local
or regional level. And we spend a lot of time
thinking about that and there's different ways that you can
approach it. We think about, OK, there's
(14:49):
nobody better than Leo Messi. He's the GOAT, fakes his number,
his kit, everything about him isrecognisable globally.
The way that people recognise and connect is different.
So in the first iteration of product that we launched in
December of 24, the product was pink.
(15:10):
And pink is a colour that is like so identifiable with messy
because of Miami. And interestingly, the colour
didn't resonate in the same way in Europe that it did in the US
Yeah. And so we evolved, we, we
quickly learned from it. It was, it was still successful,
but it was just a different level of connection.
And we learned from it and we evolved, anticipated that we
(15:33):
need to make an adjustment so that it is truly locally
relevant in different markets. And so the Striker Blue
collection that we're bringing that's going to launch on July
14th is adjusted so that there'slike a different connection of
that Argentinian blue colour with consumers who are are in
(15:54):
Europe, who are in Latin America, who are in Asia
Pacific. And we're just evolving and
adjusting the campaign and the product assortment to make sure
that it's relevant. So I think like that we can't,
we can't anticipate everything, but really trying to think
through how do we scale this amazing legacy brand, how do we
(16:15):
scale it globally, but make surethat there's regional
connectivity. In terms of when you think about
innovation, sustainability that that's so pivotal to sort of
today's market. And then how Stanley 1913 is
sort of integrating those priorities into product
development, which is almost what you're saying about the
(16:35):
colours about the, the themes that you're going to market with
in, in the different markets. What's the, what's the impact on
brand storytelling? How'd you bring that to life
then? Well, I think the, you know,
the, the vision and the values of Stanley are very powerful.
And the reason why I joined the,the vision of Stanley to fuel
(16:58):
the human experience. It extends into a much broader
context of sustainability and social impact.
And it's a deep commitment of the organisation.
So much so, Alex, that I've seen, you know, any, any
product, we had a product that had like a tiny emblem on it
that did not meet the BPA standards.
(17:20):
And there it was no question. There was a lot of units.
But immediately we made the decision, no, we're not going to
sell it. We're going to change it.
And that type of that type of organisational commitment to me,
it's like that's where I want tobe.
I want to be with an organisation and a brand that
lives true to its values. The trick is like, how do we
(17:41):
communicate that? How do we, how do we bring
people into that? How do we shine a light on it
without, you know, there's so many pitfalls, potential
pitfalls around sustainability in consumer brand management at
the moment. And so I, I don't even think
we're, we're really at the starting line in terms of how we
(18:02):
storytell around sustainability because we have a real
commitment to 1st, we have to doit and then we can talk about
it. So once we have, you know, gone
to the very, very end of ensuring all of our products are
created with recycled steel, which we do, once we've gone to
the end of understanding how we can be a part of reducing micro
(18:25):
plastics, then we shine a light on it and we talk about it.
Something that I learned from all beds that I really hope to
embody at Stanley 1913 is people, you know, the world is a
tough place right now. There is so many macro factors
that make it pretty tough to like bring joy into the equation
(18:47):
and sustainability can feel likea very heavy topic.
And the goal that we have is like let's not make it too
heavy, let's make it easy to understand, accessible for
consumers, let's provide them with the maximum amount of
transparency about our products and traceability.
And I think that's really the goal for us in terms of
sustainability. It's like, how do we make it
(19:08):
accessible, How do we not make it too heavy, and how do we
absolutely live through to the commitments that we have and
make sure that we do it and thenwe talk about it.
One of the the massive trends that I've seen and I apologise
for not knowing the answer to this.
I'm just looking at Stanley brand 1913 followers on TikTok.
You've got 1.5 million followers.
(19:30):
Are you on TikTok? Like how do how do these new
digital touch points or digital channels play into your brand
management? Yeah, I mean, digital commerce
is like it's critical. It's where people are.
We are on TikTok, TikTok and TikTok shop not in all markets
though, at the moment. So predominantly focused on, on
(19:51):
the US And you know, we, it's, we have to be there because so
you just mentioned a statistic around how many followers we
have if you search hashtag Stanley Cup.
Over a billion, yeah, there's over a billion mentions.
Yeah, I thought one of your videos and it's the guy Green
(20:13):
Flask that I've got. It's got something like 456,000
engagement. It's real, you know?
And it's like, what blows my mind is that, you know, we
talked about that the terminology of the industry and
food and beverage containment, that doesn't sound extremely
sexy. It doesn't sound like something
that's going to like super entertain you.
(20:34):
And the reality is these amazingquality products are also tools
of self-expression. There are ways people identify,
you know, like the Olivia Rodrigo collaboration that we
have her fans want that product immediately so that they can
showcase messy fans. They want that product
immediately so they can showcasewhat they believe in.
(20:56):
And digital commerce is the place where that transaction can
happen seamlessly immediately where you can identify and find
what you follow what, what represents your identity and
immediately transact and have the product in your hand shortly
after that that gives you that satisfaction.
(21:16):
You know, so we've we've had some really great success with
TikTok shop. We plan to go much further in
terms of digital commerce. So there's a lot more coming.
We have an amazing ecosystem that will continue to roll out
is. That is that, yeah, early 1913
direct. Correct.
Got you. OK.
Yes. OK, final couple of questions
(21:36):
and then and then I'll let I'll let you get on with your day.
If you could go back to a younger self and give some
advice to this budding brand officer, chief brand officer
that you will be in the future, what would be that one piece of
advice you'd go and tell your younger self?
Oh, it's always trust your intuition.
It took me way too long. It took me way too long to
(21:59):
understand that my intuition waslike, you know, 95% right.
And I think we, you know, we're in a world.
I, I studied banking and finance.
You come up in a world where data is everything.
You have to have a proof point for everything and more often
than not my gut noise before my head noise.
(22:20):
And so I would encourage myself to like, listen more carefully
to your intuition, trust it, andrun with it.
And are you still is that? Is that still how you?
Is that play a part in your today life as well?
Absolutely. And what's that one question
that I should have asked you that I didn't?
I mean, there's a lot of attention in my in the industry
at the moment on hydration trends just because so many
(22:42):
competitors have come into this space.
Yeah. And so it's usual that I would
get a question about, you know, growth trends.
And that's a question that I feel extremely comfortable with
just because I love it, you know, the.
Question now. Well, I, because I, you know,
other industries and segments that I've worked in you, you're
(23:05):
normally looking at it Kega that's around 10%, let's say 5
to 10% in consumer goods. And unless you're a breakout
brand. And I'm just so blown away by
the fact that the Stanley Kega in the hydration area has been
since 2021 every single year 116% right.
(23:29):
It's amazing. And so when you ask me questions
like how do you anticipate opportunities and challenges,
it's. Like.
How do I build the infrastructure and the culture
to keep up with that level of demand and growth and
opportunity is? Yeah, it's a new challenge that
I am just like, so stoked about.OK, that's fantastic.
(23:50):
So listen, I said I'll be respectful to your time.
We're at the allotted time. I will just so you know, I will
post a picture of my 2 Stanley products I've had because
that's, I think there's another thing that we, we didn't talk
about, but I'll just quickly mention for me sustainability
about quality products that last.
And So what you're looking for, especially in consumer products
(24:12):
are those products that stand the test of time.
And that for me is what Stanley has, you know, embodied over the
years and hence why I'm a big fan of my little class and what
what the J that they've gone on with me.
The quality is undeniable, I totally agree with you.
Yeah, which which I think peoplewith all the new entrants into
the market, people learn the hard way that not all water
(24:36):
containers, I forget the the theterm they're not all made
equally, which I think people sort of think, well, they're all
the same. You're like, well, no, not
really. But anyway, on that on that was.
Pleasure to meet you. Lovely to meet you.
Thank you for having me.
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