Latest / The Retail Podcast / Stanley 1913: Reinventing Hydration & Heritage Brands with Kate Ridley

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Stanley 1913: Reinventing Hydration & Heritage Brands with Kate Ridley · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Many people know Stanley for its most recent iteration in the
• 0:04
  past five years where we truly created the category of
• 0:09
  hydration. We redefined it, we grew it.
• 0:12
  Lots of other competitors who've come into the space.
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  Now we've got an amazing following through that hydration
• 0:19
  business, but we know that we're so much more than that.
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  That's really the next phase of the brand is making sure that we
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  we prove it out, we diversify our product, we invite new
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  customers into our ecosystem. So that's really where we're at.
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  We're at this moment of of evolution for the Stanley brand.
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  Hello and welcome to the Retail Podcast.
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  It is a Friday afternoon for me and Friday morning for Kate, who
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  I'll introduce you to in a minute.
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  Now unknowingly, the product that we're going to talk about
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  or the brand more importantly that we're going to talk about
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  in a minute. I've been a fan of for a long,
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  long time. So when I got the opportunity to
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  talk to the brand and the brand person, the Chief Brand Officer,
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  it was something that I jumped to.
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  And so with without taking any more time, Kate Ridley, chief
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  brand officer at Stanley 1913, the famous Well, how do you
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  refer to them? Because you it's like not you
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  have so many categories that you go across.
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  What's the sort of all-encompassing word for the
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  brand? Well, that's a good question.
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  We fit into multiple categories, the biggest of which the biggest
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  of which is hydration. But we we're in the food and
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  beverage containment industry is is the way is the technical I
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  was. Just going to say the technical
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  term, the food and beverage containment industry.
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  I, I, I'm just a fan because I remember I, I needed, I had to
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  be fair. You must get this all the time.
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  You meet someone and they're like tell you their first time
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  they came across the brand and you're like, yeah, thanks.
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  Well, it's, you know, that that is something that I absolutely
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  love. You know, that is such a good
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  gauge. You know, people are always
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  asking the question, how do you measure the success of your
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  brand? And there are so many ways you
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  can measure it, but just the people on the street and the
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  stories they tell you about your brand is such a good gauge.
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  And every single person, any, anyone I say I work for Stanley,
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  or if they see me holding a Stanley product, there's a very
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  common refrain that they'll say my grandfather had the green
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  Stanley thermos and we used to go fishing together.
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  And that's like, that's such an interesting insight that the
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  legacy is there, but also you got to break out of it.
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  I mean, it's so funny that you say the green flask.
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  I, I watch my son who's a goalkeeper on a Saturday
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  morning. He's nine years old.
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  It gets cold during and I was looking for exactly that, a
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  flask that was reliable that I can, you know, go take.
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  I love this so much. I ended up buying three
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  different flasks from Target. I remember I was in the US and I
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  was like, Oh my God, take, take, take, take.
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  Anyway, let's get into this. Kate, why don't you, if you
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  don't mind, just give me, give us an overview of who you are
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  and what you do at Stanley 1913. Yes, I'm Kate Ridley.
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  I'm the Chief Brand Officer at Stanley 1913 and I've been there
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  for a whopping 3 months. I'm brand new and I've spent my
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  career being fascinated with brands that exist at the
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  intersection of, of culture and and lifestyle and and
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  predominantly youth culture brands.
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  And it's a privilege to be at Stanley.
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  I oversee all consumer facing activities.
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  So brand strategy, consumer insights, merchandising,
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  marketing, all of those wonderful areas that I'm very,
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  very passionate about and we're in a moment of brand evolution.
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  So I'm really excited to share some of those exciting plans
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  with you. That's fantastic.
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  It's really interesting how Stanley 1913 so positions itself
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  as a brand with heritage, not a heritage brand.
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  Yeah. I'm just, I was just curious how
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  you balance the sort of the rich legacy that you have with sort
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  of staying innovate, sorry, innovative and relevant at the
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  same time, which it sounds like you do?
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  Yes, I mean, that's the balance, right?
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  It's an absolute privilege and an honour to work for a brand
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  that has been a leader in food and beverage containment since
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  1913. And you know, the founder of
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  Stanley was the first person who invented and patented double
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  walled steel vacuum beverage containment.
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  Wow. And that's a privilege.
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  It's also an amazing challenge to make sure that you honour
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  that legacy and all of the things that come with it, but
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  that you take the brand into the future and make sure that it's
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  modern, it's vibrant, and most importantly, that it's relevant.
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  That's the biggest challenge that we have.
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  You know, we, I think Stanley, many people know Stanley for its
• 5:12
  most recent iteration in the past five years where we truly
• 5:16
  created the category of hydration.
• 5:19
  We redefined it, we grew it, lots of other competitors who've
• 5:24
  come into the space. Now we've got an amazing
• 5:28
  following through that hydration business, but we know that we're
• 5:31
  so much more than that. That's really the next phase of
• 5:34
  the brand is making sure that we we prove it out, we diversify
• 5:39
  our product, we invite new customers into our ecosystem.
• 5:42
  So that's really where we're at. We're at this moment of of
• 5:46
  evolution for the Stanley brand. And, and that's really
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  interesting because the, the sort of Stanley 1913 journey
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  that I imagined was where, you know, in the different areas,
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  like a Taylor Swift, the, the different eras of her tall
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  almost, although no, no direct correlation.
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  But the eras that you go through in terms of from work, work
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  hydration to outdoors to, to all of these sort of smaller changes
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  in consumer behaviours. How do you manage that?
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  How do you sort of connect with those consumers given there are
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  so many evolving errors? Yeah.
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  Well, first and foremost, it's about knowing what the consumer,
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  what consumers want, what they're doing and making sure
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  that we drive everything through inside.
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  So if I take that, you know, the first era that you mentioned in
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  terms of helping Americans predominantly go to work, that
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  they just weren't solutions for people to have coffee, water,
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  food while they're at work. So that's the very, very
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  earliest era and the second era when people started exploring
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  the outdoors more, Stanley was there making sure that they had
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  products that could facilitate that.
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  And then seeing this like health and Wellness trends really
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  evolved over the past, let's call it 15 years, but
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  specifically in the past five years where predominantly young
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  women were absolutely leading in to health, longevity, Wellness
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  and hydration was a huge part of that.
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  And Stanley bought a solution that allowed for self-expression
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  was the absolute pinnacle of quality in hydration products.
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  And it was born out of insights. It was, it was actually born out
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  of insights of a group of women in Utah who were really adopting
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  the quencher as their hydration solution.
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  And it just exploded from there. So the next era also has to be
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  based on on insights of what people want and how they're
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  living their lives. And a huge area for us, a huge
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  area of investment is around sport.
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  That's only one area. There's many, but sport is a big
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  area that we're focused on at the moment that we have
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  fantastic innovative solutions for athletes to be at their
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  best. And so that's a big focus for
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  for 2025. I'm.
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  I'm curious in terms of the relationship that you've sort of
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  mentioned those brands, but I, I think you know your experience
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  with global brands like Adidas, All Birds, how much of that has
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  influenced your approach to Stanley 1913 direct consume
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  partner growth? Yeah, I, I mean, I came up at
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  Adidas, I was extremely privileged to spend more than 20
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  years of my my career there. And for me, it's probably the
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  best example globally of a heritage brand that stays
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  relevant. Yeah.
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  And so that those learnings of how to protect your brand,
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  respect the legacy and keep it intact as you move the brand
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  forward and keep it relevant. That's definitely informed the
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  way that I what I'm bringing to Stanley and how I think about
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  that balance between heritage and and modernity and and
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  relevance. I would say also my time at All
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  Beds was just an amazing education in sustainability and
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  purpose marketing and sustainability is absolutely at
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  the heart of of Stanley's values and our commitment.
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  So I feel like I have some good, I've got some good groundwork to
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  bring to the mix. I, I, I think, I mean, it's
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  just, I'm a big believer in fate.
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  And as fate would have it, today's shows that we've been
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  recording or yesterday's shows for today in the USA, in the UK,
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  in Asia Pacific. One of the brands that I was
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  waxing lyrical on has master class in how to stay relevant
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  was Adidas and, and the way that in the US they've just launched
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  this campaign with superstar trainers.
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  They've got a whole YouTube Samuel L Jackson, Missy Elliott
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  and, and, and you know, basketball skateboard.
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  So they've got these seven huge media stars that they've created
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  engagement on. But then my point was look at
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  how that shifts to the UK where Oasis has staged their 30 year.
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  Oasis is a sort of rock'n'roll band in the UK, really famous
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  two brothers. But how Adidas is at the heart
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  of the And I know this isn't about Adidas, but it's just when
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  you were talking I was like, yeah, I get it.
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  In terms of in one country you're this to your consumer and
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  in another country you're something else.
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  Maintaining that relevant. Yeah.
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  And I, you know, something that I deeply admire and that I think
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  is is quite of our strategic imperative at Stanley is around
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  authentic cultural partnerships. And it's definitely something
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  that I learned during my time at Addie.
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  And we have a really fantastic portfolio of partners at
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  Stanley. And I just want to dwell for a
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  moment on the word authentic, which is that, you know, it's an
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  overused word. I would say in mind grant
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  management. But at the heart of it, it means
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  we work with people that are true fans of Stanley that use
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  the product that it's, it can't come across anymore as you know,
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  as a pay to play model because consumers, they smell that out.
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  It feels, it feels bad. You know, it's like the whole
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  model is shifting. The whole model of influences,
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  celebrities, athletes, it's shifting and it has to have
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  depth to it or people just don't buy into it.
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  And so in the realm, you know, we we focus on playing fields
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  and one of them is around sport and fitness, another one is
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  around music and entertainment, another one around style and
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  fashion. And we've had really phenomenal
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  success in bringing that like authenticity to life.
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  We had a recent collaboration that launched with Post Malone.
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  And the reason that it came about is that if you know him, I
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  mean, he he has, but he, he always has a beverage in his
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  hand. Always.
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  Yeah, he is a huge fan. He goes everywhere with coolers.
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  His team use coolers, flasks, shot glasses, pint glasses, like
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  they use them every single day. And he is a Stanley fan, He's an
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  outdoorsman. He grew up using Stanley
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  products and that was the sort of root of our partnership
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  together and it was hugely successful.
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  We built great storytelling, innovative product.
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  The second partnership that I feel so excited about is our
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  ongoing partnership with Leo Messi.
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  And we launched the first iteration of that in 2024.
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  And the way that that partnership came about is that
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  Messi has been using Stanley Marte products since he was a
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  child. And we brought that story to
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  life through the ritual of him, you know, making and enjoying
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  Marte. And so I think that that's
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  something that I I learned it Addy.
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  I really deeply believe in it that this kind of pay to play
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  model of partnerships is it's not the path to success.
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  And so I feel it's Stanley that authentic cultural connection is
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  coming through a lot of those partnerships really well.
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  One of the things that I've been talking about this week is how
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  the cool girl era in some circles, they're talking about
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  that coming to an end in the sense that this sort of
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  lifestyle drinks, but that the messy girl era is now stepping
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  in where it's more real. And you know, most Malone to me
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  is that sort of you don't get any real of the most.
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  But having both eras need some form of device to carry your
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  beverage of choice in there, which obviously I think presents
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  opportunities and challenges in the when I, when I think about
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  the cultural elements that you've just highlighted, then
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  you know there are the opportunities and there are
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  challenges. How do you anticipate this?
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  How What do you do to anticipate those types of opportunities and
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  challenges? I think anticipating the, you
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  know, thinking about the way that consumers are going to
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  respond to some of those cultural partnerships that you
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  put forward is really important. And you just mentioned the fine
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  balance of having a global approach, but ensuring that you
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  also have local relevance. Yeah.
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  And I think that's something that I think about a lot in
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  terms of anticipating reach and connection on a global scale,
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  but ensuring that there is like real nuances at the at the local
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  or regional level. And we spend a lot of time
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  thinking about that and there's different ways that you can
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  approach it. We think about, OK, there's
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  nobody better than Leo Messi. He's the GOAT, fakes his number,
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  his kit, everything about him is recognisable globally.
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  The way that people recognise and connect is different.
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  So in the first iteration of product that we launched in
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  December of 24, the product was pink.
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  And pink is a colour that is like so identifiable with messy
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  because of Miami. And interestingly, the colour
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  didn't resonate in the same way in Europe that it did in the US
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  Yeah. And so we evolved, we, we
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  quickly learned from it. It was, it was still successful,
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  but it was just a different level of connection.
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  And we learned from it and we evolved, anticipated that we
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  need to make an adjustment so that it is truly locally
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  relevant in different markets. And so the Striker Blue
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  collection that we're bringing that's going to launch on July
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  14th is adjusted so that there's like a different connection of
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  that Argentinian blue colour with consumers who are are in
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  Europe, who are in Latin America, who are in Asia
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  Pacific. And we're just evolving and
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  adjusting the campaign and the product assortment to make sure
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  that it's relevant. So I think like that we can't,
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  we can't anticipate everything, but really trying to think
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  through how do we scale this amazing legacy brand, how do we
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  scale it globally, but make sure that there's regional
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  connectivity. In terms of when you think about
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  innovation, sustainability that that's so pivotal to sort of
• 16:25
  today's market. And then how Stanley 1913 is
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  sort of integrating those priorities into product
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  development, which is almost what you're saying about the
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  colours about the, the themes that you're going to market with
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  in, in the different markets. What's the, what's the impact on
• 16:43
  brand storytelling? How'd you bring that to life
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  then? Well, I think the, you know,
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  the, the vision and the values of Stanley are very powerful.
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  And the reason why I joined the, the vision of Stanley to fuel
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  the human experience. It extends into a much broader
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  context of sustainability and social impact.
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  And it's a deep commitment of the organisation.
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  So much so, Alex, that I've seen, you know, any, any
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  product, we had a product that had like a tiny emblem on it
• 17:17
  that did not meet the BPA standards.
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  And there it was no question. There was a lot of units.
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  But immediately we made the decision, no, we're not going to
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  sell it. We're going to change it.
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  And that type of that type of organisational commitment to me,
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  it's like that's where I want to be.
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  I want to be with an organisation and a brand that
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  lives true to its values. The trick is like, how do we
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  communicate that? How do we, how do we bring
• 17:44
  people into that? How do we shine a light on it
• 17:47
  without, you know, there's so many pitfalls, potential
• 17:51
  pitfalls around sustainability in consumer brand management at
• 17:55
  the moment. And so I, I don't even think
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  we're, we're really at the starting line in terms of how we
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  storytell around sustainability because we have a real
• 18:05
  commitment to 1st, we have to do it and then we can talk about
• 18:09
  it. So once we have, you know, gone
• 18:12
  to the very, very end of ensuring all of our products are
• 18:17
  created with recycled steel, which we do, once we've gone to
• 18:21
  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.
• 18:30
  Something that I learned from all beds that I really hope to
• 18:32
  embody at Stanley 1913 is people, you know, the world is a
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  tough place right now. There is so many macro factors
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  that make it pretty tough to like bring joy into the equation
• 18:47
  and sustainability can feel like a very heavy topic.
• 18:50
  And the goal that we have is like let's not make it too
• 18:53
  heavy, let's make it easy to understand, accessible for
• 18:56
  consumers, let's provide them with the maximum amount of
• 19:00
  transparency about our products and traceability.
• 19:03
  And I think that's really the goal for us in terms of
• 19:06
  sustainability. It's like, how do we make it
• 19:08
  accessible, How do we not make it too heavy, and how do we
• 19:11
  absolutely live through to the commitments that we have and
• 19:14
  make sure that we do it and then we talk about it.
• 19:17
  One of the the massive trends that I've seen and I apologise
• 19:20
  for not knowing the answer to this.
• 19:22
  I'm just looking at Stanley brand 1913 followers on TikTok.
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  You've got 1.5 million followers.
• 19:30
  Are you on TikTok? Like how do how do these new
• 19:33
  digital touch points or digital channels play into your brand
• 19:37
  management? Yeah, I mean, digital commerce
• 19:40
  is like it's critical. It's where people are.
• 19:43
  We are on TikTok, TikTok and TikTok shop not in all markets
• 19:47
  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
• 19:56
  you just mentioned a statistic around how many followers we
• 20:00
  have if you search hashtag Stanley Cup.
• 20:05
  Over a billion, yeah, there's over a billion mentions.
• 20:09
  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
• 20:18
  engagement. It's real, you know?
• 20:20
  And it's like, what blows my mind is that, you know, we
• 20:24
  talked about that the terminology of the industry and
• 20:27
  food and beverage containment, that doesn't sound extremely
• 20:30
  sexy. It doesn't sound like something
• 20:32
  that's going to like super entertain you.
• 20:34
  And the reality is these amazing quality products are also tools
• 20:40
  of self-expression. There are ways people identify,
• 20:43
  you know, like the Olivia Rodrigo collaboration that we
• 20:46
  have her fans want that product immediately so that they can
• 20:50
  showcase messy fans. They want that product
• 20:53
  immediately so they can showcase what they believe in.
• 20:56
  And digital commerce is the place where that transaction can
• 21:00
  happen seamlessly immediately where you can identify and find
• 21:05
  what you follow what, what represents your identity and
• 21:09
  immediately transact and have the product in your hand shortly
• 21:13
  after that that gives you that satisfaction.
• 21:16
  You know, so we've we've had some really great success with
• 21:19
  TikTok shop. We plan to go much further in
• 21:22
  terms of digital commerce. So there's a lot more coming.
• 21:25
  We have an amazing ecosystem that will continue to roll out
• 21:29
  is. That is that, yeah, early 1913
• 21:31
  direct. Correct.
• 21:33
  Got you. OK.
• 21:35
  Yes. OK, final couple of questions
• 21:36
  and then and then I'll let I'll let you get on with your day.
• 21:40
  If you could go back to a younger self and give some
• 21:43
  advice to this budding brand officer, chief brand officer
• 21:48
  that you will be in the future, what would be that one piece of
• 21:50
  advice you'd go and tell your younger self?
• 21:53
  Oh, it's always trust your intuition.
• 21:56
  It took me way too long. It took me way too long to
• 21:59
  understand that my intuition was like, you know, 95% right.
• 22:05
  And I think we, you know, we're in a world.
• 22:08
  I, I studied banking and finance.
• 22:10
  You come up in a world where data is everything.
• 22:13
  You have to have a proof point for everything and more often
• 22:16
  than not my gut noise before my head noise.
• 22:20
  And so I would encourage myself to like, listen more carefully
• 22:24
  to your intuition, trust it, and run with it.
• 22:26
  And are you still is that? Is that still how you?
• 22:28
  Is that play a part in your today life as well?
• 22:31
  Absolutely. And what's that one question
• 22:34
  that I should have asked you that I didn't?
• 22:36
  I mean, there's a lot of attention in my in the industry
• 22:39
  at the moment on hydration trends just because so many
• 22:42
  competitors have come into this space.
• 22:44
  Yeah. And so it's usual that I would
• 22:47
  get a question about, you know, growth trends.
• 22:50
  And that's a question that I feel extremely comfortable with
• 22:55
  just because I love it, you know, the.
• 22:57
  Question now. Well, I, because I, you know,
• 23:01
  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
• 23:09
  to 10% in consumer goods. And unless you're a breakout
• 23:12
  brand. And I'm just so blown away by
• 23:16
  the fact that the Stanley Kega in the hydration area has been
• 23:21
  since 2021 every single year 116% right.
• 23:29
  It's amazing. And so when you ask me questions
• 23:31
  like how do you anticipate opportunities and challenges,
• 23:34
  it's. Like.
• 23:35
  How do I build the infrastructure and the culture
• 23:39
  to keep up with that level of demand and growth and
• 23:43
  opportunity is? Yeah, it's a new challenge that
• 23:46
  I am just like, so stoked about. OK, that's fantastic.
• 23:50
  So listen, I said I'll be respectful to your time.
• 23:52
  We're at the allotted time. I will just so you know, I will
• 23:56
  post a picture of my 2 Stanley products I've had because
• 24:01
  that's, I think there's another thing that we, we didn't talk
• 24:04
  about, but I'll just quickly mention for me sustainability
• 24:07
  about quality products that last.
• 24:08
  And So what you're looking for, especially in consumer products
• 24:12
  are those products that stand the test of time.
• 24:15
  And that for me is what Stanley has, you know, embodied over the
• 24:19
  years and hence why I'm a big fan of my little class and what
• 24:23
  what the J that they've gone on with me.
• 24:25
  The quality is undeniable, I totally agree with you.
• 24:29
  Yeah, which which I think people with all the new entrants into
• 24:32
  the market, people learn the hard way that not all water
• 24:36
  containers, I forget the the the term they're not all made
• 24:39
  equally, which I think people sort of think, well, they're all
• 24:42
  the same. You're like, well, no, not
• 24:43
  really. But anyway, on that on that was.
• 24:46
  Pleasure to meet you. Lovely to meet you.
• 24:49
  Thank you for having me.