How Stanley Perfected the Shiny Pivot ✨
How Stanley Perfected the Shiny Pivot ✨
How a century-old company pivoted to become the hottest water bottle around
I tend to be late to trends, so I only recently noticed these enormous cups everyone carries around. I thought it was just another fad, some new merch hawked by a TikTok celebrity. But I was wrong — my Gen Z sister informed me that Stanley, the company behind the hottest water bottles, is a century-old company. Whatttt? That got me interested. How did this 100-plus-year-old brand take over the competitive water bottle market?
This, my friends, is what I call the ✨ Shiny Pivot. ✨ And Stanley has perfected it. Watch the video below to see how they did it.
The shiny pivot at Stanley is the work of Terence Reilly. He’s now the president of Stanley and was the former CMO of Crocs, where we see his first attempts at a shiny pivot. Reilly brought his experience from the sneaker industry to Crocs, where he used the tactics of celebrity collaborations and limited edition runs to connect the Crocs brand with a new market. It was a shiny pivot that shocked the world, or at least it shocked me. I remember thinking, “What?? Crocs are back?? How did this happen?” Terence Reilly and the Shiny Pivot — that’s how.
So when Reilly joined Stanley, he brought the same expertise to the Stanley product. Stanley cups were already iconic and well-known by construction workers and outdoorsy types. My husband, a former firefighter, knew Stanley from their TV commercials in the 80s and 90s, where they’d toss a Stanley thermos off the top of a skyscraper construction site, and the bottle would survive the fall without a dent. It’s a solid product line, but its durability made it challenging to grow the business. Consumers don’t need to buy another Stanley bottle because the one they have will last a lifetime. So, how could Stanley grow and reach new markets? The answer — a Shiny Pivot.
A ✨ Shiny Pivot ✨ has two components:
One: Make it shiny! Make the product shiny, cool, photogenic. Do this physically with tangible products. If your product is digital, you can find a way to give the product a cool factor. Remember when Slack launched, and the UI was cool? It was like playing a game while all other office communications tools were boring and corporate-like. It was shiny.
Two: Find your natural influencers. Crocs kicked off a collaboration with an up-and-coming Post Malone, who was already sporting Crocs. Stanley collaborated with a small group of bloggers in Utah who loved their product. You don’t need to collaborate with a massive celebrity. If the product is shiny enough, your early adopters will naturally share it. They’ll be excited to share it. Those natural, authentic influencers are the ones you want to collaborate with.
That’s the ✨ Shiny Pivot ✨ in a nutshell. It’s for products with core functionality that is rock-solid, but you need to make it shine to attract new users, maybe a new market or a new generation.
Anyone know how we can get the ✨ Shiny Pivot ✨ added to the Lean Startup pivot list? 😉
You got this!
If you’re looking for more product management lessons, here’s how I can help!
📚 Product Management Foundations course. My 9-week training program will set a strong foundation for your product career. This is a self-paced course with optional 1-on-1 sessions with me.
📺 PM Crash Course (free). A fun, free playlist of videos to introduce you to the basics of product management.
📖 Product Influence course. Learn simple influence principles and frameworks to take your product career to the next level.
🙋🏻♀️ 1-on-1 coaching. Book a 1-on-1 call with me for personalized coaching. You can also book time with me on Skillshare!
Referenced in this post:
How to Reinvent a Consumer Brand, HBR IdeaCast Episode 927