The Stanley Cup is getting upstaged on Google by Stanley cups
When you type “Stanley Cup” into your Google search bar you may not be getting what you would expect.
Instead of images of the greatest trophy in all of sports, eager hockey fans are getting images of large travel mugs that come in a variety of different shapes and colours.
These mugs, tumblers, or whatever you wish to call them, have blown up in popularity over recent months and are manufactured by Stanley, which is why they are starting to eat into the search results for hockey’s Holy Grail.
Google.ca
The Stanley Cup, the NHL one, is the oldest active trophy in North American professional sports and has been awarded to the league’s annual champion for over a century. So, how is it that a simple-looking travel mug could become so popular that it has become the primary result when you search “Stanley Cup”?
The answer is clever marketing.
Despite the explosion in recent popularity, Stanley cups have been around for many years. Initially, it seemed like the Stanley company steered their marketing towards people in more blue-collar jobs, but this didn’t work out and the mugs started to fade into obscurity.
According to an article by USA Today writer Mary Walrath-Holdridge on the topic, this changed when former Crocs executive Terrence Reilly became the President of Stanley in 2020 and shifted marketing the cups toward social media influencers.
Now the cups are among the most popular gift ideas and were flying off the shelves during the holiday season. Some stores decided to put out Valentine’s Day displays earlier this month with red and pink Stanleys, only to be ravaged by customers quickly clearing the shelves.
STANLEY CUP CRAZEš„¤š Stanely cups fly off the shelves at Target ahead of Valentineās Day
Read more: https://t.co/ykyDLDczdv pic.twitter.com/jo7y1x9k5H
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) January 3, 2024
While hockey’s Stanley Cup is priceless, you can find a bevy of different types of Stanley cups on the company website that range in price from $20 to $111.
While some hockey fans might be annoyed that it is a little more difficult to find information on the 131-year-old trophy, there might just be a golden advertising opportunity for both the NHL and the Stanley company.
How long before Stanley becomes a title sponsor for the Stanley Cup Final?
Follow Channels and Categories