If you say “Stanley Cup,” you’re either talking about the trendiest water bottle out there or you’re wondering why people are talking about hockey’s championship trophy four months before it’s awarded.
And you might either be obsessed with it, or wondering why anyone cares.
What side of the line you fall on may depend on your age. For young people, one local professor said, it’s a status thing and not a hydration thing, coupled with that desire to show off in ways that older generations may not.
“To have a little exhibitionism is part of the deal,” said Hank Boyd, clinical professor of marketing at the University of Maryland. “‘I want to show you what I’m doing in my life. I want to share.'”
Boyd added that “FOMO,” or the fear of missing out, can make even more people hop on the bandwagon.
“You want to make sure you’re part of that crowd,” Boyd said. “And it’s one of these things that, I think, if you skew older, folks like myself in the Boomer generation, we’re less prone to fall into these sort of fads that come along.”
While the cup itself may be nice, Boyd said he doesn’t think that’s what’s driving the behavior. Instead, he said once it went viral with a few influencers, everyone tried to get on board.
“For most of us, it’s nice to say, ‘Hey, I got attention. People are looking at me,'” Boyd said. “And it reaffirms that ‘yes, I do matter.'”
But he also said it’s not the real influencers that companies are necessarily watching.
“There’s always been this invisible, under the radar group of mavens. And the mavens, if they tap into something, saying this is the latest trend, it works to their networks,” Boyd said. “Suddenly everybody’s on board saying, ‘Hey, I got to have this. I don’t want to be left out.'”
And Boyd said rest assured, whatever the next trend is, a marketing professional is scouring social media trying to find those mavens before you do.
“Companies have always tried to say, ‘Look, can we generate some demand? Can we sort of create it?'” Boyd said. “But they’re not alone. The consumer comes into the equation. They’re a huge part of it. So they help shape the narrative and decide what the next item is going to be, or the next thing. So they have to work in conjunction or in tandem. And what the consumers decide, that’s hard to say.”
But when that decision is made, smart companies will dive into “limited editions” in the hopes of keeping the demand hot.
“We’ll give you a sense of urgency. ‘You need to get on board right now or you’re going to miss this window.'” Boyd said. “And it seems to have worked, because we’re starting to see gray markets set up.”
All you need to do is search eBay for Stanley cups to see that’s the case.
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