Social-first content for Stanley 1913
How UGC Helped Stanley 1913 Grow Their European Social Presence by 204%
We’ve been helping Stanley Europe source UGC for their organic and paid social channels. Read on for an overview.
- Why should brands use user-generated content (UGC)?
- Why does Stanley 1913 use UGC?
- A strategic shift towards women as a demographic
- How to source UGC content
- Results
Why should brands use user-generated content (UGC)?
All brands that show up on social media should dedicate some marketing budget to UGC. It’s fundamentally a more trustworthy form of advertising, as it shows real people using real products. While brand campaign assets align perfectly with the brand aesthetic, they can be costly, slow and feel too far-removed from customers’ real lives to resonate with the audience.
UGC can also be more cost-effective and quicker to produce than brand campaign assets that don’t resonate with consumers. These benefits don’t really come with a downgrade to quality though, as it’s still possible with the right guidelines to create a consistent brand voice and aesthetic.
Industry-wide, it’s acknowledged that the ratio of UGC to brand-produced content should be tipping further in the favour of the former. In an article by global business magazine Forbes, user-generated content is described as “the modern form of word-of-mouth advertising” as well as “humanised”, “authentic” and “unfiltered”.
But it’s not just commercial brands who can use this social-first content to their advantage. We’ve seen NGOs like RSPB and public services like the NHS hop on trends and utilise content styles that put comedy at the forefront. An example is the NHS’s latest sunscreen use awareness campaign which, alongside other more ‘traditional’ informative content, has included some pretty off the wall stuff.
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Why does Stanley 1913 use UGC?
Stanley needed a voice that resonated and content that spoke to their audience. Like most brands, their organic KPIs were to increase brand awareness, following and engagement.
As their organic social, creative and brand paid agency, we combined our skillsets to deliver data-driven creative for use on social media.
Capitalising on the virality of the Quencher, Stanley focused their efforts on social media marketing with a strategy that encompassed organic, paid, influencer and UGC marketing.
With focused budgets and a clear direction, we were able to create highly specific briefs, matching content creators and their niches with upcoming product launches and ongoing brand campaigns.
A strategic shift towards women as a demographic
After the European launch of the (now much imitated) iconic Quencher, 2023 saw a rise in a female oriented audience, skewed towards urban living and lifestyle interests. This was a stark difference from the outdoorsy, male audience from years gone by.
We pivoted our content strategy to match this. We doubled down on content that appealed to this new demographic, helping solidifybrand awareness in Europe, with the percentage of ‘outdoorsy’ content ever diminishing.
Stanley’s Instagram stats flipped. From a demographic of 80% men to 80% women in just a few years, it was clear that the rebrand was working.
How to source UGC content
For Stanley 1913, a brand that grew partly thanks to social media, it made sense to embrace a social media focused marketing strategy. Famously, Stanley have an impressive selection of colours in their products. These collections and colourways could be used to guide the direction of the content.
Selling something bright orange? Find a colourful fashion creator who can take it from garish to stylish. Pushing a product that’s neutral and practical? Find the cool gym goer who’s in the market for an everyday bottle. Of course, the briefs and the creators vary depending on the campaign, but we’ve included a fair few in this article so you can take a nosey.
Results
Our UGC strategy is ever-evolving. It’s a continuous cycle of ideating, producing, testing, iterating, analysing and repeating.
Content made by our network of UGC and influencer creators helped to increase Stanley 1913’s following by 204.8% and engagements by 208.6% in the past 18 months. Since working on the account, we’ve been instrumental in increasing their following from 10k to over 235k. Engagement rates on some of the content creator posts in 2025 were hitting 5x that of the monthly average, and well above industry benchmarks. This all goes to say that lo-fi content can resonate more strongly than expensive campaign content, especially when done well.
Ready to enhance your social media marketing strategy with UGC? Get in touch.
