The Comfy Cult of the Snuggie

By Nancy Robinson

What’s Happening

• Snuggies—the blanket with sleeves—are more than infomercial-powered couch potato dressing. Oprah, Bill Maher, Conan, and Jimmy Fallon may have all donned the Snuggie, but it’s also a Millennial-friendly fleecy socializer.

• In January 2009, six Millennial guys Snuggied up to a bar in Cincinnati and national Snuggie pub crawls were born. Then there’s SnuggieBook.com (the social network with sleeves), Snuggie Karaoke and NY Times coverage of Snuggies on the street.

• But wait . . . there’s more! More than 1,500 Facebookers are members of a club honoring a match made in heaven: I Want a Snuggie Blanket Made of ShamWows. Where’s that 800 number?

What This Means to Business

• Millennials find marketing amusing—and products are raw material. Was the Snuggie designed as pub attire? No, but Allstar’s not complaining.

For more about the Snuggie, read Jason Voiovich’s post about how the Snuggie spells doom for television advertising.

Comments

[Jason Pawelsky]

Snuggies gone "cult" is a fairytale story for marketers like myself. Having a great product is a step in the right direction, but capturing peoples attention is the biggest success factor we can ever hope for Once people are listening, we can spread our market-speak 'til we're blue in the face. Where have you been all my life, snuggies?? My arms get cold everytime I pull them out of the blanket to change the TV station. Not no more!

Congrats to Snuggies for their creative, fun-loving sales & marketing plan.

And, for the record, the Sham Wow is an excellent product too!