Bird93 said:
Beat me to it. RTIC didn't do anything YETI didn't do themselves. They ripped off Engel. YETI was just much better at the legal and marketing game than RTIC.
Actually, I think Yeti "ripped off" Icey Tek, not Engel. I could be wrong though. The way I've heard it was that the Seiders bros. came across the Icey Tek line at a trade show of some kind and then created Yeti based on Icey Tek. They may have even bought the idea from Icey Tek and brought it to the US but I'm not sure on that.
I don't know if there was a nickel's worth of difference between Yeti, Engel, or Icey Tek circa 2006-07 when Yeti was getting off the ground but I do know that there were rotomolded coolers out then but they were expensive and poorly marketed. The Seiders boys came up with genius marketing and created a brand that is not just a brand but a lifestyle- go look at all their ads and films and social media presence. I've said it 100 times but one day marketing and advertising students will study Yeti as a "how-to" on creating a brand and generating customer loyalty.
I don't know all the ins & outs of the Yeti-Rtic lawsuits but I do know the brothers who started Rtic did not work for Yeti, they were in the shipping business which is how they were probably able to run down the factories in Asia where Yeti produces their stuff. And it's pretty damn clear that whatever may have occurred Rtic did not take much of a hit- look at their product lines, other than the soft coolers they're still largely indistinguishable from Yeti and you simply don't have the money to throw around on sponsorships (see A&M, Houston Astros, etc) that Rtic has done in the past 18-24 months if you're not generating a lot of revenue.
Right now I'd say Rtic and the Seiders bros. are the ones who look real smart and not the folks from Coretec.
The Seiders bros. made themselves rich by selling out to Coretec and getting out at the most valuable point. Rtic has built up their reputation and is moving from merely being a budget choice to trying to generate their own brand loyalty and lifestyle brand too. Meanwhile Coretec has pulled back from the Yeti IPO.
