Here’s the problem with copy cat culture that we know so well in today’s world.
“Authenticity & Creative Thinking are dying.
We live in a copy cat culture, which is fine.
But remember this:
Anybody can copy anybodies ideas, but what they can’t copy is the brain that generated the ideas & the sustained actions required to convert the ideas into reality.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
Why is YETI Coolers still in business?
The cooler industry is highly competitive and there are thousands of different cooler brands that all pretty much do the same thing, at significantly, notably lower price points.
Hell, there are a dozen cooler companies out there who have attempted to knock YETI off, by building and selling IDENTICAL coolers at as low as 50% off of YETI’s sticker price. Some of them even claim to work better the OG Yeti’s.
So if you can buy a cooler that looks like a YETI, that is cheaper than a YETI, and (arguably) performs better than a YETI, why is YETI still in business?
Of course you’re going to have the tire kickers who proudly exclaim at your local pool parties that “YETI’s are a rip off and I’d never buy that overpriced crap because I can get the same thing for cheaper.” And that’s fine. There are a lot of people out there who do that, but still, why hasn’t it put a dent in YETI’s business?
I’ll tell you why.
It’s because while stealing somebody’s idea and replicating it is one of the easiest things in the world to do, what’s damn near impossible to copy is the brains of innovators who harbor the skill of creative thinking that leads to sustained innovation.
YETI’s flagship product is a cooler, so naturally other cooler companies are going to copy (and try) to compete with them, but at their root YETI isn’t actually a cooler company.
It’s an innovative outdoor brand that has built a business model around the lifestyles of their ideal consumers.
They aren’t trying to cater to every Joe under the sun. That race is a (fast) race to the bottom.
Many companies are trying to compete with their Coolers, and 100% they can, but what they can’t compete with constantaly evolving aspect of the brand.
These other companies are bringing really really good, sharp knives to the fight. The problem (that they don’t know) is that it’s not actually a knife fight. It’s a gun fight. And that’s why they lose.
“Man, Ray must be a YETI fan boy!”
Nope, not at all actually.
I just value the concept of originality and authenticity because both are dying.
