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The Coolest Cooler is the hottest thing on Kickstarter at the moment.
(Coolest Cooler)
UPDATE: As of Tuesday morning, July 15, the campaign raised $4.8 million.
UPDATE: As of Monday morning, July 14, the campaign raised $4.1 million.
UPDATE: As of Sunday morning, July 13, the campaign has raised nearly $3.7 million.
You say you're tired of plunging your bare hands into a case of half-melted ice cubes in search of a sandwich or a Drop Top Ale? Ryan Grepper is here for you. And three days into a white-hot Kickstarter campaign, it's clear that a world of customers is here for him.
Ryan Grepper's Coolest Cooler is soaring toward the stratosphere, in crowdfunding terms. He set out to raise $50,000 to support his tricked-out picnic cooler. As this is written, three days into the campaign, he's raised more than $1.4 million in pledges. And he has 50 days to go.
People are responding enthusiastically to the notion of a cooler that has a built-in blender, a USB port, interior lighting, a waterproof speaker, divided compartments, tie downs, a cutting board and an interior storage compartment for plates.
Oh, and it has a can opener, too.
"It solves a lot of needs," Grepper said in a brief phone interview Thursday. Plus, he noted, a lot of Kickstarter shoppers are drawn to good design.
This is actually the second time around for the Coolest Cooler. A version launched last winter fell short of its goal. Grepper said he and his supporters learned from the experience.
This cooler has more features, more distinctive design and, of course, it's launching in the heat of the summer, rather than the chill of winter.
This time, when he launched again, he was able to notify the backers of the first Coolest Cooler, who gave it a boost out of the gate.
According to Kicktraq.com, which analyzes crowdfunded projects, Coolest Cooler has a trendline a little north of $20 million. The Pebble e-Watch holds the Kickstarter record of $10.23 million pledged.
But, as Grepper notes, it's too early to make much of trends.
Can he meet the demand he's stirred up?
"I think so," he said. "I think we did the legwork beforehand."
But, he added, "if you've got to have a problem, it's a nice problem to have."
-- Mike Francis