American Outdoors (AO) Coolers with Bennington logo - UPDATED!

Would you participate in the AO Cooler offer?


  • Total voters
    65

TomS

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I've been very impressed with the AO Coolers over the years and I know some of you are too. IMHO, they're sort of the "Bennington" of the outdoor soft cooler market, very much the best in class or close to it, with great customer service. http://www.aocoolers...cfm?category=22. Think Jeep rugged.

They have done many OEM marine versions with factory logo's, specifically for high end offshore boats, such as Sunsation, Eliminator, and others in the west coast crowd. When I participated on the Malibu Ski Boats discussion board, they supported some huge group buys, even creating a new model (Stow-N-Go) just to fit the extra low profile of the Malibu seats. http://www.aocoolers...cfm?category=15
Members were thrilled with the product and it's durability under harsh use, and subsequent buys were arranged.

They do have several stock versions available to fit the spaces on various Bennys, such as the coffee table cooler, behind the raised helm, inside the helm, among others. I plan to get the "Small Family Pack", with "deluxe" options, which includes 24 pack deluxe version for my coffee table, a 12 pack for short trips, and another 36 pack for behind the helm on long days. For example, the MSRP for this combo is $145 plus $10 each for the deluxe options and $25 for embroidery, so $190 for that package. Not cheap, but they'll definitely last much longer than any soft cooler you have now and perform better as well. Bottom line is I think a Bennington deserves coolers of this quality level.

One sticking point was that AO did not have permission to use the Bennington logo and there is also a setup charge for custom embroidery. Working with a very busy TB and a gracious Bennington Marketing Manager, I gained permission to use the logo as well as the custom embroidery file they provided to me, ONLY for purchasing by CB members for a limited time, coordinated with this vendor's offer. Bennington has their own agreements with promotional logo goods providers and we certainly don't want to interfere with that.

Here is the offer AO made to Club Bennington members:
- AO has agreed to a 15% discount on any combination of products, during a fixed period, as long as we reach 25 sales. The setup fee is waived for the bulk purchase.
- AO provides a discount code for member use only, which would be available through me via PM, not to the public.
- All purchases must be made during a 2 week period, after which they would produce the entire lot, and ship directly to you once the entire lot order is produced and filled. Ordering with the discount code and logo would then be closed.
- All payments would be directly through the AO commerce site, so it is a transaction between you and them, not involving CB here in any way.

The purpose of this thread is simply to gauge interest to see if we could generate enough orders to meet the discount tier. If we decide to move forward I would create another thread for that activity. If not, I'll just go on with my original order for my personal use.

Please just vote YES or NO for your interest, assuming we could do this for the early August time frame. It would be helpful to know what products you're considering for a quick look at the volume, in case we have big buyers, but come under the limit for individual orders.

I'll be first, so here is the format, just copy and paste what you think you'd want:

Products: (1) Small Family Pack, deluxe versions, charcoal color, silver Bennington logo

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**** UPDATED BELOW WITH ORDERING INFO 9/27/13 ****

OK friends, it's taken a long time, but the AO Coolers group buy is finally ON! To order, select the items you wish to purchase on the AO Coolers site. 

To add a Logo (+$9.95 per item):

Enter "Bennington Logo" in the "Embroidery Text" box along with the colors.

Note the logo image is only 3.75" wide by 0.8" tall, but it should be a nice touch on the coolers.



 

To add a Boat Name (+$9.95 per item):

Enter "Please add boat name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" in the Additional comments: section on the "Order Options" page at checkout.

For 15% discount:

Enter the discount code "bennclub" in the Coupon or Gift Certificate:   box at checkout, click "recalculate", and it will show your 15% discount for the total order.

As I understand it, they will WAIT until the enrollment period is over to ensure sufficient volume, then run the entire lot at once. All transactions will take place directly between you and AO Coolers, as neither Bennington or I have any involvement other than facilitating this.

Please do PM me when you have placed your order so I can keep track of progress towards our target of 25. I don't need to know any specifics, just that your order is in.

If you have any questions contact AO Coolers directly via email info@aocoolers.com or phone (951)-582-9758 and they will be glad to help you.

Tom
 
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Would love to but I just purchased 2 more last month! They are fantastic!!!!
 
Thanks for putting this together, I'm not in the market but I wanted to say thank you for going threw the trouble of getting this together. Hopefully others will follow your idea and come up with some more group buy options.
 
I have a question, on the embroidery is it just going to be the logo? Or is it going to be the logo and Bennington? What I am wondering is if the name Bennington is part of the logo or not, if it is can we ad our boat's name plus the logo with Bennington? Am I clear as mud or do you understand what I am asking?
 
I have a question, on the embroidery is it just going to be the logo? Or is it going to be the logo and Bennington? What I am wondering is if the name Bennington is part of the logo or not, if it is can we ad our boat's name plus the logo with Bennington? Am I clear as mud or do you understand what I am asking?
Good questions. I need to confirm it, but I believe the embroidery file we obtained is the swoosh logo and the word "Bennington" in their custom font. The boat name might have to be in a "standard" font as an add on. I'll gather the whole list of questions at once and get them to AO.
 
Good questions. I need to confirm it, but I believe the embroidery file we obtained is the swoosh logo and the word "Bennington" in their custom font. The boat name might have to be in a "standard" font as an add on. I'll gather the whole list of questions at once and get them to AO.
Great. Thanks for your work on this. I love the soft side cooler idea but have never found one that does not leak. I think I would be interested in the "small family pack" also.
 
Here is an image of the logo file they sent me. They display as 2 colors - red, blue, but I think the colors can be set to whatever you want.

 
Heck yes. Small family pack, deluxe. Boat name if option.

Thanks for your efforts.
 
Here is an image of the logo file they sent me. They display as 2 colors - red, blue, but I think the colors can be set to whatever you want.
Just a note that this logo image is 3.75" wide by 0.8" tall, so not veryl big. They could make it 10% bigger, otherwise I have to go back to Bennington and request another one. He suggested 5" max anyway, so perhaps this one is fine.

AO said the logo would be $9.95 each and a boat name could be added for an additional $9.95 each.
 
Tom, yes i am interested, but do not really need more than 1 24 or 36 can cooler, i just wanted to be sure that single coolers where an option as opposed to the family pack.
 
Yes any quantity applies so singles are fine. I should have made that clearer.
 
We're only up to 8 so far. Any more interest to make something happen?
 
I'll decide in the event we reach the # of people. Likely the 48 pack.
 
Thanks guys!
 
Tom, appreciate your efforts and it is nice but with a cabin on the lake we are not all day boaters and our Bennington soft cooler does the job fine.
 
Products: (1) 24 pack, deluxe version, silver Bennington logo
 
I finally got to use my 24 pack deluxe AO cooler this past week that I bought about a month ago. I LOVE it!!!! I cannot believe how well it keeps ice...even in VERY warm temps/humidity. The sucker simply does not leak either. I used it on a 5 day trip I took up to northern Michigan with my Bennington. LOVE it and my friends were also all impressed by it. That specific size is perfect to hold everything for a full day on the lake for my wife and I.
 
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