East Coast Video Show Closes with Positive Reviews and News of A Possible Venue Change

The East Coast Video Show ended today with several hundred retailers and more consumers than previous years at the Atlantic City Convention Center making their final rounds of what many presented commented on as a focused event with larger floor space due to the presence of more that was great for conducting business.

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Carrie Dieterich, vice-president of marketing and industry relations for the VSDA spoke to AVN.com about attendance figures saying, "We are about even with last year as far as attendance and it looks like we may end up with having a slightly larger attendance total than last year." 

Dieterich said that due to the presence of production companies' booth, that the adult exhibitors' section was larger than last year and she added, "Many people took smaller booths this year but there are more of them." 

Rumors were flying around the show floor that this is the last year of the ECVS and Dieterich confirmed that the VSDA is exploring the idea of having the show in another city next year.

"I think we need to examine whether it would make more sense to hold the show in another city. Sometimes, if you go back to the same location without thinking about it, you might be missing an opportunity. Of course, we might be back here in Atlantic City but we are more open to looking into other locations," Dieterich stated. 

Orlando and Miami, Florida are being considered as alternate locations but whatever city hosts the show must be tolerant of adult material according to Dieterich. 

"We would not look at cities where the adult exhibitors would be hindered in representing their products. It's too important a part of the show," Dieterich said firmly. 

A walkthrough the mainstream section of the show showed this to be true with the majority of foot traffic being solidly on the adult side of the curtained partitions. 

Smash Pictures was one of the many adult production companies, including Bizarre Video, Caballero, LFP/VCA/Vivid (who shared an "umbrella booth") Private, Video Team and Wicked, who decided to invest in having their own booths in what has been in years past, primarily a distributors show. 

Sitting in what will be their full AVN Adult Entertainment Expo booth, Smash's national sales manager Stuart Wall spoke positively about the show. 

"We wanted to test out all the bugs of our booth and this is a great opportunity to meet our East coast distributors face to face. We have done a lot of sales and we have been promoting our parent company's [Horizon Media's Group's] upcoming open house and our upcoming projects. Retailers love us having a larger booth. We keep getting asked, 'Is this Vivid?'", Wall said with a laugh. 

Wicked had a smaller booth than the company normally has at events that had a back wall covered with company product.

"The show was actually a little busier than last year in general and the Girls have been going though the posters so it's easy to tell how many people have been coming through.  Having the booth has been exciting as it facilitates meeting the retailers on a one-on-one basis before we sent them over to a distributor to place their orders," Wicked's vice president of sales Joy King said.

VCA sales head Vince Miller was in the LFP-owned "umbrella booth" and praised the show as "productive".

IVD Operations Manager Andy Green reported a good show for the company overall. 

"It started slow yesterday but it got busier. There seem to be no side effects to it being a two day show instead of a three day show like last year. We actually have too many girls for the amount of signing space that we have so moving them around has been interesting," Green said. "Our sales crew here has been hopping." 

Williams Trading Company sales person Paul Ruf also spoke well of the show. 

"A lot of my New York customers are here and this show is just a great way to connect with all of the people we sell to," he said. 

Joey Wilson, general manager of Metro Studios, spent his time at the Metro East Distributors booth and was there to promote the company's new gonzo imprint, Fusxion.

"This has been a wonderful show and it has been a great way to introduce Fusxion and create a buzz. It helps us keep our eyes forward to January," he said. 

Tera Patrick, like almost all of the female performers signing, had a steady line to see her, and was signing for distributor LGI Digital. She was actively promoting her website, www.officialterapatrick.com, promoting the upcoming release of her new production company, Teravision's first video  in December and celebrating her new marriage to metal performer/actor Evan Seinfeld. 

"I was actually surprised to see as many people as I have because I have heard from many people that this is a slow show. It hasn't been slow for me here….The dogs are barking but it's fun and it's all worth it," Patrick said. 

Wicked contract performer Jessica Drake was having a fun, but busy day as well.

"This is my first year at ECVS and it's fun because I have never done a show on this coast before. It's a great opportunity to be available to a completely different set of fans….These East Coast guys are gentlemen! They are really protective and they act like gentlemen and they open doors," Drake said.

New Machine vice president David Gross was in his company's small table –sized booth and was enjoying steady traffic. 

"The show has been very good and it's nice to see the stores and distributors directly and getting their input. The market is getting stronger and it's nice seeing how happy the end users are with the quality of today's products…..I like how it is laid out so that the booths are all easy to get to and how people aren't on top of each other," Gross said.

Booth manufacturer VGR Systems had a smaller booth than last year and was using it to display their new holographic video booths. 

"The first day was much better than the second day for us. Lots of looky-loos today, it seems," he said. 

Wicked, Metro and IMD are doing demo disks for the new booths to capitalize on the new technology. VGR shared their booth with sister leather toy company, Leathers By Dante. 

Rodney Jackson, a regional buyer for Virgin Megastores who is based out of New York City, said the layout of this year's show was a definite improvement over last year.

"The floor layout has wider aisles so it's easier to get around and talk to people….As a buyer, this has been a good show for me and putting a face to the people I talk to on the phone is great," Jackson said. 

Darene Serino, vice president of the New York-based Giggles World chain of adult stores, was pleased with the show as well.

"We have picked up some good information at this show that we will be using in our stores in the next couple of months….We have been doing a lot of business which is what this show is all about," Serino said. 

The VSDA hosted a seminar at the end of the day with LFP's Jimmy Flynt II, Wicked's Joy King and IVD/Pleasure's Cee Cee Peters along with adult retailer Steve Galperin of the Video Stars chain of stores, discussing topics such as product branding, POP support, marketing, and box cover art. 

For information on attending next year's ECVS, visit www.vsda.org.