Eyal Feldman has no qualms about stripping down for a good cause. It never stopped him at his former job working with clothing company Nasty Pig, Inc., and it certainly isn't stopping him now with his own Boy Butter Lubes.
"When I was working for Nasty Pig, we would do trade shows and I would wear next to nothing. I was 22, running around in Speedos and sneakers, having the best time," he says. The trend continues. "I did the International Mr. Leather marketplace, where I was like the Costco lady snaring people with my new formula."
It doesn't hurt that the young, athletic, handsome owner is also the face and spokesperson for the company. The concept is simple, and the marketing is pure genius. Feldman first got the idea while thinking out loud. "I said in passing, 'Someone should come out with a product called Boy Butter. It's a great name.'"
But it wasn't until a year later while studying in Barcelona that it actually dawned on him that he could be that person. When the realization came, Feldman acted instantly.
"I booked a flight to New York and gave myself two weeks to do the project," he recalls. "I was going to start a company, incorporate, find a designer, get a logo, find a manufacturer and find the lube itself. I literally taught myself in that time what I needed to do in order to make the product."
He decided that a 16-ounce "butter" tub was the way to go, and the simple yet clever logo and design still stand as one of the most memorable packaging jobs in the market. "The packaging is so harmless-looking that it's humorous," Feldman says.
"The name is so catchy, and it's a euphemism for cum, so there's so many levels of Boy Butter. You can think of it as food, you can think of it as totally nasty, totally sweet. People love really nasty, sexual things disguised as wholesome products. This is the thing I love about Americans. They just love the double entendre."
As for the actual lube, Feldman started with Mr S in San Francisco, private-labeling their own Shaft lubricant, giving them empty tubs and piggybacking on their infrastructure.
"I would hustle my ass around New York or wherever, call all over the globe and get my product in wherever I could. By the end of 2003, I was in three continents," he says. "I thought it was cute. I really believed in it, and I thought it would really spread easy... no pun intended."
But after two years, Feldman decided the product needed more attention. "This was a product that I thought was absolutely amazing... it was an oil-based product, but it came off with water. And most oil-based products on the market were messy. I thought that was my biggest selling point."
He broke away and found a laboratory that produced a formula he was even more pleased with. He convinced his dad to invest in the company in April 2005 and started to offer smaller sizes. Then Feldman decided to extend the line. "Boy Butter is gender specific, gay-oriented, and it's not condom safe. So I had these three things that were basically a hurdle."
He went back to his lab and asked them to make a water based product. "They showed me a sample that looked like a cream. I said, 'I can't use this.' And they said, 'It is water based, and it is a cream, and there are no oils in it.' I was shocked at first, because I didn’t think that was possible."
But it was, and two new lines — using the same formula, but different packaging — were created, debuting at the AVN Adult Novelty Expo in July. You Won't Believe It's Not Boy Butter continued to show Feldman's cute and catchy marketing savvy, while the Lucky brand of lubricants opened up a new market. "It was an amazing lubricant that was the first cream that is latex safe and vaginally safe, which brings in women to a market that was almost always dominated by males."
Feldman is also testing a new product aimed at menopausal women, which would likely be under the Lucky line. He hopes that Lucky will open him up to more mainstream companies like Amazon.com and Walgreens. "I have big ideas for Lucky. I plan on taking this to everyplace that said no to me for Boy Butter," Feldman says laughing. "With a vengeance."
And if it requires him to strip down and run through drugstore aisles in nothing but a tight swimsuit and sandals, rest assured he'll do it.
"The people who use Boy Butter absolutely love it. A lot of people were buying it as gag gifts at first, and then the people who it was given to used it and actually kept re-buying it. The word of mouth has spread."
Again, no pun intended.
Contact Info: 818-888-6825; [email protected]; BoyButterLubes.com.
