OVO Lifestyle Toys has undergone impressive development this past year. From its transition to U.S.-based management and a concurrent, year-long development process resulting in an all-new Rechargeable Collection, to say the brand has been busy is an understatement. Thanks to an aggressive marketing push, the Rechargeable Collection is one of the most anticipated releases of the new year, equipping retailers with a line that speaks volumes using the power of design.
Following the complete revamp of its infrastructure and internal processes, OVO set to work to enhance its existing catalog of pleasure products to provide its target demographic with powerful stimulation housed in shapes unlike anything else on the market. The key categories remained served—rabbits, lay-ons, bullets, etc.—but were given sophisticated design twists with USB-rechargeable power to align with the signature aesthetic of the German-born manufacturer.
“Keeping in line with the objective of providing lifestyle toys for everyone, our designers looked at the existing market categories and realized there was opportunity to get creative within each proven segment,” OVO Global Account Manager Dana DiValli said. “Rabbits, lay-ons, straight vibes, mini-vibes, bullets and remote control categories each offer unique appeal and allowed for great deal of design flexibility, and it was fun—and artistically fulfilling—to think outside the box.”
The brand’s original series of battery-operated shapes—and soon their new rechargeable counterparts—provide retailers with a complete line of stylized pleasure products featuring a distinctly European look and feel. Using clean lines, stark white packaging and minimalistic accents, OVO exudes a sophisticated air that appeals to a universal shopper. While the branding and marketing certainly looks posh, the pricing and overall merchandising lacks the exclusionary sensibility so common with other luxury brands on the market.
“One of our biggest goals for the brand is to offer variety that welcomes and appeals to consumers of all kinds by utilizing striking and ergonomic design,” DiValli said. “Looking across our range of products, you’ll find that each shape is unique and more than a variation on a ‘theme.’ This diversity extends into the new rechargeable range, where even the items recognizable as rabbits, for example, ultimately stand alone in terms of design.”
For instance, OVO’s new E6 rechargeable, three-motor rabbit features a unique contour that allows it to be used as a dual-ended toy, exceptionally pleasurable for same-sex couples. Its “handle” is smooth and seamless with its own independent motor, which can be inserted and stimulate at the same time as its opposite end. And two of the brand-new remote control vibes feature ergonomic, almost sculptural shapes with vibrating remotes that can be enjoyed from across the room.
“But beyond the need to provide pleasing, sculptural shapes, we knew that the enclosed technology had to meet or exceed the overall brand standards,” DiValli said. “We went through countless hand samples and prototypes before we were able to combine stellar shapes with optimal performance. We worked with our international team to help make this happen, and while the global process was complicated at times, the end result was worth the effort by far.”
OVO’s catalog now boasts 42 SKUs with shapes in every category, each packaged following the brand’s new graphic-heavy marketing plan, which allows the products to be easily displayed and sold around the world. Maintaining its distinctly German look, OVO has eliminated as much copy as possible and in its place utilized icons and custom graphics to convey instructions, functions and other key information. This, too, was an intricate and involved process that depended on international effort.
“The decision to rely heavily on graphics to convey information and instructions is born from the obvious need to communicate universally,” DiValli said. “This was a necessary, though challenging, task but with help from our original German design team, we managed to make all enclosed instructions virtually free of text.”
These new guides went through extensive testing among focus groups that closely represented the various regions along OVO’s distribution channel to ensure that they were understandable and applicable to real-world use of the products. With tweaks and modifications, the OVO team soon had a series of instructional guides and corresponding packaging that was ready for global release, and the new Rechargeable Collection is officially on its way to store shelves around the world.
“OVO’s overall growth is impressive by anyone’s standards,” DiValli said. “Our new management team and loyal partners are equally thrilled with the brand’s increasing popularity. Our teams abroad and in the States are proud of the newest phase of OVO Lifestyle Toys and what we’ve accomplished with its brand development. The end result is a strategic combination of business savvy and artistic elegance that has put OVO Lifestyle Toys on an entirely new competitive level.”
Pictured: OVO's E6 vibrator.
This article originally ran in the Winter 2015 issue of Intimate magazine.
