The AVN Show, held Aug. 5-8 in Hollywood, Fla., offered compelling seminars and workshops for entrepreneurs of all stripes—content producers, online business leaders, toy manufacturers and retailers alike. Seminar topics were focused on new business models, distribution methods and maximizing revenue via new platforms. It was next-gen discussion for progressive pioneers.
Where the Toys Are
The seminars geared toward the novelty sector were well attended, with some at standing room only. The programming kicked off with “Romancing the Store,” which took a look at the ongoing trend of love boutiques that are evolving towards the “softer side” of sex by catering to women and couples. Moderated by AVN publisher and editor-in-chief Tony Lovett, the spirited discussion touched on everything from the “mainstream threat” to the importance of staff education and familiarity with both products and sexual health. The panel included some of the most influential professionals who are shaping the future of the retail market: Lisa Mazurek, buyer for high-end distributor Entrenue; Nikki Mier, Orlando store manager for Fairvilla; Coyote Days, buyer extraordinaire for Good Vibrations; Alicia Relles, North American sales and marketing manager of Je Joue; and Mark Franks, owner of the Castle Megastore chain that stretches from Arizona to Alaska.
“Design for Loving: Cutting-Edge Designers on the Next Generation of Pleasure Objects” boasted an all-star panel of some of the most innovative—and outspoken—creators of pleasure products working today. Ethan Imboden, founder and chairman of Jimmyjane, posed the question “Where does the transaction happen?” and answered it with “It’s the experience.” The ensuing conversation ranged from the esoteric to the existential, with njoy co-founder Greg DeLong musing that “toys don’t care who they’re used on.” Packaging as an extension of the product, cutting the fat in the design process, and agreement that form does indeed follow function were among the topics covered by the panel, which also included top-level designers Duncan Turner of Je Joue, Suki Dunham of Ohmibod and Eric Kalen, former LELO founder and designer, currently of Toyfriend.
Also a hit was the “Everything You Wanted To Know About Home Parties But Were Afraid To Ask” seminar with author and home party expert Ellen Nicolas, Autumn O’Bryan of CNV.com and Pamela Luu of For Your Pleasure home parties. The women fielded questions on everything from how to get into the home party business to what to charge for giving a party.
O’Bryan remarked that the home party industry is one of the fastest growing segments of the adult industry because so many people are looking to supplement their income and avoid opening a brick-and-mortar.
“It’s the sleeping giant,” she said.
Speaking of giants, the distribution experts at IVD/East Coast News/Xgen came together to paint “The Big Picture: The Nation’s Largest Distributor Breaks It All Down for You.” Frank Kay and his team—Andy Green, Brian Herbstman and Kim Sedergran—talked about their advanced ordering system and shared their expertise, which encompasses the DVD, novelty and lingerie markets.
Another panel geared to retailers was “Everything But the Toy,” wherein panelists Janet Hardy of Greenery Press, Jeff Bolanos of BeaMonstar, Shelly Sandau of Lion’s Den and Dean Elliott of Sliquid talked about products that can lead to new revenue streams.
Saturday’s novelty programs began with “Straight(s) to the Bank: Cashing In on the Hetero Male Market,” which focused on how straight men are using toys—and how companies are finally targeting this vast market. John Richardson of High Island Health pointed out that the Aneros prostate massager was originally designed for urologists before it found its place as a pleasure product, which sparked further discussion about the continuing quandary some straight males face when dealing with anal play and questioning their orientation. Once again, Greg DeLong of njoy seemed to sum it all up with four words: “The orifice doesn’t care.” Richardson and DeLong were joined by Robert “The Legacy” Warren, Sarah Tomchesson of Pleasure Chest, Mark Franks of Castle Megastore, and Shaye Saldana of Liberator, which markets the revolutionary Tenga products in the U.S.
Saturday afternoon’s panel “The Elephant in the Room: Manufacturers, Distributors, Retailers” was a hot topic, with plenty of participation from audience members as well as panelists. Nikki Mier of Fairvilla, Dan Gasper of Je Joue, Farley Cahen of Digital Playground Novelties, Brian Herbstman of East Coast News and Shaye Saldana of Liberator took turns fielding questions and hashing out the current climate where manufacturers sometimes feel they can’t get product information to retailers via their distributors, and retailers sometimes feel their feedback isn’t given to manufacturers.
In some cases, Herbstman pointed out, distributors are relying on manufacturers to create a buzz in the public about their products, as well as offering training sessions to retailers to allow for product demonstrations and other stocking and selling techniques.
The novelty seminar series closed, appropriately enough, with “Future Shock: What’s In Store for the Pleasure Product Industry?” The prescient panelists were all distinguished experts from the most successful—and trendsetting—companies in the pleasure product industry: Mark Franks of Castle Megastore; Larry Garland of Eldorado Trading; Bob Christian, cornerstone of Adam & Eve’s motion picture and retail divisions; and Jackie Strano, chief operating officer of Good Vibrations. Strano’s comment that “Good Vibrations’ brand is customer service” struck a note of agreement with all the panelists, who agreed that in the all-but-inevitable battle with mainstream stories, it will be customer service that separates the successful boutiques from the likes of big box stores and drug chains. Also in consensus was the prospect that the future looks very bright for the pleasure product industry and will continue to do so until someone figures out how to download a vibrator over the internet.
Legal Counsel
Four seminars were devoted to legal subjects. One was a presentation more than a seminar, by Evil Angel’s John Stagliano and his exceptional team of lawyers—Paul Cambria, H. Louis Sirkin and Allan Gelbard. (For a longer report, click here.) Those attorneys joined compatriots Luke Lirot, Larry Walters and J.D. Obenberger for a legal overview seminar that covered a wide range of topics. Obenberger and Walters participated with D. Gill Sperlein and Marc Randazza on a panel about essential knowledge for retailers, and then Sperlein and Randazza, along with Fleshlight counsel Brian Chase, provided their expertise for a panel titled “Ripped Off! Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Thievery.”
Riches in Content Niches
Several content-focused seminars offered value to attendees, got their gears turning and sparked new ideas and strategies. For content producers, the show’s tagline—“It’s not just a show, it’s an experience!”—rang harmoniously true.
“The Broadcast Boom: Adult Content, Mainstream Venue” proved to be an intriguing panel. Composed of industry leaders Gary Garfinkel (Showtime), Michael Klein (Hustler), Mike Spierer (Playboy TV) and Marc Bruder (CED) the panel addressed all forms of content licensing, and specifically, broadcast and satellite operations.
With DVD sales taking a hit, content licensing both domestic and international, represents an important sector to exploit. Garfinkel spoke about his network’s decision to broadcast the AVN Awards; Spierer talked about Playboy’s balance of licensed content and original programming; Klein waxed about content restrictions in various territories; and Bruder spoke about his role as the middleman, brokering deals on behalf of content-producer clients with networks and satellite operators.
Another compelling seminar kicked off when 3D pioneers gathered to discuss “3D: Fad or Future?” Panelists J. Lalls (Funky Monkey Movies), Axel Braun (This Ain’t Avatar XXX 3D), Daniel 3D and Jack Kona (Rebel Base Studios), Dominic Ford (DominicFord.com) and Juan Vargas (Minka Studios) all agreed that 3D technology represents the new forefront for adult content production.
3D content is the shot in the arm the DVD market needs, Lalls said. All on the dais touted the format’s immersive experience as unparalleled. With Blu-ray players (needed to play polarized 3D content) and 3D TVs being adopted at a rapid pace, 3D adult content is poised to reign as the hot new thing in adult.
The panel on “Riches in Niches: Big Profits from Varied Genres” played to an engaged audience. Moderated by director, author and sex educator Tristan Taormino, the panel included Axel Braun, Joanna Angel (Burning Angel), Layla Ross (Stockroom.com), Wendy Williams (Hot Wendy Productions) and Jackie Strano (Good Vibrations).
Gathering content producers from such wide-ranging genres—transsexual to alt-porn—proved to foment a fertile discussion on staying true to your brand (and fans) by creating an authentic product.
Speaking of the future, Braun and Bruder joined up to speak on “It’s Alive! The New Frontier of Live Streaming Shoots” to share their experiences in filming and distributing live content.
Braun, who live streamed behind-the-scenes footage from his Batman XXX: A Porn Parody, exhibited great success, tallying 1,800 paid customers during each day of the broadcast’s two days.
Bruder had a decidedly different experience. Working on behalf of Wildlife Productions, Bruder brokered a deal for HotMovies to stream a full day of live streaming on Fuck My Wife, Please! 69. The broadcast was not as successful as Bruder would have liked and he’s currently revisiting the marketing and distribution strategy of live broadcasts.
Information Upload
While there may not be a way to pull a sex toy out off a cable or a wireless signal, there are many other adult products that can be downloaded—as The AVN Show’s technology seminars attest. One of the first tech-oriented panels covered the subject of cloud computing. It was moderated by Chris Lewitsky of MiKandi, and featured David Hassoun of RealEyes media, Randall Crockett of Limelight and Stan Fiskin of Envisionext. This panel was followed by a presentation by Jeff Gabriel of Sedo.com on domains.
Later that day, a forward-thinking panel on social media drew a standing-room-only crowd. Moderated by Brian Gross, president of the boutique PR firm BSG Public Relations, “Building a Powerful Brand Through Social Networks” provided the true inside tricks of the social media trade, the importance of social media in the marketing of one’s company, and just how social media’s growth affects the adult space. Tristan Taormino and Joanna Angel provided invaluable insight based on personal experience with Twitter, Facebook and Myspace, as well as key programs and tools that help with the expansion and growth of their companies’ personal websites. Pete Housley of Pornstar Tweet brought his expertise based on years in the business, and Peter Nilsson of Performance Public Relations added a newbie’s perspective to the value-packed discussion.
“People came to learn as much as they could about social media,” said Gross. “Certainly, this was one of the most important panels during The AVN Show, and we wanted to make sure everyone was entertained as well as educated on the realism and importance of social media.”
The Aug. 7 programming opened with an FSC-sponsored session, “Dot-XXX: A Broad-based Perspective From Industry Leaders.” The packed house watched a satiric movie on the controversial top-level domain and then listened to a panel composed of Joanna Angel, Hustler president Michael Klein, MiKandi’s Chris Lewitsky and FSC executive director Diane Duke, withWasteland’s Colin Rowntree moderating.
Following the dot-XXX came two internet-related seminars. “The Evolution of Adult Traffic Generation,” moderated by AVN’s Theo, featured a heavyweight panel that included Ero Advertising’s Judy Shalom, Charles Hentrich from Wildline!, Daniel Rand from Adult Ad World and Medium Pimpin’s Kevin Noonan. The panel was done freestyle to achieve a more interactive experience; the audience could question the panel and the moderator at any time. Topics covered included blog farms, tube networks, SEO and social media marketing. Additionally, the group discussed the status of piracy in the industry and how the average webmaster can compete against the major copyright infringers when it comes to traffic generation.
“Alternative Billing Strategies,” moderated by Colin Rowntree, featured David Adda from Global Acces, Rick Bennink from Exit Chat, Michael Sperber of Astral Financial Group and Vince Charlton of eMerchantPay—another very experienced and knowledgeable lineup.
A crowded, and distinguished, field—Allan Henning of DatingGold, Brad Estes of Video Secrets, Noel Biderman of Ashley Madison, Rudy Dallal of PinpointsX, Mark Prince of 2Much Media and Douglas Richter of Adult Webmaster Empire—assembled to tackle the topic of “Hot Sectors: The Ascendancy of Live Content and Dating.”
That day offered one of the most special workshops of the schedule: “Utherverse Builds a Virtual World in Real-Time,” put on by Utherverse president Zak Zarry and 3D Art lead Dallas Doan. They provided not only a very cool demo of how a world is built, but interspersed the presentation with a plethora of information about how to think about virtual worlds and also how to plan for one so that it meets your business and aesthetic needs.
“Living with Visa” was moderated by AVN’s Tom Hymes and featured Mitch Farber of Netbilling, CommerceGate’s Cathy Beardsley, Michael Sperber of Astral and attorney Larry Walters. The inclusion of an attorney was a rarity for a billing seminar, and provided a very welcome perspective. Interestingly, the make-up of the audience was also somewhat different. When queried, only one or two porn site owners identified themselves; same with people running affiliate programs. Most of the remaining 30 or so audience members identified themselves as working in the billing sector.
One of the last seminars of the show was “Mobile Strategies, Where’s the Money, Where;s the Traffic?” Also moderated by Colin Rowntree, it featured a phenomenal panel of industry leaders, including Hustler’s Michael Klein, Playboy’s Reena Patel, Private’s Jeff Dillon, Roy Salter from SexGoesMobile and Ronen Gabbay from PinPointsX.
AVN Show coverage by Tom Hymes, Steve Javors, Tony Lovett, Sherri L. Shaulis.
This article originally ran in the September issue of AVN.
