Photo above, Ultimate Fantasy Dolls booth at AVN Novelty Expo; photo by Rick Garcia
LAS VEGAS—Aside from the meet-and-greets with adult performers and the ongoing webcamming, guests at AVN Adult Entertainment Expo had a chance to learn about and purchase merchandise of interest to adult consumers at booths in all three showrooms on the show floor.
At the Joint, near the stage, Sportsheets set up a promo booth with samples of the company's products. "We have new packaging and a new logo," Marketing Director John Turi told AVN. "We're well known within the industry, and wanted to get our name back out there. It's been 50-50 between 'We love Sportsheets' and 'Who are you?' It's been interesting to have a conversation with people. That's what this is about." The new packaging features people using the product, with ethnically diverse models. "People are saying 'I've never seen this on a box.' We had a French-Canadian 'thruple'—three people, a white man, an older white woman, and a black woman—they went up to the packaging and said 'Look. This is us.' It's a random marketing decision we decided on and it worked out really well."
Bad Dragon, makers of stylized insertable toys, bookended the show with promo booths at the Joint and Artist Hall. Customer Service Rep Cindy told AVN that "It got off to a slow start, but it picked up. We're getting a lot of shock and awe, but a lot of acceptance. There were a lot of people who were unaware of us." Company reps handed out sealed goody bags with miniature samples, a catalogue, and personal care items including mints, hand sanitizer and a condom.
Photo above, Bad Dragon dildos; below, the Zalo booth. Photos by JFK/FUBARWebmasters.com
New high-end vibrator company Zalo also had a promo booth in the lobby of the Joint. The featured attraction was the Queen, a silicone two-motor USB-rechargeable G-spot vibrator modeled after Cleopatra, with a waist and a gold stylized asp with a Swarovski crystal eye, and an MSRP of $189. The booth was giving away 25 percent-off coupons for purchase on the company website. "We're getting a lot of good feedback for a higher-end toy company," Zalo rep Lisa said. "And we won an O Award for Best Female Sex Toy last night."
In Muse Hall, Pipedream Products (top) set up a meet-and-greet opportunity with the company's Ultimate Fantasy Dolls, standing on a red carpet runway for photo ops. Pipedream has a cam setup to take guest pictures and email them for the guest's social media use. "We want to give the fans an opportunity to interact with the Dolls," UltimateFantasyDolls.com Director Rob Phaneuf told AVN. "A lot of people have never even seen the Dolls before, let alone feel them, take a picture with them, share it on social media. They can meet the 'girls,' Kitty, Carmen and Bianca. After they get their picture taken they cam spin the wheel and get a free prize. We are also doing a contest: At the end on the show one lucky winner will win an Ultimate Fantasy Doll, a $2000 retail value. Second place is a $1000 shopping spree, third place wins a Fuck Me Silly Bubble Butt, which has a $500 retail price. This is a promo booth, we're not selling. People know the dolls but they've never met them. It's a chance to get reactions. They love it. They're surrounded by real porn stars, but they want a picture with our Fantasy Dolls. So far it's been great."
Farther into Muse Hall, Tenga reps wearing red aprons that say "Love Me Tenga" demonstrated the company's strokers on long clear acrylic rods. "We're selling two of our best-selling products," Global Marketing and PR head Tina Carter said. "The reaction is a mix of "Oh my gawd I know you guys' and 'What am I looking at?' There's a full range of people who night not even know that a masturbation item for men is even an option. It's fun to explain it to them and see the look of comprehension come on their face. It's like, 'Ohhhhhhhhhhhh,' and a whole world is opened up. It’s fun." The booth is selling the Original Vacuum Cup in two sizes. "It's a single-use disposable masturbation cup. It's pre-lubricated and ready to go. If you cover this hole with your finger and hold, it creates a vacuum suction. It's disposable, so you put the cap back on and that's it." They are available at $3 off list price at $5 for the smaller and $10 for the larger, "and if you buy four, we add one free."
The Wood Rocket booth at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo
In a corner of Artist Hall, Wood Rocket director Lee Roy Myers sold branded merchandise, with performers including Tabitha Sevens (Retired) and April O'Neil (Active) autographing. "We've got a bunch of Wood Rocket novelties right now: Enamel pins of sex toys, weed products and porn stuff," Myers said. "We have coloring books for adults, including one for Valentine's Day. We're doing keychains, we're doing shirts, we're doing anything that somebody wants."
Cousins Group had performers promoting and selling their Pornstar Signature Series. "They are rechargeable strokers," CEO Dennis DeSantis said. "Two built-in motors, eight functions, eight different speeds. USB rechargeable." Cousins group was also offering Coin Slots, double ended strokers that come in a metal tin, molded from performers including Allie Haze and Karma Rx. "It's crazy here," DeSantis told AVN. "We have 16 girls signing for us in two different shifts. They're selling pretty good. We want to make the fans happy, so we're giving a discount, and the girls get to promote and make a couple of bucks. It's working for everybody." Performer Darcie Dolce said, "I think it's really fun. It's my first toy. I sold all of them out the first day. People are really happy with them."
Hot Box Bikinis by Amber is making their first appearance at Adult Expo. "We just launched, and things are going well. We're getting a fantastic reaction," company owner Amber says. "We have different fabrics like vinyl and eye-catching things that pop like sequins and rhinestones. Fans are buying them for their favorite girls, and girls are buying them for themselves."
Thighbrush is "an apparel company for bearded men who like to eat pussy," according to "Chief Oral Officer" Ben Scheier. The Thighbrush booth offers hoodies, T-shirts, tank tops and caps, along with beard oil and broad tooth beard combs. "A little bit of everything," Scheier tells AVN. He describes the fan reaction as "great. We always get a lot of laughs. Sales have been great." Thighbrush appeals to "bearded guys and the women who love them. We cater t the bearded community: gun enthusiasts, the biker crowd, guys that work out and are bearded. And the women who love them."
SubSensuals is offering erotic body art jewelry. "I own the patent on these magnetic nipple clamps," company owner Helaine tells AVN. "I design and make every piece, Instead of being pierced, you can have the look without the permanence. Some people say 'You discriminate, because I'm already pierced.' I do piercing also. Any design that you like, I can change it to pierced. I don’t discriminate against anybody. People really like it. It's going well for us." The booth also offers floggers, glass insertables and wood paddles "for women, They're jewel toned, but they're made out of maple. They are wood, they will hurt like hell" she said with a smile. "It's going really well, we're really pleased with how it's turned out."
Motorbunny was promoting its new riding saddle vibrator by handing out light-up bunny ears. "It's the most powerful saddle vibrator on the market," Craig Mewbourne, Chief Marketing Officer, tells AVN. "it follows a classic tried-and-true configuration, with a powerful motor that both vibrates and rotates, with penetrating attachments of the rider so chooses. The Motorbunny Original retails for $899, and our new Motorbunny Buck is a brand-new unit, with a vibrator and a thruster, that's never been seen before. True to Motorbunny DNA, it goes all the way to 11."
The controller does, indeed, go up to 11. "It's part of the brand," Mewbourne said. "We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We manufacture dildos. If you can't have fun doing that, you should do something else."
Motorbunny also offers LINK technology, which enables the device to link wirelessly "to share control and consent. It's great for web performers, who can let their audience control their Motorbunny. The customer can download the app, and the performer can configure it to use the median values of a crowd, or just one user. It gives infinite possibilities for creativity: You can use ready-baked routines or make your own on a timeline. It gives you ultimate control."
Above, XR Brands' Moby on display at the Adam & Eve retail booth at the AVN Expo
"It's been a great show. People are happy to buy a lot of toys this year," Adam & Eve Director of Public Relations Katy Zvolerin observed, standing near a giant phallus at the company's booth in Artist Hall. " We have Moby here, he's about three feet tall, and about 55 pounds. He gets a lot of attention. We're selling toys. Definitely the toys. To couples, mostly. We're seeing a lot more couples.”
"We also have a contest for a franchise. We'll waive the franchise fee for the winner. We've had a lot of applicants so far. We do this every year and it's worked out well for us."
The AVN Adult Entertainment Expo presented by MyFreeCams ran Jan. 23-26 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. For information, click here.
