This article originally ran in the June 2018 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see the digital edition.
It was a recent spring day when Bruce and Melody Murison sipped beverages next to the outdoor pool of a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The two were enjoying the quiet after hosting a party the night before to mark the 10-year anniversary of their company, Standard Innovation, and its flagship product, the We-Vibe.
The husband-and-wife team are well known in the industry these days, but it’s a far cry from where they started. When Bruce was laid off from his tech job at Nortel, he and Melody decided to make a drastic change. The couple packed up their kids, sold off some of their belongings and set out to travel across Australia, living out of tents and carrying what they could in backpacks.
“We learned a lot on that trip,” Melody said. “We realized we didn’t need ‘stuff.’ We knew we could get by and survive with essentials.”
“We had rented out the house and that was our income in those days,” Bruce added. “If everything fell apart we figured we could all live in our neighbor’s basement.”
In hindsight, it might not have been the most prudent decision, but the couple today agree the trip was what gave them the courage to follow their dreams.
As it turns out, that dream was to create a vibrator. But it wasn’t just any vibrator they wanted to create; they wanted something new and fresh … something that no one had ever seen before. It was then that the We-Vibe was born, years before there would ever be a finished product. The pair spent time visiting adult shops in the area of their Ottawa home, and Bruce even started asking women what they wanted in a vibrator before landing on the idea of creating something couples could use together.
It seems laughable now, but at the time there was no device that could be worn during lovemaking, so there was nothing to improve upon or re-invent. The small C-shaped vibrator, a first-of-its-kind creation, was developed after years of refinement. It took years of creating prototype after prototype, developing the right motors (the We-Vibe boasts two motors, one in each stem) and finding the right shape that would be comfortable for as many people as possible. Years of hits and misses, trials and tribulations finally led to the original We-Vibe.
“But it’s one thing to have a product,” Bruce said. “It’s another to get it out there.”
Above, We-Vibe's booth at the Altitude Intimates show. Below, Bruce and Melody Murison at the poolside party held during the show to mark We-Vibe's 10th anniversary. All photos by Hew Burney.
At the time Standard Innovation entered the pleasure products industry, small companies were a rarity, and small companies with only one product were even rarer. Add to that the fact distributors were not in the habit of working with unknown manufacturers or taking many chances on products that had never been seen before. Despite encountering those serious setbacks right out of the gate, the Murisons pressed on.
“We learned a lot about the distribution world and the retail world, as much and as early as we could,” Bruce said. “We phoned some of the bigger players in 2006 for their ideas on how to go about breaking in to the industry. At least a half a dozen or so took the time to talk with us and give us their view on the industry, where it was headed and what we needed to do. I think we were perceived as honest and non-threatening, and that helped us out a lot.”
From visiting retailers to explain the concept of the We-Vibe, to talking with distributors about carrying the product, to giving out samples to trade publications such as AVN for reviews, the Murisons hustled. They were ever aware of their financial status—at one point just after the launch the couple figured they needed to sell 10,000 units by March 2008 or they would be bankrupt. But the hard work paid off when We-Vibe, after several years, became an “overnight success”: the company sold 20,000 units in the first three months of 2008.
The product was immediately embraced by the industry, customers and sex educators.
TV celebrity and author Sue Johnson and Dr. Laura Berman (both of whom have developed their own lines of sex toys with industry-leading manufacturers) sang the We-Vibe’s praises, and the wunderkind vibrator even received a shout-out in a segment that aired on Oprah’s website. By the following year, the We-Vibe was even included in swag bags at the Academy Awards gifting suite.
In the decade that has passed, the Murisons and the company have seen significant changes: Bruce took a few years off from the day-to-day operations of Standard Innovation, returning as CEO in 2014. The company has grown from the Murisons’ basement to a Canadian-based enterprise that employs more than 40 people. But at its core, Standard Innovation still listens to its customers.
“Over the years, we’ve heard uses for the original We-Vibe that we never expected,” Murison said. That type of feedback, he added, helps the R&D department in its quest to create new products, as well as improve on the original.
“The We-Vibe is the hero SKU,” he said. “We definitely pay attention to that.”
The original We-Vibe has seen four incarnations of the original, as well as spin-offs in the Sync, Match and Unite. Joining those products are the Pivot and Verge, love rings that marked the manufacturer’s foray into products for men, as well as the Nova, Rave, Jive and others. These days, there are also kits that package together the most popular and best-selling items together, and there’s an Anniversary Collection that features the We-Vibe Sync and the Tango by We-Vibe together in a travel case.
But more products doesn’t always mean things are easier, Melody pointed out.
“It still takes time to create a new product, especially when you want to keep the quality at the same level,” she said. “We both come from a manufacturing background, so quality is one of the most important qualities we want in our products and their reputation. Our first product took years to develop, and we still take our time. It was four years before we released our second product. We want every product to increase the strength of our brand, which we believe we have done through the years.”
Bruce noted that continual innovation is a lot of work for any company, adding it’s not always been easy to create new products at the rate the pleasure products industry typically works, meaning one or two new items every six months to a year.
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“We strive for quality over quantity,” he said. “I think now, after 10 years, we have reached a happy zone.”
Part of that happy zone includes having a team the Murisons know they can rely on. Many of the employees have been with the company five, seven and even 10 years.
“We love having a company where people want to work there and want to stay there,” Bruce said. “If you have a business, then to make it … fun, is that the right word? Make it a place where everyone appreciates one another and the culture.”
Today, We-Vibe, its products and its employees are more than the Murisons could have every hoped or dreamed of.
“I think we alternate between pinching ourselves and asking, ‘What’s next?’” Bruce said.
Melody admitted she is still a bit in awe when she picks up a company catalog and can see everything she, Bruce and the company have accomplished in a decade.
“We had blind faith,” she said. “We didn’t spend a lot of time thinking, ‘What if it doesn’t work out?’ Bruce is the risk taker, and I am the balance, but we never really had a contingency plan. There was no real alternative to following the dream.”
As for the future? The two are hoping for at least another 10 years as successful as the first.
“There’s still no real contingency plan, other than maybe travel around Australia again,” Bruce said with a laugh.
Or, they joked, they could always stay in their neighbor’s basement.
For more, visit We-Vibe.com.
