Pornholio. Sounds like an eccentric name, right? David Koenig, the 28-year-old founder and president of the Woodland Hills, CA -based company, completely agrees. "The reason I picked such a weird name was for people to think twice and remember us," he says; a fitting idea for a company whose stock-in-trade includes gay, black, amateur and voyeuristic adult content, as well as freak show, fat and granny material. "Our goal is to hit every niche," he emphasizes. "With our pricing schedule and the amount of products that we have, it makes it hard for Web masters to buy anybody else's product. We have so much material that somebody automatically has a mega-site when they purchase our package."
The two animated "mascots" for Pornholio (www.holio.net) are a key factor in publicizing the company's image. They seem like a parody of "Dr. Evil/Mini-Me" from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Besides the fact that the cartoon figures are memorable, Koenig says that the big guy/little guy element represents an important customer service credo: Pornholio serves not only the large adult Web masters, but they also cater to the smaller players.
Like many content providers, Pornholio sells all their products in packages. But instead of selling these packages at one price (which many smaller sites wouldn't be able to afford) they charge Web masters on a sliding scale based on the number of members they have. As of November of last year, they offered 30 products, and said they planned to add three new products every month. Their goal is to offer 100 products within 2-3 years. For start-up sites with zero members, Web masters pay $250 per month for ten products and $500 per month for all 30 products. Once they break the 200-member mark, the rate goes up to $1000 per month.
While many of Pornholio's competitors are focusing on providing live content, Koenig says Pornholio primarily deals with static and interactive content. "Half of our content is interactive; almost like CD-ROM games. This distinguishes us from the competition. Nobody [else] really has [as much] interactive adult content." Because Koenig came from a CD-ROM manufacturing background, this is what he enjoys working around. "I think the live stuff is kind of redundant. It's not really where I want to be. Our products are more for entertaining people and making the user come back." Because of the intricacies of producing and updating these products, Koenig says that Pornholio's production costs are close to $350,000 per month.
While Pornholio has been selling content for three years, their business really began to take off in 1999. Koening says their pricing schedule and variety of content is one reason why Web masters are buying their content, but the prime factor for their growth is due to a strategic sales and marketing campaign. At the January, 1999 ia2000, Pornholio hooked up with age verification service Age Check as their marketing and public relations partner. From that show on, the two companies have shared costs for glossy public relations booklets, large exhibiting booths, sponsorships and parties. "The two companies complement each other because they aren't competitors. Since starting this symbiotic relationship, Pornholio has grown tenfold," Koenig says. In January, they were servicing 68 Web masters. By May they had signed on over 150, and when we spoke with Koenig in November, they were serving over 600.
Web masters have access to 24-hour customer service - Koenig even lists his home number on every client invoice. While he groans at the thought of midnight calls, he wants to keep the business alive and growing with the same premise he had in the beginning: Treat every customer the same and offer quality service.
