Before the partying comes the product. It’s commerce not coochie that attracts the adult trade from around the world to AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo. And on the first day of the 2007 show, the focus was all on business — meeting buyers, writing orders, networking — before the fans took over and made it all a bit more difficult to do.
For the first time, the B2B area downstairs in Hall G of the Sands Exposition Center had an adjoining section, the Business Suites. It’s an office-like warren of sizeable rooms for which some higher profile companies opted this year instead of booths on the main floor.
Admittance to the Business Suites is by appointment only, and that rule is enforced to a fault. Unlike the main floor or the nearby B2B section, dominated by novelty companies, silence prevails. Inside each suite seller and buyer are locked in intense, concentrated commerce.
One hour into the first day it was unclear what the results would be for companies that chose a suite over a booth, but for the most part they looked encouraging.
“I love it here,” said Zero Tolerance/Black Ice owner Greg Alves as he breezed into a meeting. “It’s too soon to tell, but so far so good.”
The “no bullshit” area, is how a New Sensations/Digital Sin staffer characterized it. Company owner Scott Taylor seconded that assessment: “No smiles,” he said, smiling. “I’ll know in a few days how it’s working out. It’s too early to tell, but we’ve got a full slate of meetings and appointments scheduled every day.”
Skye Blue, of Platinum Blue Productions, said she liked being in an area away from the crowds, but added, “It’s hard for people to get back here.” Some potential customers had already been turned away by stern security. Everyone seemed confident, though, that such wrinkles would be worked out.
Industry veteran Keith Gordon of Sunset Media, which handles Platinum Blue’s domestic DVD distribution, said he had been doing booths at the Expo for many years and that as the show grew the increased fan presence began to create problems.
“The buyers stopped coming to the booths because they couldn’t get in,” he said. He termed the business suites “a phenomenal idea.” The day had just started and he’d already had two half-hour meetings, two sales.
“For us it’s the best way to go,” said Sin City’s Mark Snyder. “The face to face business atmosphere is ideal for the guy who just wants to do business.”
A big negative of the floor, he said, is “the noise factor,” which he blamed on driving wholesale customers to distraction, if not away altogether. He acknowledged that booths raise consumer awareness and said that if Sin City still had contract girls, “then we have to be on the floor. I personally like both.”
Blue said she thought that ideally “it should be split up,” with an option to be on the main floor the second two days.
One company, Vouyer Media, did its own splitting up, with a business suite downstairs plus an elaborate tour bus serving as a fan mecca on the main floor.
Other companies doing business in the Business Suites are Nectar Entertainment, NorthStar, Penthouse Media and Samtin Releasing.
And back on the main floor business was proceeding as usual on this all-trade, no-fans day. In the early hours several booths seemed to be still under construction, with last-minute hammering and pasting. But by noon everyone seemed to be up and running.
Peter Reynolds, national sales manager of Adam & Eve and a longtime Expo veteran, said, “I’ve been meeting some great accounts,” adding that he noticed a marked increase in foreign buyers this year.
“We really need to be up here,” he said, adding that he values both fans and buyers. He sets up appointments in advance then sees them one by one in a private room at the rear of the booth.
He emphasized that the better business days are those for trade only. “The ability to do business is better when fans aren’t here. The buyers are a lot more irritated. It’s hard for them to move from booth to booth.
“But without fans, where would we be? That’s why we’re here.”
He noted that he has signed up four Internet companies for DVD releases through Adam & Eve under a new label, Web Flixxx.
Buyers, of course, are also fans, and they lined up to meet the stars at the ClubJenna and Vivid booths particularly.
Of companies new to the Expo this year, Jules Jordan Video had the most high-profile presence with their “Pornitentiary” set complete with guard tower and simulated barbed wire.
Some of those who once worked the front of the booth are now in the back.
Like former starlet Tiana Lynn, who was celebrating her first year as a strictly sales representative for Elegant Angel. “This is the first time I’m not in booty shorts and jumping on the counter,” she said. “We have meetings scheduled every half hour. Everybody’s been so pleasant, totally professional. It’s so nice meeting everybody face to face.”
Owner Patrick Collins seemed ecstatic about the performance of his Elegant Angel sales and creative staffs. “I’m happier now with the company than I’ve ever been,” he said.
Mark Kulkis of Kick Ass Pictures said the trade-only days were “great. It’s been a busy first day. Lots of new customers, too.”
He seemed proudest of a new area for the company, CampusCuties.com, which at the moment is Internet-only. The content features exclusive girls that nobody else has, “young, fresh, and they're shot in secret locations.” He does plan to roll over the content onto DVDs this year, following the successful Bang Bros. formula.
Evil Angel had had some booth problems earlier in the day involving a new set of banners, according to director of publicity Karen Stagliano. But by early afternoon everything was running smoothly, with starlet Sasha Grey in particular proving to be a potent fan magnet.
Stagliano said their booth has a private room for trade customers who desire it, but that they’ve never had a problem doing business and writing orders while starlets entertained their admirers.
She was really jazzed, she said, about the scheduled appearance in Saturday’s AVN Awards at Mandalay Bay of performers from her husband’s "Fashionistas" stage show. Five aerialists, she said, have been rehearsing the number for two months. “They’re so excited,” she enthused as she hurried off to greet new customers.
Photos by AVN photographers Gia Jordan, Hewman Being, GP and Rick Shameless.
