Retailers got a chance to meet face to face with representatives of top adult manufacturers at the AEE seminar "Schmoozing with a Purpose: Studio/Retailer Roundtables."
And they did it not with the reps on stage taking questions from the audience, but actually sitting around tables with each other at the rear of the conference room.
Bob Christian and Peter Reynolds from Adam & Eve, Joy King from Wicked, Howard Levine from Vivid and Christian Mann from Metro got up close and fairly personal with about 30 retailers from all parts of the country. They were joined about midway through the period by Evil Angel’s John Stagliano, who had been unavoidably detained.
Each studio rep got to meet with one table of sellers for about 15 minutes. Then each got up and moved to the next table and a new set of retailers, in rotation for about an hour. The facilitator was iDEA’s Frank Lucca.
The result was a casual, free-flowing group give and take, with many insights and diversions. The reps gave brief histories of their studios and themselves, then got into such topics as Internet competition, new technologies and how movies are created.
The reps were not shy about hyping their home base. Adam & Eve’s Reynolds flashed a copy of their big new movie Lady Scarface. "I’m sorry," he said, "I’m here to sell."
Joy King spoke informatively on new technology when talking about Wicked’s first release in the Microsoft HD-DVD format, Camp Cuddly Pines Power Tool Massacre, the enormous technical assistance provided by Microsoft and, on the other hand, the problems they encountered in talks with Sony’s Blu-Ray.
Howard Levine told listeners the reason he has been with Vivid for 20 years is because "I believe in my product." He said the studio keeps moving in a direction "that will stay current," pointing to the new Vivid Alt line and the Vivid-distributed Club Jenna releases. In the face of competition from the Internet and from other stores, he stressed the importance of providing customers with a memorable shopping experience. "People like to shop, to go in to a store and give you their money. It’s a cultural thing with Americans, that tactile experience. Shopping is not going to go away."
But, he cautioned, "people are not going to tolerate certain things—like a seedy adult store or a store where you can’t find stuff." He recommended a well-lit store with a helpful staff. "If you’re in Arizona, stop in at the Fascination stores and look around."
One of the women retailers emphasized, "Your clerks have to know your customers," and added that paying them something more than the minimum wage always helps. Levine also recommended that owners actually spend some time in their stores and keep an eye on what’s going on.
Several participants were curious about how creative decisions get made. King said that all of Wicked’s creative staff is under contract, in-house, and revealed that Flashpoint, the Jenna Jameson fire-fighting vehicle, is the company’s all time top seller.
Other topics discussed were manufacturer-provided promotional materials, like video trailers for in-store use, the pervasive piracy problem, and new trends in DVD content.
Photo of Frank Lucca by Gia Jordan.
