In 1974, Larry Garland set out in pursuit to lead Eldorado Trading customers to the “Lost City of Gold.” Now, more than 30 years later, the award-winning adult distributor has reaffirmed its commitment to leading retailers to success with a modern-day rebrand promising innovative marketing tools and support.
Eldorado kicked off 2013 with its new “Legend” corporate brand and a global marketing campaign that presented an updated logo and a new Eldorado icon. The company also rejuvenated its website, print advertising and social media channels.
The Eldorado team felt that as the company has grown, it was time to point out to our customers how we were going to help them find that gold. -Larry Garland, Owner of Eldorado
Adopting the purpose of a legend on a map, Eldorado’s rebrand symbolizes its promise to lead its customers to their destination.
“The Legend of Eldorado is the ‘Lost City of Gold’ that has fascinated explorers since the days of the Spanish conquistadors,” Garland said. “It has come to represent the pursuit of wealth and treasure. Eldorado provides its customers all the best in products, resources, and the strongest team to guide retailers in their own pursuit of success.”
Eldorado noted that the advertising campaign and rebranding initiative represents the most significant advertising and brand-recognition effort the company has undertaken since it was established more than 30 years ago.
“This change has been 30 years coming,” Garland said. “The Eldorado team felt that as the company has grown, it was time to point out to our customers how we were going to help them find that gold.”
Eldorado Trading began in a home basement originally working with Native American jewelry. The business transitioned into the smoke shop market, then into pleasure products and the adult industry.
Over the years Eldorado has become one of the top international distributors in the adult novelty business offering more than 14,000 best-selling SKUs throughout the world.
“Through time, Eldorado’s focus has not changed,” Garland said. “Our mission statement sums it all up: Eldorado Trading Company’s mission is to be a dynamic distribution leader, setting the standards of excellence in its markets. We have a list of guiding principles. First on that list is to partner with our customer, vendors and manufacturers – with the goal of success for all.”
At the heart of the new “Legend” campaign is Eldorado’s key differentiators — the expertise of its employees and its collection of educational resources.
“Eldorado uses the newest web technology to educate our customers, staff and partners on products,” Garland said. “We’ve also developed an immense collection of educational and sales tools in our Customer Resource Center, which launched last year. In addition, we’ve recognized the growing demand for video and built a YouTube channel, which hosts over 500 product videos.”
Eldorado’s YouTube archive includes videos featuring manufacturer reps, product demos, trade show presentations, and promotional clips and commercials. The videos are effective sales and marketing tools for adult stores, the company says, and can be used for training retail clerks and staff, a selling tool for online retailers, and as promotional resources on social media channels.
The Eldorado YouTube channel is updated regularly and customers are encouraged to subscribe in order to keep up with the latest video uploads from the distributor. With more than 215,000 channel views to date, many have already discovered and are taking advantage of the distributor’s free resource.
“In January we launched an online magazine, The Eldorado Icon, to help give our customers more training resources as well as our vendor partners a direct link to retailers,” Garland said. “Eldorado plans to boost its Twitter usage to communicate with customers who interact heavily with social media platforms. Knowing your product line and products provide our team with the ability to help all of our customers, whether it’s a new store or a well-established chain.”
The Eldorado Icon is a quarterly magazine published by the company’s marketing team and contains interviews, seasonal information, retailer how-tos and other regular features designed to help maximize retailer profits and product knowledge.
According to Brian Sofer, manager of emerging media and strategic partnerships, the goal of the magazine is to continue to educate customers by giving them as many effective resources as possible to succeed.
“Our customers should find the content useful, educational and entertaining, plus they’ll have worthwhile content they can easily distribute to their customers through their own social media channels,” Sofer said.
Eldorado founder and CEO Larry Garland agrees. He added, “The ‘Eldorado Icon’ is yet another arrow in the Eldorado resources quiver that distinguishes us from our competition and helps keep our customers well informed on the latest trends in the industry.”
Upcoming issues are slated for April, July and November.
“The Icon is a tool for training,” Garland said. “We strongly believe in education, for an educated sales person has a better chance of making the sale. It is a training tool for the retailer and their staff. It contains interviews, seasonal information, retailer how-to’s and other regular features designed to help maximize retailer profits and product knowledge.”
As a pleasure products distribution powerhouse, Eldorado continues to strengthen its relationships with retailers with a wide range of fulfillment services and an evergrowing inventory consisting of an unparalleled lingerie selection and innovative products. Within the first quarter alone, Eldorado has announced a slew of new additions, including several made available through exclusive partnerships.
Among the most notable partnerships is that with the makers of the Cascade self-lubricating vibrator. The company said that newly launched Cascade product is a true world’s first that features many unique qualities that complement the self-lubrication system, including intense multi-function vibrations, three styles, three colors, FDA approved water-based lubricant, and a USB input for convenient charging. LubePlay is a revolutionary new technology never before found in any adult product, according to Eldorado, that enables users of all Cascade products a simple fingertip control over an integrated self-lubrication system, vibration functions and high power settings.
Eldorado said its exclusive partnership is part of the company’s commitment to help its customers keep their competitive edge in the marketplace with unique, never before seen items.
“It’s a constant challenge to find the most unique, high quality products for our customers,” Garland said.
