XBIZ Premiere is pleased to present “Execs of 2016: The Year in Review” — a special showcase of the thoughts and strategies of 2016’s most influential and motivational leaders as they offer their take on the year’s top trends.
Each of the executives we spoke to is among the finalist nominees for the retail industry edition of the 2017 XBIZ Exec Awards.
This year, we upped the ante with what we call the Screaming O Treatment, a strategy that involves researching product categories in which we see opportunity for improvement and diversification regarding design, power and price point. -Justin Ross, The Screaming O
The following question about the year in review was asked to those running for the Chief Executive of the Year Award:
XBIZ: What strategies/developments drove your company’s success this year?
Dirk Bauer
Founder and Managing Director, Fun Factory
“Primarily, we did what we’ve done every year since 1996: design innovative, high-quality toys that our customers are excited to try. This year, among other exciting releases, we expanded our award-winning G5 line and introduced the one-of-a-kind Bi Stronic Fusion, a dual-action toy that thrusts and vibrates simultaneously. Our 20th anniversary year also brought big changes in how we do business: our year-long campaign brought together our global team across multiple departments to innovate beyond our products and inspire Fun Factory fans to find their fun. We also celebrated our anniversary by opening up our factory to show our customers the unique magic that happens in Bremen, Germany.”
Justin Ross
Founder and President, The Screaming O
“This year, we upped the ante with what we call the Screaming O Treatment, a strategy that involves researching product categories in which we see opportunity for improvement and diversification regarding design, power and price point. This allows us to develop fun and creative items made using body-safe materials at the most affordable price possible with the highest return for the supply chain. Making our customers a No. 1 priority has also been a core focus of the last year with one-on-one customer service, fast and efficient order fulfillment and custom marketing plans for retailers looking to boost sales while supporting a brand they and their shoppers trust. This approach to doing business in this competitive industry has helped propel the Screaming O brand within the U.S. and abroad while making doing business with us even more fun — and profitable!”
Larry Garland
Founder and CEO, Eldorado Trading Company
“Eldorado’s continued success can be(attributed) to our consistent focus on customers and helping them elevate their business with the value-added services we offer as a distributor. We pride ourselves on service excellence, speed of delivery, knowledgeable staff and sexual health education, to name a few. Eldorado remains committed to focusing on our customers’ wants and needs. We empower our employees to listen to the customer, bring forward their needs and assist in fulfilling these requests in a timely fashion. We strive to treat our customers as an equal partner so we can achieve mutual success. Additionally, our dedication to education has been a driving factor in our 2016 strategy. The importance of education will continue to drive us into 2017 with the launch of a certificate-based e-learning program. Finally, I am most proud of the wonderful and hard-working people on our team. We could not offer our customers and vendors these value-added services without the incredible talent that comprises Eldorado. These individuals are largely responsible for our continued success as a company.”
Brian Pellham
CEO, Kheper Games
“Our biggest strategic payoff and accolades from customers centers around the rich content of our products. We have invested in making certain that all of our releases the past several years are offering uniqueness in the adult games market. For example, our graphic designer, Jacob Brady, spent two months working on the graphics for our newest release, Sex Fortunes. That game is a sex position tarot cards deck with 79 sex position artistically designed to resemble a standard tarot card deck, but with each card offering a unique sex position. That’s not to say we don’t have simple items for the quick impulse buy, like scratch tickets and dice games, but any item of ours that offers questions, game cards, etc., is rich in content.”
Louis Friedman
CEO, One-Up Innovations
“We continue to develop innovative packaging that has fueled Liberator’s sales on a worldwide scale. From a design perspective, we set out to accomplish a sustainable evolution in consumer packaged goods. Here’s how. We vacuum package our Liberator Shapes into perfectly formed rectangular boxes 65 percent smaller than the original product size. This saves on corrugated, shipping, fuel and retail shelf space. We developed a clandestine package with product details and intimate positions discreetly hidden under a magnetic door. From a branding perspective, our creative art and photography imbues erotic luxury. Every decision was intended to generate excitement and celebrate the art of love in a constructive and fashionable way.”
Moe Levy
Owner and Founder, Holiday Products
“If I were to pick three things that have contributed to our success this year, they would be (1) we are always looking into the future by listening to consumer needs. It’s a simple but solid business principle that I’ve used year over year since I founded the company — and one that has continued to serve us well this year. (2) We expanded our sales and marketing team with the addition of two industry veterans: Pat Manginelli in sales and Janette Bilodeaux in marketing. We also added a new layer to our operations team with a director of purchasing: Veronica Stephens. Their voices and vast experience bring a new level of support that our incredible team provides to our customers. (3) The team’s razor-sharp focus on building our core business with effective sales and marketing programs plus the introduction of two new brands into the market place: Jelique and MOE Shave Products. And yes, the latter one’s a namesake that the team developed to celebrate my 80th birthday, as well as the 30-plus years of success of our top selling brand Coochy.”
Nick Orlandino
CEO, Pipedream Products
“This year, we saw the Diamond Products family of brands grow considerably. In my 25-plus years at Pipedream Products, we have transformed the company into the largest manufacturer in the adult business, with a robust offering. Pipedream continues to answer the market with products people want, selling over 1 million of our King Cock dildos this year. We also expanded Jimmyjane and Sir Richard’s offerings so that Diamond Products is now a one-stop shop for our customers that addresses multiple consumer needs. Offering innovative and unique products across multiple categories and price ranges has been and will continue to be our driver for success.”
Ruben Deitz
CEO and President, Shots America
“Our core values and strategies as a company are the main reason for our incredible success this year. (1) Always strive to be innovative and be unique. Do not be complacent, and always push towards excellence. (2) Sell superior quality products with great packaging at the best possible price and provide world-class customer service. (3) Work smart but still outwork everyone. (4) Continuous process improvement is in our core. (5) The ability of our company to respond to changes in markets quickly is crucial. (6) If in doubt, always do the right thing. (7) Always share your vision with your employees. Employees need to know in which direction the organization is heading. Vision, mission and strategy cannot be just fluffy words with a lots of management talk behind it. People need to feel connected to the vision, and managers need to be able to make the vision come alive for the employees. (7) Have efficient communication channels for transferring information.”
Susan Colvin
Founder and CEO, CalExotics
“Cultivating our brand image is our primary focus. One of the first steps began with our new logo. This change allows us to better connect with the end consumer. We’ve also made changes in every department within the company. Within our marketing department, we are launching a brand new website this year. The site features lifestyles images, is easy to navigate and combines all of our assets from Club CalExotics on one universal site. Within new product development, the focus is on creating consistent messaging with updated packaging and new, creative products. Within sales, the goal is to provide our customers with the highest level of service possible. This includes collateral, promotions and training.”
