More sex please - we're British!" Exhibition
The
Kinsey Report famously documented the sexual predilections of America
in 1948. However, the subsequent “Little Kinsey” study on Brits in the
bedroom was suppressed until 50 years later.
Kenza Darley gauges how things have moved on.
The
organisers of this year’s Erotica Show tell us that over 86,000
visitors attended the show in Olympia at the end of November 2007 - up
at least 4,000 compared with 2006.Organisers
report that the show generated a higher footfall per day than the Ideal
Home Exhibition or the London Boat Show. The visitor count was a timely
way for the “world’s largest adult lifestyle show” to celebrate its
10th birthday. While the wares and performers were characteristically
outré, Erotica followed the traditional exhibition model and ran
numerous seminars over three days. Here, visitors were able to bone up
on the finer points of erotic film making with Petra Joy or appraise
the corporal punishment equipment on offer from Freak Clubwear.
The
entertainment had been scaled up to welcome Dita Von Teese to the stage
with her elegant burlesque striptease. She was joined by a stage show
that reflected a bigger budget with acrobats, a rock band, pole dancers
and pyrotechnics. In the new Club Land area, the Fantasy Boys and
Angels in Uniform indulged visitors with private dances
Most
exhibitions end with a party and Erotica enlisted the expertise of the
Torture Garden fetish club to create the Erotica Ball at London’s SeOne
where partygoers strutted their finest PVC, rubber and leather.
“It was a real carnival this year - the exhibitors brought the latest trends, designs and fashions to Olympia, and made Erotica much more than an exhibition,” says Richard Thompson, CEO, Erotica Show. “Dita headlined the stage show and right up to her last appearance on Sunday night we had a packed house. The new Club Land area went down a storm as did the VIP Red Room and the Elite tickets. It’s hard to comprehend but ten years ago 15,000 people attended Erotica’s first show. This year it is well over 80,000 and in that time the show has come to be recognised as setting the professional standards for the adult industry with an unrivalled mix of exhibitors, seminars, performers and, of course, visitors.”
Exhibitor feedback;
Hanky Panky Hampers
Angela Molloy, Director :
Cathy
Tutton (co-director) and I met during our Fine Art degree in Canterbury
when we came up with the initial idea for the company. Hanky Panky
Hampers is primarily a gift company that specialises in the concept of
pampering and indulgence to evoke sensual arousal, conveyed through our
vision of luxury and high quality.
At the heart of our
identity and products, is the deliberate concentration on the senses –
touch, taste, smell, sight and sound - as encapsulated by our Hanky
Panky Hamper, which retails at £99. The
products make
luxurious gifts for VIPs, large corporate events and hotels that
offer guests naughty weekends away, weddings and honeymoon suites.
We
launched our company at Erotica to bring awareness and our company
ethos to a large audience. The positive aspects of Erotica 2007 were
that we were able to meet a wide range of customers face-to-face and it
was very reassuring to hear positive feedback. The hamper concept was
well received and we plan to have a whole range of different hampers,
including a gay hamper and a hen hamper, in the near future. At
Erotica many companies approached us with business proposals for
bespoke packaging and corporate gifts and we feel that these contacts
will make 2008 a very diverse and fruitful year. The flexibility of our
products gives them wide market application. Products with a
sophisticated and tasteful image are particularly well received, with
women taking a more active interest in adult entertainment.
Hedonism Resorts - SuperClubs
Annabelle Marshall, UK & European Marketing Manager, SuperClubs Group:
Hedonism II and III are part of the SuperClubs group, the innovators of the all-inclusive, and based in Jamaica. The SuperClubs group has five brands of hotels, including the Hedonism resorts, aimed at different markets. The Hedonism brand is aimed at singles and couples who are on holiday to have fun.
Hedonism
Resorts have exhibited for eight years at Erotica and also participated
when the show went to Manchester. We tried the Erotique show in
Edinburgh one or twice but have not continued. As the European office,
we also participate in shows throughout Europe. There was a constant
flow of traffic at Erotica and the show was busy as always. We took
some bookings at the show and expect more to come in over the following
weeks.
We feel this is our target market, couples and singles of like-minded
people and, apart from bookings, we aim to build brand awareness.
ArtAmanti.com
Michael Sayers, Managing Director:
As
a first time participant at Erotica, ArtAmanti.com had expectations
prior to the show. Our main aim was to explore a different segment of
the market from our main focus of fine art collectors. We were
attracted by the high volume of visitors and the percentage which fell
into our socio-economic target group.
The
event itself was great fun (with no shortage of our staff volunteering
to help man our two stands!) and the selection of art works we
displayed looked stunning on the 10 metre wall. However, sales from our
gallery stand were slow at the event but follow on orders, generated by marketing flyers handed out at Erotica, have been steady The surprise success for us was the number of commissions Katie Sarra ("Heart" by Sarra pictured left),
one of the artists we represent, completed over the three days - 15 in
all, which far exceeded our expectations. Although we had taken some
prior bookings we were delighted with the number of people prepared to
book a sitting there and then at the show, especially since prices
started at £150.
The English Leather Rose Co
Louise Hugill - Crafter:
The business is internet-based and specialises in handmade leather roses. After selling leather roses at fetish fairs to test the market we created the website. Today the market is worldwide and includes the wedding market, novel interior design and fashion accessories.
We have exhibited at Erotica for the past three years and at SkinTwo Expo,
London Fetish Fair and the Birmingham Bizarre Bazaar. The leather roses created
a lot of interest. Visitors, at first, don't believe that they are made from
leather because they look so real. There is then a moment of realisation, followed by a lingering appreciation of the beauty of the product - smiling customers created a real buzz around our stand!
We
exhibited last year and found the resultant profit margin was healthy.
We like to keep a high profile in this area of the market and the
footfall through Erotica is significant. Although this is an internet
business, the product itself does benefit from being handled and seen
'in the flesh', so this is a very good opportunity to place the roses
under many noses!
We distributed 8,000 flyers promoting the website and gained significant
interest for weddings in the coming year. Since Erotica, the business has
been working to capacity with orders coming in at a steady rate. Other business leads include photoshoots for Vogue and Unforgettable Image.
The
product is ideal for post-event goodie bags and for corporates who
want individual leather roses to carry a branded label. For the
corporate hospitality sector the roses make very decorative
centrepieces for tables and the enormous variety of colours gives great
scope for theming around event spaces. They are hand-made items and
make a statement about the traditional values of original craft. The
three roses bound together with a black leather thong (pictured) were a big seller at Erotica at £49.95.
John Dietrich
John Dietrich-Lola Gallery:
I've been an exhibitor and contributing photographer at Erotica since 1998. Lola Gallery is the commercial channel which promotes and distributes photographic prints to collectors. Exhibiting at shows like Erotica is valuable in making the photography available to a wider audience.
No other show can compare with Erotica for its
celebration of sexual diversity of an erotic lifestyle. Other shows tend to be crude by comparison with their emphasis an explicit sexual imagery.
In
recent years Lola Gallery has exhibited upstairs on the gallery level
at Erotica away from the hurly burly of the main floor. This marketing
gamble has actually worked very well and gives us more time to spend
with collectors and serious buyers of art photography.
Subliminally,
the audience sees our work hanging around the hall in the form of huge
banners and on London's Underground, very often unaware
of who has created it. The Erotica Show gives visitors a rare chance to
meet the artist and buy prints directly from the source. (Pictured - Die Chaufferin, John Dietrich)
Erotica Gallery - click
RK