Home Archive Leading brands express delight at being ETO Awards finalists

Leading brands express delight at being ETO Awards finalists

Voting is now open!

With just days remaining until voting closes, some of the industry’s leading names have been commenting on their nominations for the 2016 ETO Awards in association with Alterego Lingerie.

Diamond Products’ family of brands have received five nominations this year: Best New Product Range for King Cock; Best Fetish Products Brand for Fetish Fantasy Series; Best Pleasure Products Brand and Most Innovative Brand for Pipedream; and Best Luxury Brand for Jimmyjane.

“2016 has already been a very successful year for Pipedream, Jimmyjane and Sir Richard’s,” said Diamond Products chairman and CEO Nick Orlanindo. “We’ve worked hard to make our brands stand out among the crowd of choices in stores. We want to thank ETO for the nominations and our customers for making us the most decorated manufacturer in the industry.”

CalExotics has picked up three nominations this year: Best New Product Range for Kits, Best Fetish Products Brand for Scandal and Best Pleasure Products Brand. “Thank you to ETO and our customers for these nominations,” said Susan Colvin, founder and CEO of CalExotics. “My team puts its heart and soul into our products, we are thankful for this recognition.”

Jackie White, executive vice president of CalExotics, added: “Kits and Scandal are some of our most popular collections. Everything from the products to the packaging helps sell these items. I can’t wait to take home an ETO Award. Please make sure to vote for us!”

Doc Johnson earned nominations in the categories of Best Pleasure Products Brand and Most Innovative New Product. “We are honoured to be nominated in these particular categories because they are truly representative of Doc Johnson’s commitment to innovation and overall excellence,” said chief creative officer and COO Chad Braverman. “Thanks to our incredible team, Doc Johnson continues to manufacture outstanding products that are as inventive as they are functional.”

Of the nomination for Most Innovative New Product – Doc Johnson’s Mangina, a combination stroker and dildo – Doc Johnson’s director of product development Cheryl Hanslip said: “The product development team at Doc Johnson is very responsive to feedback and requests from our customers. We place a high value on creativity and inclusivity in crafting every new design. The entire team is extremely pleased to be recognised for creating a groundbreaking product like the Mangina that every individual or couple can enjoy.”

Kevco Wholesale has been nominated for the Best Lingerie Distributor, and is hoping to win the award for the fifth year running, plus Best Sales Team, and five of its brands have also picked up nominations: Seven ‘til Midnight and Baci are nominated in the Best Lingerie Range, Fever has two nominations in Best Playwear Brand and Best New Playwear Range, and Seven ‘til Midnight is also nominated in Best New Lingerie Range.

Kevin Wooldridge, managing director of Kevco Wholesale, said: “We are truly overwhelmed by all the nominations and it shows what we know, that we have fantastic brands, excellent staff and the company ethos of being the best. We will be delighted if we are picking up awards.”

Shots Media has been nominated in three categories: Best Female Product, for Enoki by Vive; Best New Product Range, for Vive; and Best International Distributor. The company said in a statement: “We would like to thank everybody who has made the effort to nominate us in the pre-voting of these prestigious ETO Awards! Also a big “thank you” to the ETO organisation for hosting such a fantastic event, year after year!”

Rocks-Off is a finalist in five different categories this year, including Best New Male Product [Rise], Best New Couples Product [RO-Duet], Most Innovative New Product [Ruby Glow], Best Pleasure Products Brand, and Most Innovative Brand. Andrea Duffy, international sales manager at Rocks-Off, said: “We are very honoured. The impressive performance of Ruby Glow, Rise, and RO-Duet has been very rewarding for us so it’s fantastic to see them recognised in one of the most prestigious adult award ceremonies. We’d be very happy to win in any of these categories.”

With three nominations, Vitenza has made an impressive first time appearance at this year’s awards. The London based distributor is in contention for Best Consumable (VigRX), Best Sexual Wellbeing Brand (Viaman) and Best Consumable Brand (VigRX). Sam Ruddy, UK business manager for the wholesaler, said: “We never thought we would get shortlisted for the ETO Awards as the competition is always incredibly fierce, let alone pick up three nominations! I can’t even put into words what it means to be recognised in this way by the people within the trade. Thank you!”

The ETO Awards are now in their 12th year and they seek to recognise excellence in all areas of the supply chain, so there are categories for products, brands, distributors and retailers. There are also awards for sex writers, journalists, store managers, and sales teams, plus a further four awards that are decided by the ETO staff. To vote for your favourites visit www.erotictradeonly.com (registration required) but please don’t leave it too late: voting closes at 5:00pm GMT on Wednesday 25th of May.

The 2016 ETO Awards will be presented on Sunday June 12th at the Vox Conference Suite at Resorts World Birmingham, located on the NEC complex (where the 2016 ETO Show is also being staged). If you’d like to join us at the Awards Dinner, and be the first to learn who wins which trophy, individual tickets cost £95 each. You don’t have to be nominated for an award to attend the dinner and the price includes a pre-dinner drinks reception, three course dinner with wine, the awards ceremony itself and fab after party entertainment. Tables of eight or ten cost £720 and £900 respectively. Contact Jonathan Kirk on 07786 925080 or email [email protected] to reserve your tickets.