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 Tucked away in an unassuming business park in Valencia, California not far from the famed Six Flags amusement park are the colorful offices of Wet® International. Wet makes a number of very popular products including Inttimo™, Wet Flavored Lubricant, and Wet Platinum®, along with many others. Frank “The Tongue” Giovannia and Steel “Rocketman” Patton from SiliconSlave paid a visit to Wet in March, 2005 to bring you the story behind these excellent products. The vast majority of adult sex product review web sites do not go to the lengths we do at SiliconSlave to bring you this level of information on the companies behind the products themselves. Our representatives were met by Joe White, Marketing Director for Wet. Joe took time out of his busy day to answer some questions from The Tongue and Rocketman, as well as to provide a tour of the Wet manufacturing facilities. What emerged was a picture of an industry that this both highly creative and incredibly competitive, as you will see from the interview below. The lubricant industry is not as easy as it looks, and most consumers take for granted what goes into bringing a successful product to life. We hope you enjoy this interview. Rocketman: There are a lot of lubes out there. We’d like to know your perspective on what makes the Wet lubes special? Joe White: The brand name, the giving back to the community. There’s approximately forty to fifty lube manufacturers out there. It’s hard to get shelf space in these small adult stores. The name Wet… the name tells a story itself, in and of itself. The Tongue: It’s amazing you were able to get that name, that’s just astounding. Joe White: It’s a great name, and to be honest our owner has really made this product succeed. He was a one man show for years. Now it’s a company going through the growing pains, trying to get new channels of distribution. We’re having a harder time with the name in the mass market. That name is… it’s a tricky name, it’s a very tricky name. There’s a lot of competitors that get into the lubricant business. The profit margins are high, when you’re in the adult market product prices - they’re double the price. That’s why people come into the market, but if they don’t have the relationships developed, a good name, they’re going to fail. They may get in, but they’re not going to stay. Rocketman: You have to have the long term view. Joe White: The long term view and also I think the majority of our products are built with the finest ingredients, the highest level of silicone, and we’re constantly striving to improve the quality of the ingredients and the packaging. It actually makes a big difference too.  Rocketman: What makes Wet Platinum last so long and stay so slippery? Joe White: It’s the grade 5 silicone. Hence our slogan – guaranteed never sticky. But it mainly is the ingredient – grade 5, the highest grade silicone possible. The Tongue: Grade 5, hmmm…. Joe White: It’s a grade 5 silicone; it was a grade 4. It was made to compete with Eros, who is number one. We compete with them in the silicone market. Not necessarily in the other markets. In the water-based we’re way ahead of them. Rocketman: What is more popular with the consumers? The water based or the silicone? Joe White: Interesting question. The fastest growing product here is the silicone-based lube because it does last longer… because people are out there more for enjoyment. But what is the most popular lubricant? It’s still our original water-based lube. It’s FDA approved, it’s safe to use as a medical device. There is a higher proportion of women using water-based lubricants because of health concerns. Although more and more women when they try the silicone based, they’re hooked. Particularly open-minded women who would be visiting a web site like SiliconSlave. The Tongue: How valuable has it been to have the FDA approved designation? Joe White: We spent the money to get FDA approval. To be labeled not as a cosmetic but as a medical device, makes a big difference. Two of our lubricants, Original and Light are assessed as FDA approved and we’ve found the market responds very well to that! The Tongue: That’s a lot of money to get that kind of certification. So you found that to be a real draw then? Joe White: It’s a hook. It’s a hook especially when you talk to doctors. It’s a hook when you talk to people who are concerned that it’s just going to be a fad product, is it going to work? Yeah, it’s already been through the hoops with the Food and Drug Administration. Rocketman: Sometimes companies like Wet International get a lot of fan email. Can you tell us what some of the more creative uses for Wet products that you have come across? Joe White: Wrestling events. I’ve had three requests in the last month to sponsor or supply lubricant for female lube wresting events. The Tongue: (Laughs) Joe White: You want a request which I turned down? The Tongue: OK. Joe White: One woman wanted to put Wet in a gift basket for her elementary school’s auction, which I turned her down.  The Tongue: That’s just got bad news written all over it. Joe White: That’s just wrong! The Tongue: On many levels… (laughs) Joe White: I told her that on no uncertain terms. Rocketman: (Laughs) Joe White: We get emails literally three to four every day. Ones like, “Does Wet contain calories?” The Tongue: Oh geez…. Joe White: “Is it caloric?” Especially our flavored lubes. Rocketman: Soooo… it makes you wonder… just how much of it these people are consuming? (laughs) Joe White: Yes! The Tongue: I’m sure that concerns you a little bit! (laughs) Joe White: It’s actually a good question because we say “No Calories”, “Fat Free” and “No Carbs.” We say that out there, but again… The Tongue: (laughs) Joe White: We get a lot of requests to have product placement within video productions, constantly. And that’s non-stop. We get those requests on a daily basis. The Tongue: Wow! Joe White: People want our lubes to either be in the scene or they want product to use during the scene. Sometimes there are judgments that need to be made. The Tongue: Sure. Joe White: I can give you one that I turned down. “Yeah it’s a video, and we slipped the guy some GHB, and we did a hundred things to him, and when he came to he shot everybody to death.” The Tongue: Oh! Joe White: Our product is not going to be associated with… with that! The Tongue: The whole, “I’m going to shoot everybody and kill everybody type of movie.” Yeah. (laughs) Joe White: Right. And if they go to buy our stuff and we saw it, it would be a lawsuit. Because he came to us and I said, “Send me a sample of your videos,” and I’d be watching the videos and I’d be like… (Joe’s face turns into a mask of shock at this point)  The Tongue: I don’t think so. Joe White: No, I don’t think so. The Tongue: (laughs) Joe White: Usually people want us to sponsor their health fairs. A lot of college students from the Midwest call and say, “We’re starting up a gay/lesbian alliance …” The Tongue: And they call you? Wow! Joe White: Absolutely. They want free product because they’re not going to waltz into an adult book store because they may not be old enough to get in. They’re trying to promote safer sex. Those are not odd requests; they’re probably the most common. The Tongue: Gotcha. Joe White: We always request proof of the event, in general. If we’re going to give it to you for nothing, the least you can do is snap a picture. The Tongue: Yes, and send it back and let us know it actually got out there, that it’s not just stored in your garage. (laughs) Joe White: Correct. That would drive me crazy, it sitting in someone’s garage. Rocketman: A question we like to ask… is there one of the products in the line that’s one of your favorites, perhaps one that you personally had a hand in its development or there was some aspect of it that made it really stand out for you? Joe White: Yes. Our flavored lubricants. Our ten flavored lubricants to me are the most unique products on the market. While there are other flavored lubes on the market, our goal is to catch people with real tasting, eye-catching graphics. (Joe gestures to a wall of lubricant products behind him. Ed.) We’ve got ten flavors, the number one seller being Kiwi Strawberry and number two being Passion Fruit Punch. And my personal favorite, Seedless Watermelon.  The Tongue: Oh wow.
(laughs)Rocketman: That’s good that it’s seedless. Joe White: (laughs) The Tongue: (laughs) Joe White: Out of these ten, we’re constantly reviewing the flavors and continuously looking for ways to improve upon what we have. We’re launching these into the mainstream market, and that’s the coolest thing. Walgreens® and Rite-Aid just picked these up. The Tongue: Really?!!? How did you manage that? That’s amazing! Joe White: We have a very aggressive sixty-two year old guy out of Kentucky who is our Director of Pharmacy Sales, who said, “There’s a market here for flavored lubes.” Especially in the inner-city stores. However, they’re in all 4800 Walgreens stores, so those are not all inner-city stores. They’re doing phenomenal because if you look at the shelves out there, you’re not going to see flavored lubes in the mainstream market. This is where we have our biggest advantage over our competition – flavored lubes in the mainstream market. The Tongue: That is a real breakthrough for you guys. Joe White: If you look mainstream there are three players: there’s K-Y®, there’s Astroglide®, and then there’s us. Then there’s private label; Sav-On brand, Walgreens, the CVS/Pharmacy® brand. We’re in four of the top five chain drug stores in the country. Rocketman: Start to finish, how long does it take to develop and launch a new lubricant product from concept to shipping? Joe White: Minimum of nine months to about a year. Let me clarify – that would be for a brand new product, a brand new concept not like a flanker product like another flavor of lube. For those we already have the bottles, we already have the label technology, the concept is already out there. A product like that would take six months. Because you have to announce it to the retailers, you have to price it out, you have to play with the ingredients. The Tongue: That’s very interesting, a lot is involved there. Rocketman: Joe, thank you for your time. Joe White: Thank-you. |
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