Eldorado’s Marketing Manager, Nathan Morimitsu, talks about the importance of attending tradeshows like ALTITUDE and ANME in the adult retail industry.
(NOTE: This story was written by Nathan Morimitsu and appears in the February 2025 issue of SE Magazine)
I’ve been in marketing or marketing adjacent for almost 30 years. I’ve seen trends come and go. I’ve seen people in multiple industries grasp at random straws, searching for the next great thing to promote their brand. I’ve seen online marketing turn from a novelty to a necessity. Throughout all of this, I’ve also seen so many people ignore the most fundamental part of marketing: making personal connections.
Can we make these connections through phone calls, Zoom meetings and emails? No, not really. We can get a basic idea about people from these remote contacts, but not even a global pandemic could change the value of meeting someone in the “real world.” Looking them in the eyes and shaking their hand is where tradeshows like ALTITUDE and ANME show their true value.
I know there are so many incredible Road Warriors in our industry, hitting a different city every week to show the latest and greatest in adult pleasure products to stores and distributors. But at a tradeshow you can meet so many more people in a much shorter period and make those all-important personal connections without enduring a TSA fondling between each meeting.
Then there are the after-hours dinners, drinks at the hotel bar and networking events related to the show. This is where friendships and partnerships are forged, ideas are spawned and innovation happens.
I’m going to meet with many of you reading this article at ALTITUDE or later in the year at ANME. We’ll have a brief half hour together, either in my booth, your booth or at a nearby table where we’ll get more work done than we could in 100 emails.
This is where friendships and partnerships are forged, ideas are spawned and innovation happens.
— Nathan Morimitsu
We will create new campaigns to grow your brands, and we’ll each gain a new understanding of each other and our visions. Then, after the show doors close for the day, we’ll meet up in the hotel bar and chat about any new ideas we’ve formed since we met earlier in the day. We’ll talk about how highlighting a new collection can also help an older collection sell. We’ll talk about the coolest new things we saw on the floor. And most importantly, we’ll talk.
This is why tradeshows are so important and why we, as an industry, must support them. These conversations don’t happen without a venue to have them in. Sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum, and without these shows, we are just shouting soundlessly into the void.
I’ve heard a lot of people questioning the value of shows, especially when calculating the ROI of exhibiting or attending one, and all I can say is this. Keep going, keep exhibiting and KEEP TALKING. We, as an industry, cannot afford to ignore anything that helps us forge bonds. This is why I love tradeshows. This is why tradeshows are important. This is why we need to keep them alive.
Nathan Morimitsu is the Marketing Manager at Eldorado Trading Company. His hobbies include fishkeeping, cooking, and helping families battling pediatric cancer. Nathan is always available to meet with industry representatives to discuss how marketing elevates brands, sales and the pleasure products industry as a whole. Email him at Nathan@Eldorado.net. For more information, please visit Eldorado.net.
