What have been the adult web's most innovative products and/or marketing devices?
 

I was talking about the "good ol' days" the other day with another industry old-timer, and we got on to the subject of marketing innovations - going all the way back to the first adult banners we ever encountered, the early days of "sponsor" programs, the first players in the live feed/chat market, etc.

What are some of the most innovative promotional campaigns, advertising techniques, marketing ploys, etc. that you have seen in this industry?

To get things started, here are a handful that sprang to mind when I probed my own memory. I don't know if the companies and individuals I name were the first to do the things listed - they may be simply the ones that I personally associate most closely with the innovation in question.

* The 'webmaster rewards' program - first I can recall was offered by ARS.

* Live feeds - the first compelling I did a 'test drive' of was for a gay paysite that I was helping to run back in '97; it was offered by a company called "Men of Steel," a venture that I believe was later rolled up into the giant known as VideoSecrets....

* Early TGPs - I don't think they called 'em TGPs back then, but the ones that stick out in my mind most from way back in the day are AdultBuffet, AL4A and (of course) The Hun

* The full page ad (FPA) - the first I remember seeing was for the old school paysite "The Lapis Lounge"... which would make it a marketing innovation of Bunky Rothschild, who later launched moved on to launching his own program (NicheBucks) and paysites (OlderWomen.com, Twinks.com, etc.)

So... who and what comes to mind for you?

The good ol' days aside, who are the 'modern' innovators - the people who have launched something truly innovative in recent months/years?

Cascading billing. Not sure if it was invented around the adult industy but I would bet yes...

Good one - and I'll bet you're right.

The "solo girl" website concept, that allows fan to get really interactive with the person they watch/jerkoff.

Having people sign up "free pic of the day" in their emails, and spamming them with offers as upsells.

"Pre-checked cross-sales"

Competitors promoting other companies as an affiliate to their program. Mainstream thinks "own the customer". Adult thinks "share the customer". if I don't have what they want, I'll send them to another place and still make money.

Pop-Up Hell



Fight the good, the bad, and the ugly!!

Hey Q....Here are 7 Innovative Evolutions of our Industry:

1. Massive Promo Payout Days - still happend today, but i don't think they are as effective as they use to be.

2. The AVS Model - much of the 'free' models come from AVS

3. Cross Sales - this was and still remains to be a significant piece of affiliate program business models.

4. Paying to Post - I thought this was a means for many to really build webmaster board awarness.

5. BYOT and BYOG - I thought building your own tours and galleries were innovative for its time, but seeing the customization factor being paramount, likely diminished the popularity.

6. Dialers - Back in the day, this was one of the only means to make money overseas.

7. Download Toolbars - Although this is now an ongoing challenge of FTC investigations. Some of the innovative ways to download these toolbards was an artform in itself.

Hits skimming by Xpics

serious I thought clicking on a picture and going somewhere else was the coolest back in 97 when I got my first PC and learned to turn it on. I remember comparing "Home pages" with this girl and mine was like a Flyer, hers had all kinds of blinkie things and when You clicked a picture it took you to a larger picture,when You clicked a word it changed pages.... i was so amazed, I thought she was the smartest person around. When I discovered the wonders of linking the words BACK - NEXT i thought i was a computer guru, now i had more than one page in my site......... i guess the simple things back than were pretty amazing.........

When I discovered AFF i was in heaven and in the bucks till '01...........

ah yes.. toolbars.. exploiting DRM.. having bunch of zombie machines to use for whatever purposes, like hijaacking affiliate codes to do a replace for their own.. the precursor to Zango

:1orglaugh


Fight the evil geniuses!

Fleshlights were pretty innovative too :winkwink:

alot of the VOD/PPV online technology

Good feeback so far - shifting gears a bit, which companies and/or individuals in the adult Internet industry do you think have been the most innovative over the years?

Most innovative ... ARS and TopBucks traditionally, and lately SilverCash is proving to be the leading early adopter...

RSS feeds

Geotargeted billing

True HD content

Teh splog... lol... where would we be without RSS and aggregators.

Heheh... well, I suppose I did ask for "innovative," which doesn't necessarily indicate benevolent innovations only :winkwink:

I also think essentially all of the technologies the industry uses to promote its sites/products are "dual-use," so to speak. Done correctly and with full knowledge/consent of the end user, there's nothing inherently "wrong" about toolbars; the problem is in the way they are deployed and utilized.... same can be said of 'tubes,' torrents, email, SEO, etc. etc. etc.