Once in a while a product is created that will revolutionize the way people live. We can list a whole bunch of them here, but you probably know which technologies that have changed our lives. Although it hasn’t been unleashed onto the world yet, Revel Body’s Sonic Vibrator looks to revolutionize sexual health and sexual well being. Robin Elenga, the founder of Revel Body, talks to Orgasm.com’s Dave Kingsley to find out how the Sonic Vibrator and the technology it uses could change the adult novelties industry forever.

 

 

Dave Kingsley: How did you initially come up with the Sonic Vibrator as well as the company Revel Body? And also tell us a little bit about your vibration epiphany?

Robin Elenga: So basically in a previous life I was a consultant with a bunch of fortune 500 companies, and I did some work at Sonicare. I began to notice that there were a lot of consumers calling in to say that the Sonicare was a great vibrator and then I went out and started a couple of software companies.

 

I kept running into other kind of ex-Sonicare people. They all had these sort of these stories about the Sonicare, the vibrator. So I looked into it and it turns out the Sonicare ran at 241 hertz, which is a pretty fast speed. Then I went and I looked at the products that are on the market. I was really stunned when I realized that all the battery powered devices on the market, they all used the same class of motors. Rotary electric motor that spins with a weight that’s out of balance.

 

I was just stunned that in all hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of products on the market, they all used the same motor. I did some research and it turns out that you can [feel] up to about 350 hertz. So you can feel from 1 to 350 hertz, but, all the battery powered devices basically run 60 to 100, and then the plug-in devices, like the Hitachi Wand run at 60 hertz.

 

So I had this idea there might be this kind of sweet spot of vibration that’s either slower than existing devices are faster and kind of spinning at the range…but vibration is the core function of these things, and nobody’s really competing on vibration; there is a lot of lip service. A lot of people develop a new technology and then they try and find and application for it.

 

I kind of came at it from the other direction of, there’s an obvious, it’s this huge rapidly growing industry that’s very competitive, but people aren’t competing on vibration. Then I sort of started on a science project of trying to figure out that there is a better way to make vibration.

 

So for several years we looked at different technologies to make vibration, and we did some prototypes that ran below the current devices, and then some that ran much faster and tested them. With our very first test with very crude prototypes 100% of the testers preferred our devices over existing stuff.

 

 

DK:  Looking at the Sonic Vibrator, do you believe it to be revolutionary? Do you think it has the potential to be a game changer?

Robin: Yes, absolutely. It’s funny, because one of the problems that we’re facing is in the issue that if you go to any of our competitors’ websites, they all talk about having strong and quiet vibration. That’s really what I think consumers want, is strong and quiet vibration. But, they all really have the same motor inside. There sort of has been one innovation in the industry which is people kind of, instead of mounting them, the motor to the case like traditional vibrators do, people have been, kind of mounting the motor in the elastomer so the whole motor shakes, you get a little bit more power.

 

That sort of creates a problem for us. Every company in the industry talks about how they have quiet and strong vibration. We do, so if we come out and we say we’ve got quiet and strong vibration, then the message is just kind of beat it to death and nobody hears it. What we’ve been doing is there’s a really stunning moment when, if I go to somebody, an existing vibrator user, and I let them feel our vibration, then their [face opens] up and they say wow, that’s incredible.

 

I just posted a little TV video tape on Facebook of me doing that with a bunch of hardcore vibrator users. These are [typically] Hitachi Wand users. Their face lights up and they say wow. People don’t really understand vibration. You know it’s a function of frequency, amplitude and torque. You can talk about it, but when people feel it, then they get it.

 

One of our challenges is really conveying to people that our vibration is significantly different, and it is. It’s stunningly different. We’re trying to do some videos to kind of help people understand that.

 

 

DK:  You are also currently using Indiegogo for crowdfunding support. How are you positioning yourself in the marketplace in order to fulfill that $100,000 goal?

Robin: The Indiegogo campaign is a PR announcement for our company. We’re coming out of [self] mode and put out this message that we have better technology, better design, and kind of better branding. The thing we haven’t talked about so far is that most companies have this heavy porn metaphor, or overly sensualized metaphor. We’re going with much more of a wellness and healthy kind of branding place.

 

We wanted to get out early and kind of get that message out there. And a great way of doing it is to tell your story and kind of touch the market. We really did it as a way to sort of test the market and get our message out in advance of our launch later this spring.

 

 

DK:  We’ve been talking about some reactions for some test audiences that you kind of asked them to use it and you got their reactions and their feedback. However, what’s been the reaction from other companies out there?

Robin: It’s interesting, and I’m pretty much 100% on this. Every single one of the competitors that I’ve talked to and kind of shown my motor. Virtually every one of them wants to do an OEM deal. Some are moving faster than others, but they understand that this is the critical function of the vibrator, and they want the technology.

 

Part of our business model is marketing and branding our own product, but also working to license other brands to use our technology. The TrueSonic brand technology, sort of like the Intel inside in your computer. I think we’re going to see a lot of vibrators on the market that have TrueSonic inside.

 

 

DK:  What’s the reaction been from the media?

Robin: It’s interesting, last year I did two small press releases, which I think is how you found me. But it really went live wide, they were sort of designed for the sort of the Seattle angel investment community and two days after they went out, the Times UK ran ran a story on us. They really kind of exploded on us, then we just did our PR release [this round] in March 2013.

 

I think a lot of the media was kind of focused on what was going on down there [at the South by Southwest festival), so we didn't really get the pick up we were [interested in] getting. But I think we have interesting components to our story. First, number one, sex sells is very interesting. Every person and consumer out there in some way or another has a sexual being to themselves.

 

 

DK: You were a consultant to many fortune 500 companies. Can you tell how that helped you in your current role as founder and CEO of Revel Body.

Robin: I had about 30 consultants. We’d be invited into these fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft, Nike, Revlon, etc. Some of them had some operational issues, and so, I guess the one skill I developed in that was being able to sort of identify problems other people weren’t able to see, as well as develop solutions for them.

 

Sort of talking to a lot of people to figure out what was wrong and then working at the solutions, kind of the guy who figured out solutions to problem that other people didn’t see. I kind of developed a skill to listen and really think about these issues to try and figure out what needs to be done. That’s really helped out a lot on this project.

 

 

DK:  What’s your thoughts on now like leapfrogging to the kind of big time. What’s your thoughts on the international stage?

Robin: With this launch we’re going to start in North America. The product is designed and built to go around the world. It will be certified, it will have all of the certifications that are needed for Europe and it’s also the power supply that is ready to go for worldwide use. Basically we’re going to start in the US and then we’ll do another version which has the adapters and the languages to go into Europe and Asia. So we’re itching and ready to go worldwide as fast as we can.

 

 

DK:  And you believe in those markets, of course the United States is a huge market, but nothing to kind of sneeze at, both the European and Asian markets are huge. Is it something that you think they’re going to really appreciate your technology, especially in cultures like Japan that appreciate high technology?

 

Robin: Americans, Europeans, and Asians are all sexual in nature, all have these fundamental needs and desires that we share. There are some subtle differences in the level of quality products in these different markets, but we’re building an extremely high quality product which will do very well (I think) in Europe, a very kind of critical quality conscience consumers in places like Japan, because they’re going to appreciate that our device is much quieter, works much better, and is more reliable.

 

Our product, I think will just destroy anything else on the market whether the plug-in vibrator or the battery powered vibrator. Noise, reliability, and a much better sensation then anything [else] can get. I’m excited to launch in these other markets, and I’m very optimistic that they’re going to love it.

 

For more information on Revel Body and the Sonic Vibrator, please visit www.Revelbody.com