Launching a company in the middle of a pandemic takes a clever business brain, unmatched perseverance, and a passion so strong that not even an international campaign of fear can snuff it out. Who better than a woman to lead the charge into the now wildly unpredictable future of sex toys?
Lisa Sananes has all the right stuff when it comes to kicking ass in the industry of pleasure. In July of 2020, just a few months after COVID-19 forever changed life as we know it, Sananes announced her co-founding role in Gisele International. Sananes, an industry veteran best known as the former sales director of Bijoux Indiscrets, joined forces with Julie Bonnet, a former sales manager at Je Joue and Bijoux Indiscrets, and Anne-Noëlle Bertel, an experienced asset manager.
Whether low-cost or premium, this is what people want to see: diversity, inclusion, freedom, personal empowerment and education.
Together, these three executives created Gisele International, a sexual wellness trade marketing agency that acts more like an in-house team than a detached consulting group. Sananes serves as company CEO and says her new career move empowers her to promote the good word of sexual health like never before.
Sananes thinks we’ve come a long way in representing women’s intimate wellness, but that focus is still needed where there’s room to grow, especially in two key niches, which Sananes highlights in her interview. From her home base in Barcelona, Sananes enlightens XBIZ with the curated expertise of a woman who knows her way around the ethical business of pleasure.
XBIZ: You’ve been in the industry for years and have worked for big-name manufacturers like Bijoux Indiscrets. What recently inspired you to team up with other industry professionals and start your own consulting company?
Lisa Sananes: As head of sales at Bijoux Indiscrets, I kept facing the same problems over and over again when entering new markets. How can we guarantee that the brand message reaches the retailer and the final customer, and actually speaks to them? How could the brand still offer this 360-degree approach, which includes sales strategy, training and marketing support, without a local [staff] force?
This problem feels even truer for the European market. There is fierce competition, a diversity of languages and cultures, different market stages and a unique, yet complex legal environment. And it is always more challenging for foreign brands, which are bringing something new to the market and for which training, education and communication are key components of their development.
When we started talking with my two partners, we realized that the three of us had very complementary profiles and expertise, which could definitely help some brands to overcome these obstacles. But more than anything, we were mainly driven by a common cause and concern: to put our expertise [into] service [through] self-empowerment, sexual pleasure democratization and intimate knowledge.
XBIZ: Do you feel like you can better serve the industry as a consultant? How can you leverage your talents even better than before as a co-founder of Gisele International?
Sananes: We don’t really consider ourselves as “consultants” and this is actually what we believe is our strength. We act together and on behalf of the brands we work with to offer the best sales and marketing service to our brands’ wholesale network. From regulatory to sales, trade marketing and PR, we provide direct support to our partnered brands, offering a go-to market solution that allows them to speak to their European audience in a more efficient way.
Sexual wellness is a big topic, and we have amazing brands now available, which offer specific solutions to improve one’s intimate life. So why limit it to one brand when we could create synergy with a curated selection of brands?
XBIZ: What kind of brands speak to your own ethics and standards as a pleasure products professional? Is there a particular type of sex toy or adult product company that you most enjoy helping to bring to the market?
Sananes: Both questions are totally related for us. As a company, we’ve decided to strictly represent brands that share our vision and ethics: sex-positive brands with body-safe products, promoting sexual pleasure, sexual wellness, self-love, inclusion and sexual education. Authentic brands, respectful, passionate and committed, that strive to make a real change. We are thrilled to see more and more brands defending those values!
XBIZ: In the opinion of your team at Gisele International, what does the future of the pleasure products space look like? What kind of companies, products, and marketing messages will dominate and draw consumers in?
Sananes: We are lucky to be in an industry that is actually growing, despite one of the most severe crises ever experienced, which highlights a mainstream trend. The latest partnerships with international celebrities Lily Allen, Dakota Johnson and Cara Delevingne are just another example of this evolution.
The more mainstream our audience becomes, the more we have to become mainstream. This simply means that everyone should be able to identify themselves with a brand’s values, mission and identity. Sex is for everyone. This is the message that most brands are adopting these days. Whether low-cost or premium, this is what people want to see: diversity, inclusion, freedom, personal empowerment and education.
Besides this universal movement, there are definitely some upcoming trends to note: technology-driven brands; providing new experiences and sensations to the public; sexual wellness products for men to improve their intimacy; gender-less toys reinforcing the inclusion message of the brands. There are plenty of development opportunities out there that brands are starting to explore — it’s super exciting!
XBIZ: Where do you believe we still have room to improve? What aspects of the pleasure product business or sexual health awareness are still lacking in how sex toy and adult product companies approach them?
Sananes: These past years have been mainly focusing on female pleasure, which came from a general observation that female pleasure was not only too often forgotten, but also taboo. The reasons for that are several: a lack of sexual education, a big issue with self-acceptance and self-love, prejudices on what sexual intercourse should include, should look like and sound like, a fear to discover, to feel, and to be judged by others.
While our industry is tackling this issue by adjusting the messages and by offering products that help in the self-discovery journey, male sexual wellness remains to be explored. Some brands have already started to address this, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Another category that I personally think will be key in the future of our industry regards elder people's sexual wellness and pleasure. I don’t want to grow old without any pleasure products adapted to my needs!
XBIZ: What new and exciting things are on the horizon, both for yourself and your team at Gisele International? Do you have anything you’d like to share with the pleasure industry to conclude?
Sananes: We are currently defining the next steps for Gisele International and it is as scary as it is exciting. No one knows what the future holds and while we have lots of (crazy) ideas, we need to assess them properly. But for sure, we would love to eventually bring onboard one more brand in 2021 and keep on broadening our expertise and range of services. We are extremely grateful for our industry and are highly motivated to play an even more active role in it.
Each month, industry news media organization XBIZ spotlights the career accomplishments and outstanding contributions of Women in Adult. WIA profiles offer an intimate look at the professional lives of the industry's most influential female executives.
