Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The first Recon OOH campaign
Gay dating app Recon has launched its first ever out of house (OOH) campaign. An OOH campaign is one that consumers see when they’re away when they’re outside their home (i.e. in a public space).
The campaign consists of images of guys in leather, rubber and other fetish gear and features on phoneboxes in 11 central London sites. Recon was launched as a website 16 years ago, followed later by the launch of its app. In a statement to Gay Star Business, a spokesperson said it had approximately 175,000 active monthly users. It focuses on hooking up gay and bisexual men who have an interest in fetish wear.
Sandy Pianim, Marketing Manager for the UK-based Recon, said, ‘Our brand has always struggled to build awareness in the normal media outlets due to the content.
‘In the last year we’ve been around the world engaging with our members and other men into fetish. We’ve been lucky enough to photograph guys in LA, Chicago, Berlin, Rio, San Francisco and London which make up the basis of our new batch of images for promotions.
‘In a way the images are normalizing fetish. Fetish is a normal part of gay lifestyle and that’s why I wanted to bring it into OOH.’ The brand is inviting people to take a photo of themselves, wearing fetish gear, standing next to one of the adverts, and to post it on social media for a chance to win a limited period of premium membership.
The campaign follows a similar one launched by hook-up app Squirt, which has featured on phone booths, bus shelters and public transport. The Squirt campaign has prompted controversy and complaints. Promoting ‘Non-stop hook-ups’ and ‘Non-stop cruising’, and featuring topless male models, the adverts have been removed from bus shelters in Miami and subway trains in Toronto.
Complaints against the Squirt adverts were also lodged in the Netherlands, but in a recent ruling, the country’s Advertising Standards Board ruled them as acceptable. The adverts appear at major railway stations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht.
Pianim told Gay Star Business that Recon had thought carefully about what imagery to use to avoid causing offence.
‘We worked closely with ClearChannel to understand what we could and could not put in our ad. At the end of the day we just want to promote our brand with striking and stimulating imagery. There are ways and means to put across your brand without offending anyone.’
He went on to say that Recon had been wanting to do outdoor advertising for a while but had been repeatedly turned down by agencies that owned display space. He acknowledged that the Squirt campaign had helped him to re-open conversations.
‘We’ve wanted to do OOH for a couple of years now. It’s proven difficult to even talk to media outlets as they are instantly put off as soon as you mention ‘fetish’. It’s a little crazy… I was literally saying to people I want to give you money and work out how I can promote my brand and they always turned us away.
‘The Squirt ads definitely enabled me to go back and open the conversation about Recon advertising again.’
He said that subject to how the London campaign is received, the brand was considering expanding it to another site.
Ian Johnson, of LGBTI marketing agency Out Now Consulting, suggested that there may be more than one motive to placing the adverts in public spaces.
‘I think there are two tactics in play for such advertisers,’ he said. ‘Exposure and publicity. They may seek to garner some free publicity for their brand by hoping for a controversy.
‘Some of their users can be expected to be closeted men and there is some justification that placing these advertisements into general media space makes sense as one way for the products to become known to a non-gay identifying group of target customers.
‘There is of course a risk that some closeted men might be pushed further into the closet and deterred from visiting the sites if the domain names of the sites become part of any general media controversy.
‘But of course, that will not deter the many out gay men who may become aware of such sites as a result of this advertising – and any resulting publicity that might ensue following its placement.’
Fist Weekend
Wow, what an extended weekend I had! Lots of fun and lots of firsts.....
On Thursday, Mr P and I went to the bi-monthly VML Drill Night at 8x6. I had previously arranged to meet Tightrubber11 there to help cease his cravings for tight rubber bondage while he's been sequestered in Vancouver for work. We've known each other for a long time but never actually played together. I hauled over my sleepsack and some other gear to put him in.
We got there around 9pm and after a drink took TR11 to the back room where we designated a place we would objectify him. He went in the sleepsack, put on the gas mask hood, added the rope to cinch the sack, added a posture collar so he couldn't move his head, added padlocks to all the zippers so there was no way for anyone to get at him, and left him in there for the next 2.5 hours. He was very happy(!) and told me he was grateful for the experience. I monitored him most of the time and when I wanted to get away for a drink or a smoke I had guys that were happy to take my place. I loved his continual "yes sir" response to my questions to him about his comforts throughout the scene...a true appreciative rubber sub!
There was lots of action going on in the rooms; in particular there was one hot young top going from scene to scene and pretty much fucking every bottom he could find. At the end of the night, TR11 was ready to leave, when I had the opportunity to cruise Hot Young Top and he wanted to go into the back room. I was close behind; he fucked me to climax while Mr P watched; it was super hot and maintained my track record at the 8x6 Men's Nights! hahaha
We exchanged phone numbers with him - we've been in touch a few times over the past few days but haven't been able to re-connect; hopefully something will work out this week as I'd love to play with him again.
Friday night was the fist party I'd arranged; Wardog and I had been talking with CPFFucker about this for a week so everyone was getting pretty boned to get together for some assplay Friday night. Handsome and sexy CPFFucker came over around 8; we sat around and chatted for awhile until Wardog arrived. Mr P and I have been playing with HotBottom semi-regularly as I have talked about before, he also came over since he wanted to see us....he had originally planned to come but Mr P has been up-and-down with a bug all week so had wanted HotBottom to wait until Mr P and I had some private time to focus our attention on him, but he wanted to come over anyways and see what was going on, so in the end there were five hot men in the condo! How exciting! What could possibly happen next?
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| Me getting a chance in CPFFucker's hole |
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| All this hotness in one bed, holy shit! |
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| Wardog and CPFFucker in the sling |
Got home around 4am....very tired. Mr P and I slept in until 1pm or so. CPFFucker was supposed to come over for another session but we talked and realized that he had gotten home later this morning than I had so Sunday was definitely a recuperative day! As it turned out, Mr. P and I were invited to a friend's place to watch the Golden Globes, eat, and drink so we had a very entertaining evening with friends, Ricky Gervais, and drunk celebrities.
It was a drag back to work on Monday, but I had other plans for the afternoon. I have been talking with a very experienced fist top for years on Asspig and we never got an opportunity to meet up however today was the day. I actually booked Monday afternoon off for this; we met at 1pm and he came over to the condo. He wanted to top today which was fine with me: an advanced fister with collapsible hands, yes please!
We got into the first round at 2pm; for an hour he worked my hole like only a fist top with 30 years of experience could work it. It was amazing! The second round was another hour from 3-4pm which by that time I was pretty worn out and asked to stop. In the process of those two sessions, he had managed to get into me the deepest anyone has been yet....and created sensations and feelings I'd never felt before. I was pretty floored by the new territory and I'm still processing it today, however let's say that the hunger in my hole got pretty satiated by his advanced techniques. While he was getting mid-forearm in me, he was also double fisting me 'at the surface' again, so you can imagine I was pretty floored by the whole intense experience. He was very impressed with my performance and is pretty excited to do it again. I can't believe how well-behaved my ass was this weekend, however as fist top put it, "your hole talks to me and I only respond to what it is asking for." I responded with, "well I'm glad the two of you are having such a great conversation!"
We decided to do further sessions at the bathhouse as the Crisco mess in the condo was pretty extensive and took some time to clean up afterwards.
He took off just after 4pm; I had a couple hours to clean up and have a nap before pub trivia night. All I can say is, what a weekend, what an advancement in my training, and now that the hungers in my hole have subsided, I think I'm going to take the rest of the week off to rest and recover!
Uh oh....Hot Young Top is texting me again....
Monday, January 11, 2016
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Rubber Ball
So, the folks at Sin City are putting on a rubber-only Rubber Ball party at 8x6 on Saturday January 30....I'm pretty stoked for this. Not surprisingly, they've asked me to conjure up a demo/performance type of thing for this....I'm feverishly trying to think up something sexy, creative, and disturbing. Maybe a medical scene? Gimp control scene? Not sure what I should do, and I don't have a lot of time to think something up. Any thoughts?
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