Tickle Me Bits
Client: Tracy Skinner
Facebook: Ticklemebits
Tickle Me Bits is an adult toy that is designed to be used in fore play by both genders. It was developed by Tracy Skinner who wanted to develop a product that couples could share in the bedroom.
The Project
As with any project development, Tracy had the usual problems of finding out where to begin once she had come up with the initial idea for the toy. Her first port of call was to contact Innovate who helped her with creating the CAD drawings for the design and producing presentations that could be given to companies. At the same time, Innovate helped Tracy to apply for patent, something that gave her confidence to start looking at financing the project and building relationships with a manufacturer.
The Process
Tracy’s initial search for backers and manufacturers proved fruitless. That led her to contact Adult pleasure companies and network on social media sites such as LinkedIn. Building up potential contacts, she emailed them her presentation and details of the project and waited for them to reply.
When an investor did come on board, Tracy was able to find a manufacturer in China. She then had a prototype made up from the CAD drawings we’d helped develop at Innovate. The next step was to take her idea to the Birmingham EOT trade show. The advantage of this was that she got in front of people in the adult industry and gained some valuable advice and insight that led to her making some changes to the design of the Tickle Me Bits.
A trip to the Netherlands to visit Scala Playhouse to get some more advice, including what to include in the packaging and issues around EU safety legislation, proved even more useful. Tracy Skyped her manufacturer in China with the changes to the product. She worked with a local company, Ascender, to produce the high-quality packaging for her product and, once the two came together, sent samples to different adult store outlets.
The Result
The Tickle Me Bits is now being sold on adult play sites such as Lovehoney, Prowler and Ruby Ice as well as on its own website.
According to Tracy:
“Don’t go through your life saying “what if”, just do it and take baby steps to get through each stage. Innovate helped me bring the product to life by doing the searches designing the CAD drawings and presentation to send out to companies. This gave me the confidence to apply for the patent which Innovate also helped me with which then left me to find a manufacturer and someone to finance the project.”