DD Potential Pitcher #8: The Magic Banana

Potential Pitcher # 8 is Ms.Janeson Paynter Rayne from Kingston, who wants to bring a new exercise device to market for females.....something guaranteed to improve SEX! I'd say more but I'll leave it to the inventor herself to explain.

Why do you want to be on the Den…? I admire and respect smart, successful, adventurous people who follow their instincts to act on what is hot … so I look forward to meeting and doing business with these Dragons … to introducing them to an opportunity to be part of a fabulous product that I can guarantee satisfies several needs.

Research confirms, with its’ unique design, there is nothing like this on the market!

Why would you be a good bet for the Dragons to invest in? For many years I was a single mother raising two children. I had my own house and operated my own business by the time I was 24. I went to university to earn a Fine Arts Degree in my thirties, when the youngest child was three and the oldest was eight. I successfully juggled my responsibilities and always came up with creative, inventive solutions even when there were obstacles and setbacks.

I’ve spent much of my life doing research around this product. I did all the patent searches for ‘prior art’ myself (you wouldn’t believe some of the contraptions I found that men, in their good inntentions, had devised for women!). Thanks also to having excellent representation, my patent was granted without a glitch in August of 2005.

I do my homework, I’m diligent, frugal, conscientious, resourceful, and passionate – especially when it comes to bringing a vision to fruition. This one has exceptional possibilities!

Why do you want to bring your product to market? It’s already been taken to market to a certain extent and with the feedback that’s in, it’s clear that the product will work on a larger scale. The next logical step is to take it to market in a big way - through a combination of direct market sales, on internet or television (maybe Suzanne Sommers needs a new product?), or in stores like Shoppers Drug Mart. My vision has always been that it would be sold in the mainstream market - as essential equipment for females - where it would be most easily and readily available to people who want, need, and can benefit from it.

The product has a proven track record of improving quality of life. A family doctor once told me if it were available by prescription, she’d prescribe it to all women.

How do you describe your product…? It’s an exercise device - that works muscles intrinsic to being female. In younger years, it’s an educational self-discovery tool; in childbearing years, it helps women prepare FOR and recover FROM childbirth; through mid-life, menopause and well beyond, with regular use it keeps the all-important parts in good shape ... and may even still bring revelations, as some testimonials confirm! One public health nurse who sings its’ praises is reported to have told all of her co-workers "if you only buy ONE thing to enhance your sex life, buy this."

You can read more about it at either of the two sites I have developed, both of which have different flavours - one being more clinical than the other (< href="www.k-loop.com">www.k-loop.com and www.magicbanana.com ). You may notice that some of the testimonials are the same … and that is because the product is essentially the same product.

How did you come up with the idea…? It was an inspired solution to a perceived problem - the ‘problem’ being, at adolescence, I suddenly found myself in a body that was distinctly female. I felt awkward as this emerging sexual being. Until then, I had been right at home climbing trees and doing anything the boys were doing. I spent a couple of years feeling completely out of sorts and then, as a way to feel more at home in my body, I learned about and started practicing yoga. I wanted to know myself better and I wanted to understand my body. Yoga practice lead me to the realization that muscles are muscles are muscles … and that those particular muscles would probably benefit from a workout just as any other muscle would. Being familiar with isometric and resistance exercise, I knew that was the way to go...and if I could develop something that would function like a hand-grip does - that might be the answer.Eventually, it was my own mothers’ story that finally spurred me on to patent the product so manufacturing could begin.I had kept the product to myself for many years. After my step-father died of cancer, my mom told me she had to go in for the sort of surgery women have to "correct" incontinence. I had not been aware that due to my step-dad’s illness – which went on for ten years, through three different types of cancer – their sex life had suffered greatly, becoming pretty much non-existent. I couldn’t help thinking – If my Mom had had this product even a few years earlier, she might have been able to avoid surgery. When I told her about it, she felt the same way. She wished that I had talked about it, and she did not hesitate to make a financial contribution to help with the costs of patenting and manufacturing the initial run.

In closing what message would you like to send to the Dragons? A friend in public relations once told me "Your product is a gift to all women and should not languish in obscurity." Will you help make it more available, and share in the fruits of this labour of love?

note: results are not binding on the Producers of Dragons' Den nor the CBC.

Comments

[optimus]

This is an example of a business where i'd really want to know the industry a lot better. But my overall impression is this: this product will take a lot of work to mainstream onto Shopper's Drug Mart shelves and TV adverts.

How are you going to make customers understand the concept, get past their apprehension, and build buzz, all without getting so graphic as to turn away customers? It's a heckuva marketing challenge.

Philips did it with humour and style for their 'personal groomer', whose advertisements offered an 'optical inch' with a wink and a nudge.

Here, the challenge is multiplied by the fact that the product has multiple uses. Market to one target segment, and you lose the other. Nobody looking to spice up their sex life will take a product marketed as a solution to incontinence to the checkout counter. And vice-versa.

[Kempton]

As a start, I agree with optimus' comments & concerns and I too wish to know this industry a lot better. At the same time, my gut feeling is that there are some potential in this business. And I think the challenges are not insurmountable if they are handled well (and in some area, may be handled in slightly different manner than what Ms. Rayne has described).

As an example, if I were Ms. Rayne, I don't know if I would go after the mainstream market as a start (and, in particular, sell in stores like Shoppers Drug Mart). I think selling through internet (through word of mouth by users, experts advices [e.g. doctors and health care professionals] and sex toys shops) may be a much more effective selling approach where the messages can be controlled and tailored to specific market segments and for different users. Of course, this is just me thinking out loud here without the needed careful analysis of the business itself and, more importantly, having the needed insight about this industry.

--- Few random thoughts: ---

*) Ms. Rayne seems resourceful, creative, artistic and have a flare for advertising (witness the TM logo design for Magic Banana).
*) love that there is patent protection on Magic Banana
*) With respect to the trademarks of Magic Banana, K-Loop or FemenEx, for some reason, I can't find any trademarks of the above three names in the Canadian trademark databases. But I did find a trademark for "Banana Magic" for auto wax and they even have a movie for it
http://www.automagic.biz/movie-73.htm

Again, I am not a lawyer (and of course not a trademark agent). But I got curious enough and did some legal research just for fun.

Here are two recent Supreme Court of Canada cases in 2006 related to "confusion" in trademarks.

Mattel, Inc. v. 3894207 Canada Inc., (known by many as the "Barbie" case)
http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2006/2006scc22/2006scc22.html

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin v. Boutiques Cliquot
http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2006/2006scc23/2006scc23.html

Both of these judgments were written by Justice Binnie (a justice with strong background in business and corporate law). And in both cases, the court held that there were no "confusion" between the two trademarks.

Now, the above is just some research for fun. Again, not being a patent and trademark agent myself nor a lawyer, I don't know will the application "Magic Banana" will be allowed in the first place when there exist a trademark called "Banana Magic". Secondly, are there high risk of legal dispute over these trademarks? After all, the lawyers will be quite happy arguing for each side all the way up to the supreme court as long as someone is paying them large amount in legal fees.

*) Lastly, more SEX on Dragon's Den can't hurt! I say the time for Magic Banana has come ! (pun intended. :) OK, have I completely destroyed my credibility now? :)

[Sandy]

I agree with optimus.

When I heard the name Magic Banana, it sounded like a new fun sex toy, I went to the website and was greatly disappointed to see a yellow rope. It looks clinical... even if I hadn't seen the white clinical version on this blog beforehand. Now, I know it's just been re-packaged into a yellow color.

I completely disagree with the testimonial that "if you only buy ONE thing to enhance your sex life, buy this."

[Kempton]

Finally, I am delighted to get in touch with Stephen Nipper. Stephen is an US intellectual property attorney and partner with law firm Law Firm of Dykas, Shaver and Nipper, LLP. And I asked him my question about the registered trademark “Banana Magic” vs the trademark "Magic Banana". And here is his response and I really appreciate his help. (Note: Canadian and US laws are different so do consult your own lawyer first.)

I hope this clarify a few things.

Cheers,
Kempton
----------------
**Start quote of Stephen Nipper

Q. “Banana Magic” is an existing registered trademark in use for car wax and now someone wish to register and use as trademark (without registering it) the name “Magic Banana” for a totally unrelated product. Will this cause problem?

Again, the question to ask is: “is there a likelihood of confusion.” If so, one has issues. Sadly there isn’t a black or white answer. An attorney (US) answering your question would apply the relevant factors (which are laid out in the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_trademark_law#Judging_the_likelihood_of_confusion) and form his/her opinion regarding whether a likelihood of confusion exists (based upon the facts).

Q. …if the registered owner of “Banana Magic” has deep pockets, can they keep the new guy in the court room for years to come causing tons of legal fees?

If “Company X” has a trademark registration and is willing to spend the necessary legal fees challenging later uses of the trademark/related trademarks, they can make it very painful for junior users of the trademark to use it even on unrelated goods.

Some companies use this tactic in an attempt to strengthen their existing trademark rights. The fewer the users of TRADEMARK there are out there…the stronger their TRADEMARK trademark is (in theory).

Other companies only worry about junior user trademark use where there is actually a likelihood of confusion.

End quote**

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