Las Vegas- Arrow Productions’ marketing director Robert Interlandi couldn’t help noticing the announcement put out the other day by Kick Ass Pictures regarding a new program for retailers.

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Talk to Interlandi and you get the impression their new program looks suspiciously like the old program Arrow’s been using with great results.

“Well they say imitation’s the sincerest form of flattery,” Interlandi chuckles.

“Kick Ass was in my booth at the last Expo Mart when I came up with this marketing idea,” he continues. “In our case throughout the US, stores typically carry Deep Throat, www.xxxdeepthroat.com Debbie Does Dallas, Candy Stripers and Alice in Wonderland. So we felt that stores would need an Arrow section with signs, DVDs and posters. I guess Kick Ass decided to jump on a similar bandwagon. It’s funny.”

Both Interlandi and his dad, Paul Interlandi, are preparing to go to the Expo Mart in Atlanta which starts Monday.

[That’s where select adult companies get together with the top 40 buyers and reminiscent of the old Woodie Allen gag about being locked in a room with an insurance salesman.]

Whatever Arrow’s up to, and it’s always something new, Paul Interlandi calls it staying on the upside of the curve.

Arrow, for instance, is getting ready for the upcoming International Lingerie Show in Las Vegas which will be held at The Rio, April 7. Scantily clad models will be passing out The Deep Throat Enery drink, www.deepthroatenergy.com to buyers.

“That’s the first time I can remember this happening at a fashion show,” Interlandi states.

With so many irons currently in the fire, Interlandi says it’s hard to find a lead iron to talk about. However, with the Expo Mart, I ask Interlandi what Arrow tries to accomplish.

“You have more of a catalogue branding instead of new releases- what do you try to get out of this?”

“We’ve been going since they started the first one about three years ago,” Paul Interlandi replies. “People were saying we know your stuff. As much to say yeah, so what’s new. The fact is everyone wants our product. In fact our stuff sells when the other stuff doesn’t sell. People are always re-ordering Deep Throat. They might lend a copy to their friends and it doesn’t come back, they buy another. That’s how they feel about it. So our titles are something you got to stock because people are always replacing them.”

According to Interlandi, Arrow’s strategy is to market its titles as a package as opposed to a single title.

“With that we went from not making money to making good money,” notes Interlandi. “As soon as we started selling groups of items, we started seeing some big numbers. And with that we began re-capturing shelf space.

“In the old days when Arrow was selling VHS we were strong and every store had a rack full of Arrow product. We had a big part of the VHS market. Then it took a long time for us to transfer our stuff into DVDs. The transition kind of lost our shelf space.”

“Now that we’re recapturing that space, we’re developing what we call the rack pack,” Interlandi continues.

“We are a significant company and practically created the entire industry singlehanded with Devil in Miss Jones, Deep Throat, Debbie Does Dallas, Candy Stripers, Alice in Wonderland and more. Our stuff is very watchable and we’ve come up with a plan to push our way back into stores. And it’s been working really well. We’ve been getting re-orders to stock our racks. They’re selling.

“We sell signs, shirts, posters- it all comes in a package,” Interlandi explains. “Basically it’s every thing a store needs to fill one of their metal racks. And that’s how we came up with this promotion. It’s been very well received, and it’s really transformed our company as far as sales. We’re way up from where we were last year, and everybody else is way down. Then, again, it goes back to what we’re selling. We’re selling a product that’s fun to watch and couples-oriented.

“People have a fondness for the first pornos they ever saw,” Interlandi goes on to say. “They remember seeing Debbie Does Dallas, and their dad might have had a copy under his bed. They remember that stuff and everybody thinks of our stuff with a sense of nostalgia. It was fun and it’s positive.”