As the content creator economy feeds the insatiable demand of fans wanting to feel a unique sense of intimacy and authenticity with their favorite stars, the need for a multi-pronged approach to monetizing personal brands is at an all-time high.
From serving up a slew of indie photos, videos and live-streaming shows, to selling physical goods, an enterprising model has no shortage of options — and timesinks — at their fingertips.
Every model’s merch design is unique to her. As far as products, phone cases, coffee cups and keychains are easily the most popular, aside from calendars.
With an eye towards being a one-stop revenues-boosting shop for models that includes web development and design, as well as merchandise creation and distro, GFE Model Services has continually grown and expanded since its inception 20 years ago.
Founded by Danny Ferretti and Rachel Griffen, GFE has worked with mainstream clients that include the NFL, WebMD and ABC News, while also partnering up with top adult stars like Sophie Dee and Kendra Sunderland, not to mention the likes of Hustler and Shoutout Express. The company aspires to provide one-on-one, highly-responsive customer service, as well as turnkey solutions that range from collecting high-resolution photos and taking care of the rest, to working on designs and strategies very closely with models.
This has made Ferretti and Griffen practiced hands at juggling a variety of needs and requests. It has also equipped them with plenty of insights helpful to models seeking to break into the physical merch game via calendars, keychains, t-shirts and more, or for those wanting to create their very own website destination to have more freedom beyond indie platforms. In this exclusive interview, Ferretti opens up about the company he and Griffen, now his wife, have shepherded to continued success.
XBIZ: Tell us about the genesis of GFE Model Services and the biggest company milestones you’ve reached since inception.
FERRETTI: GFE was formed 20 years ago as a partnership between me and Rachel Griffen, who is now my wife. People automatically assume GFE stands for “Girlfriend Experience” but it’s actually the acronym for Griffen-Ferretti Enterprises. Over the past two decades, we’ve had some wonderful experiences and milestones, though not all of them were in the adult Industry.
We’ve been lucky enough to work with some incredible brands throughout the years (NFL, WebMD, Hustler, ABC News, Shoutout Express, Sophie Dee, Kendra Sunderland, etc.), but I think our biggest accomplishment has been longevity and the ability to adapt to a constantly changing dynamic.
XBIZ: In a nutshell, what are the various digital and merchandise services you provide under the GFE umbrella, such as web design and FanGear.vip?
FERRETTI: We’ve been a web development and design firm since inception, and while we still take on mainstream design projects from time to time, for the past four or five years our focus has been more about model services. We develop sites, landing pages and e-commerce solutions for adult entertainers and social media influencers, as well as offer consulting and marketing. Under our FanGear brand, we provide zero-cost branded merchandising as well as designing, manufacturing and marketing for calendars, collectible magazines, coffee table books and posters. The FanGear brand also provides full-service product fulfillment and customer support.
We have also developed ProjectModel, a model-specific content delivery system that provides a one-on-one platform for models to interact with their fans. The main differentiating factors between our system and other content delivery platforms is that ours is not a multiple-model system – meaning each model has her own version of the platform. Another big difference is the individual attention we give each model. At any time, a model can contact us via email, message us on Telegram or pick up the phone and call us directly when they need assistance – or if they need a special feature built in. We take model services very seriously. It’s like they become part of the family – we make it comfortable and hassle-free.
XBIZ: Discuss the GFE team behind the scenes. How do you approach project management and business negotiations to ensure clients are well taken care of?
FERRETTI: We’re a small, tight-knit group of seriously dedicated individuals. I suppose I am the “name” behind GFE but I certainly can’t take all the credit. Rachel oversees all our merchandising and shipping, while Tengo runs every aspect of our programming. Those two people are the main cogs in the wheel – and they get all the credit for making me look smart and successful. We also have Alex that handles our site administration and Audrey who is in recruiting and social media.
The good thing about our team is that we’ve been together for a while, and we know each other’s strengths. This makes project management so much easier. As for business negotiations? It’s all about what’s best for the models we work with – and it’s not necessarily about the money. We don’t say things just to make our model clients feel better; ask anybody and they’ll tell you I can be outspoken and abrasive. I tell it like it is. There’s no sugarcoating things with me. I’ll fight hand, tooth and nail to get the best deal I can for our models, though. It’s about the model, not about our commissions.
XBIZ: What are a few of your biggest model success stories, after they began utilizing GFE, as far as revenue jumps or thriving merch lines?
FERRETTI: Sophie Dee, Kendra Sunderland, Abigail Ratchford, Nikki Benz – they’ve all done really well with us as far as calendar and/or merch sales, while Lyna Perez and Valentina Victoria do really well with our content delivery. And keep in mind, most every model we work with has had us develop/design a website as well.
XBIZ: How does GFE stay ahead of the curve in a growing ancillary services market?
FERRETTI: We are constantly talking to the models we work with to find out what’s important to them. We are also continually developing new product ideas and more ways to distribute merch. In October, we will be offering about 15 new products in our branded merch and this holiday season, we’ll be offering model gift boxes as well as all new product bundles.
XBIZ: What do fans gravitate to the most, merch-wise, as far as the types of products they buy most often and the most compelling designs?
FERRETTI: No two models have the same product designs. Every model’s merch design is unique to her. As far as products, phone cases, coffee cups and keychains are easily the most popular, aside from calendars.
XBIZ: Talk about your approach to marketing, both within the industry to obtain new clients and helping models reach more fans.
FERRETTI: We’ve been extremely lucky. We might approach a model here and there but for the most part, models come to us by word of mouth. It helps that we’ve worked with some of the most visible models in the industry — sorry, that was a shameless bit of grandstanding.
The fan outreach is a whole other animal – ask any model what the one thing they really need is and you’ll get one of two answers: money or fans. And one has a direct effect on the other. Go to Instagram and look at the stories of 10 different models. I’ll guarantee you that eight of them have some sort of swipe-up deal that leads to their OnlyFans page – but after a while, Johnny Public gets tired of hearing that over and over again. So, the models get more and more risqué to keep their followers interested, and then boom! They get their accounts shut down.
And what’s worse is the fans they are hitting with swipe-ups every day are already following them, when the idea should be introducing a model to new audiences. My favorite saying is that “people can’t buy what they can’t find” and growing fans is no different. You need to be in front of new people. But, if I told you how exactly we did that, models wouldn’t really need us anymore, would they?
XBIZ: Any new features, services or product lines on the horizon for GFE?
FERRETTI: We’re constantly developing new products for our merch line and October is going to be full of new items. Last year we introduced coffee-table books and this year we’re really excited about our model magazines – they look great and include photos and articles. We have a really good feeling about their success. The Sophie Dee, Kendra Sunderland and Alyssa Lavonne magazines are already being printed, with several more in design right now. We will also be featuring bundles and model gift boxes this year.
XBIZ: Where do you see the future of merch and branded products heading, as the creator economy continues growing?
FERRETTI: I see a lot of models still doing the traditional print-on-demand through companies like Printify and Printful – and look, that’s how we started our own branded merch system. But you really can’t make any money through those types of sites – by the time the vendor gets their cut and the POD site takes their cut, there’s not much left for the model and there’s no help either. I see more and more models gravitating to sites like Fangear.vip because they can make money – on average we provide the models with a 40% margin on most products. Plus, we do all the heavy lifting; a model can do as little as sending in her photos or as much as directing the designs.
XBIZ: Any general advice for models on how they can elevate their merch game and tap into increased earnings?
FERRETTI: If I had to give one piece of advice to any model about merch, it’s that it’s about the photos. Learn what high-resolution photos are and why they are important. And please, be sure to provide enough images.
Every piece of branded merch we offer can have up to six individual photos/designs. If at all possible, send in at least 20 high-res photos – the more photos we have, the better selection your merch will have. And I’ll add this: a model who increases merch earnings is a model who knows how to promote their merch.
