November 14, 2008 Brand Power

Wicked Weasel is a strong Internet search term so many sites mention us in their commentary as a way to generate traffic. This is a two edged sword in that it generates traffic for competitors and all manner of rubbish sites yet the very fact we are regularly mentioned demonstrates the value of our brand and maintains its visibility.

Recently I was corresponding with a webmaster in regard to the use of Wicked Weasel on his ‘information’ site. Whilst his site offers some periodic editorial about Wicked Weasel, it is easy to take a cynical view given the proliferation of Google ads and commentary on competitors. Nevertheless, we have agreed that any mention of our name will be shown as a link which points to our site.

In my letter I did however outline some history so that the webmaster might better understand why we might be a little touchy when it comes to the commercial use of our name. Wicked Weasel is the number one player in the Internet micro bikini world and there’s good reason for that. We were the first on the Internet scene and although there were other micro bikini makers before us, we have made a significant contribution to the genre and lay claim to a number of innovations.

When I personally built and launched the first Wicked Weasel site in 1999 there were few real pictures of girls wearing micro bikinis to be found and only two web sites that sold small-ish bikinis. Virtually every other micro bikini company since then has copied from us.

I have been making swimwear since 1990 and since 1994 under the Wicked Weasel label. We were the first to introduce small metal rings to bikinis and use thin edge bindings, thin bum strings and thin attached side straps with rubber inside. Our bikinis were revolutionary in their construction and in the way they were photographed and sold.

We invented the ‘cameltoe’ (v-front style) g-string bikini and were the first to commercially manufacture, photograph and sell unlined see-through sheer bikinis. In 2000 we offered the ‘Microminimus’ – the world’s smallest (commercially made) bikini at the time. Wicked Weasel changed world bikini culture by photographing ‘real’ women in purposely designed exhibitionist swimwear.

Now well over 30 companies offer similar products and web site content but it is impossible to find one competing company that has existed on the Internet as long as ours: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wickedweasel.com. The wayback machine only lists us from October 1999 but Wicked Weasel actually sold its first bikini online on 24th June 1999.

Wicked Weasel continues to make innovative products which are duly copied by the ever increasing swarm that follows us. But one thing that will always set us apart is our consistent high quality; a product of our solid manufacturing history, ongoing investment in capital equipment and of course the totally dedicated WW staff.

In the big picture it is indeed flattering that so many copy us, and make no mistake, we need a hand to get the message out that less = more. But in the bikini gold rush I would hope the significant contribution Wicked Weasel has made to the swimwear industry and the Internet is not forgotten.

Peter G.