Remember the Hitachi Magic Wand? Well, it’s never strictly gone out of fashion but the chequered history of the product and its availability means there’s probably a few gaps in the collective knowledge somewhere.

Hitachi’s immensely popular product was always intended for medical and therapeutic use – a claim the company made strenuous repetitions of – but millions worldwide found another use for it: as an extremely powerful vibrator.

Referred to as the “Cadillac”, “Rolls-Royce” and “Mother of all” vibrators, the Magic Wand became the first real proponent of the sex toy revolution occurring in the late-60s and into the 70s. Hitachi wavered between embracing and putting some distance between this discovery, but Betty Dodson’s endorsement of the Magic Wand as a device that sprinkles a little magic dust over your orgasms certainly helped shift units and coined Hitachi millions in the process. So, you know, they can’t complain *too* much.

Yet despite the path-clearing and blueprints already laid down, the Magic Wand has rarely been equalled for power, popularity and ingenuity. But that’s all set to change thanks to Doxy and their new Massager. This two-man operation based in the traditionally quieter county of Cornwall in the south-west of England looks set to pick up from where Hitachi left off. The premise is simply. The plug-in device lets you… well, plug in and play. Literally.

Doxy’s story is one of opportunity and being in the right place at the right time. Founder William Garland had no experience in the industry prior to creating the Massager but now finds himself on the cusp of being one of the market’s new major players. By adapting a scaffolding factory and neighboring plastic moulding foundry in this traditionally rural part of the United Kingdom, Doxy have crafted a fine product that could re-write the history books.

Or perhaps, given the Doxy’s unique marketing campaign, it might rewrite the recipe books. Watch as two users read out their favorite recipes while being thoroughly whisked by the Massager…

As William tells us, it was an invention born through necessity.

“My girlfriend had a Hitachi Magic Wand which she loved using. However you couldn’t legally buy them in the UK because they only made 110v versions, which isn’t the power outlet usage we have in the UK. Since the wands were primarily made of aluminium. It occurred to me that since we have a foundry that dealt with the same substance, maybe we can make our own.

“Next door we have a plastic injection moulding company, things came together and here we are two years later. Just in case you didn’t know, ‘Doxy’ is an old English slang term for ‘a woman of easy repute’.”

“In keeping with the original, the head is cast out of metal and no other wand massager out there is. The difference that it makes having a metal head gives it a much ‘thuddier’ movement thanks to the weight of the metal.”

With zero background and reputation in the industry, Doxy relied on a grassroots marketing campaign that struck gold. Their early forays eschewed the idea of wasting big bucks on advertising and decided to go straight to the source instead. By sending out free samples to cam models, performers, sex bloggers and sex toy reviewers, Doxy ensured that the product would reach the right ears and other orifices.

The result? Well, it certainly cleared a few cobwebs, most famously Girl On The Net, whose review could be classed as the most hyperbolic piece of text in history were it not actually 100% sincere.

GOTN’s rather visceral and guttural review garnered more sales, and revealed to William the way the market was heading.

“There’s a trend in the industry right now for power. A lot of people don’t want just a normal rabbit or bullet these; instead they want something very powerful. There’s a very easy route to creating a sex aid that packs a lot of power, but some people don’t want a product that has a wire and fits into a socket. However, a lot do and so if it’s power they want, the Doxy Massager the way to go.”

William and Doxy have nothing but praise for the British industry and the way their fostered their early fumblings and development in a market that – like any other – will devour the weak with impunity.

“Retailers like Lovehoney, Ann Summers, Bondara and Simply Pleasure took us on because there wasn’t much alternative so market was wide open,” says William.

“I had never really given my opinion on the UK sex toy and porn industry any thought prior to creating the Doxy Massager. We went into it blindly. What we found when we arrived is that the UK industry is a very small one and it has been incredibly welcoming to an incomer like ourselves. We have been embraced.

“In our first year we received Editor’s Award from ETO Magazine. It gave us cred and proved to be very helpful. It was nice of them to do that for a tiny company that was brand new.

“But is indicative of the industry. We got orders from retailers with who we had no track record. They had no cause to trust us, yet they did.”

There was a lack of trust in some quarters though. Would you like to guess from where?

If you said “the banks” then well done, you’ve been paying attention. With that really quite pathetic sense of inevitably, the creditors did their usual song and dance routine and looked the other as a new business looked to operate in the sex sector. How dare they!

“Yeah, we had a problem with the banks. When you’re starting up those things make life quite difficult. A couple of suppliers immediately pulled support when they found out what we were doing too.”

But that’s all in the past now. With Doxy and their Massager currently basking in a glorious present that cuts a clear line a la Moses and the Red Sea to a bright future.

Doxy have two more products in the pipeline. The Diecast and the Skittle are set to cement the Doxy brand, trademark and reputation. They are more explicitly sex toys in design, aesthetic and approach. Promising a more-refined interface and interaction, the Diecast and the Skittle will once again place the emphasis on power.

… and power is something Doxy may have a lot of if trends continue. You need a lot about you to send shockwaves through both the industry and your customers.