How Scott Coffman Would Fix Playboy

[gonzo]

Scott Coffman, Founder and CEO, AEBN
I'm not going to go into downsizing or cost cutting, because then this becomes more of a financial piece instead of a vision article on how to change the brand, which will then change the revenue and profitability.
The brand has to become younger and cool. So everything I would implement would be starting at the top level and working on the brand image from the top down.

Playboy is tied to the image of Hugh Hefner, the man who started and built the company. Hugh is an icon, and you have to have him as part of the rebranding process, but more as a CEO and not the person out front who is most associated with the company. He becomes the founder and ambassador but not the image.

Next I do a search, just like they did with The Apprentice, where Donald Trump looks for his next apprentice. But here we're looking for the new Hugh Hefner. Hef would be the judge along with a panel of other people including maybe some hot bunnies. We would take applications from all over the country, with requirements being that you would have to be capable of running the business as president of Playboy but you would also have to have all the traits that encompass Hugh Hefner. So candidates would have to be good-looking, charming, successful, and have all those features that would make him an international playboy. This would be a lot like hunting for the new James Bond.

The show would be heavily publicized and would be the biggest reality show that has ever been aired. We would put the contestants through all types of endeavors to show that they have the qualities that would make them the next Hugh Hefner. The winner would then take his position as president and icon of Playboy.

With all the momentum from the show, we would then work off his celebrity popularity by opening up the house to many more parties, and sending him to all the hot events and branding him as an international playboy. At all events he would be surrounded by only the hottest bunnies, conveying to the world that he has the best life in the world.
This would start to change the image of the company. Next I would work on the magazine, because even though it is not currently a money maker, it is the most recognizable product of the brand. Playboy Magazine was read by everyone before you could find naked women all over the Internet, but now it offers nothing unique. Maxim is all about showing the hot celebrities because they know that is the only thing that will grab guys' attention in this age when naked pics are so easily accessible.
First we stop Photoshopping all the pics. We greatly expand our celebrity section, which is currently only two pages in the back. We no longer have the standard, boring three pictorials. It changes every month with no longer committing to a certain number of pages per pictorial. We increase the number of parties every month, have hot bunnies always at the house, and invite celebrities over constantly. This provides us the content to include in pictorials every month for the magazine. We also show our new president and icon all over the world partying with celebrities. There are more changes I would make but I'm running out of space.

I would sponsor parties all over the country on college campuses and become like a very high end but reputable "Girls Gone Wild." Women have a great opinion of Playboy and thus you have the ability to get them to do things they would never do for other outlets. This also puts your brand back in focus with the youth of America.

I would also start to sponsor events, UFC, X Games, start rebranding the product with events that are cool. This leads me into one area that I think would hold the most value for Playboy, which is licensing. Their current licensing deal with the Palms was a very good start. I would look for more licensing deals of this type. The more high profile licensing deals you do, the more clothing and other accessory items you will sell. Strip clubs are very mainstream now and are attended by men, women, and couples. I would strategically license the Playboy name to only the very top end clubs in the best cities and thus keep control of how your brand is presented in those clubs.

The Internet is where you increase your brand awareness, so I would be looking at many different licensing options on the Net. I would be trying to license the Playboy brand across the Net to other high traffic sites like Facebook. However I would need another 1,000 words to talk about my Internet strategy.

Read what others had to say [Pretty amusing how brief and vague some of the other industry "leaders" were in describing their plan]

How would you fix playboy if you were the new CEO?

[RawAlex]

I agree with most except "open the house for more parties". To me, the playboy mansion is the ultimate throwback to a very bygone era that no longer would ring true with anyone under a certain age. I don't think many people outside the industry would really find that much true value in visiting a relic of the 60s.

If you are going to bring in a new "playboy" man, then give him a new "playboy" mansion (preferably a few around the world) that reflect a modern playboy's image. Find the next South Beach or the next Riviera and stake out a spot, make the entire image something people strive to be. I don't strive to be Hugh, and I don't strive to live in his house (except perhaps because it has hot and cold running women). Lifestyle it, just as Hugh did 40 years ago, and make it once again desirable to BE a playboy.

Effectively, you want Playboy to be the lifestyle the current 25-40s choose instead of being a wannabe rap star thug life playah. Get sports figures to take on the image and the attitude. Hot women surrounding studly men, and you can be one of them too!

Most of what Scott says is pretty much on the money, so good that Playboy as a company probably should take it the advice and run with it.

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by RawAlex

I agree with most except "open the house for more parties". To me, the playboy mansion is the ultimate throwback to a very bygone era that no longer would ring true with anyone under a certain age. I don't think many people outside the industry would really find that much true value in visiting a relic of the 60s...

Alex, I would agreed with you, except I know from experience how many people lionize Hef outside the industry.

I've been to a few mansion parties, and everyone I know that isn't in the industry is awed by it. It's a combination of the cult of Hef's personality, the history, the parties, the culture to which it is attached - the mansion has its own history, status, and attributes that make it a destination that many still want the opportunity to achieve, regardless of the PB brand as a whole - the mansion stands apart from that as a landmark to decadence in and of itself in the public mind.

[gonzo]

I pissed in the Grotto

[RawAlex]

ding ding.

that is the "too much information" bell.

[tony404]

maybe its just a brand thats done.

[miz_wright]

Originally Posted by tony404

maybe its just a brand thats done.

I dunno about that, Tony. It's much more iconic than just about anything else out there to the general public, and it's still very much the "gateway drug" of porn. I think Scott has some very good ideas - there is a lot of merit to it as a "lifestyle" brand, but perhaps it has just been mismanaged from that perspective.

[RawAlex]

It's an iconic brand, but you have to move it away from the mundane and from the "old man" feeling that it has right now. Playboy hasn't done all that much to cultivate a younger crowd in the last 10 years, which means their fan base and target market is getting older, greyer, and dying off. A replacement for Hugh with a style and attitude that could connect with a younger crowd (think 25-40) would likely advance the brand a long way.

Playboy is "this close" to becoming an almost generic term rather than a brand, something they need to be very careful about.

[tony404]

pan am was an icon too