BUILDING BRAND VALUE the PLAYBOY WAY Titles by the Same Author
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BUILDING BRAND VALUE THE PLAYBOY WAY Titles by the same author Google Blogger for Dummies Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps BUILDING BRAND VALUE THE PLAYBOY WAY Susan Gunelius President & CEO, KeySplash Creative, Inc. © Susan Gunelius 2009 © Foreword by Allen P. Adamson All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36755-9 ISBN 978-0-230-23958-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230239586 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 To Scott for watching The Girls Next Door with me and encouraging me to turn my thoughts into this book. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of illustrations x Foreword xii Preface xv Acknowledgements xvii Introduction Warning: This Book is Not about Sex xviii Part I Reinventing an Industry—The Years up to 1959 Chapter 1 The Brand Dream 3 Modest Beginnings 3 The First Reinvention of Hugh Hefner 5 Hugh Hefner’s Self- Exploration 6 The Turning Point 8 Bringing the Dream to Life 10 Chapter 2 A Brand is Born 12 One Part Risk, One Part Belief, and One Part Good Luck 13 Early Promotion Tactics 15 Chapter 3 Nurturing a Brand 20 Understanding the Environment in the 1950s 21 Keeping up with Brand Growth 22 Hugh Hefner Reinvents Himself Again and the Ultimate Brand Champion Arrives 24 vii CONTENTS Chapter 4 The First Brand Extensions 26 Playboy Defi es Marketing Rules 28 Part II A Brand Rises Despite the Naysayers—The 1960s Chapter 5 Growth Explosion 37 A Brand Grows Too Big 40 Chapter 6 Defending the Brand 47 The Playboy Philosophy 49 Playboy as an Inclusive Brand 50 Chapter 7 Living the Brand 55 Hugh Hefner Reinvents Himself for the Third Time 58 Playboy as a Cult Brand 60 Part III A Brand Goes Global—The 1970s Chapter 8 The Brand Seen and Protested Around the World 67 A Brand on the Defensive 69 Playboy Goes Global 71 Chapter 9 A Brand Peaks 74 Competitive Attacks against the Pioneer Brand 75 Signs of Brand Trouble Become a Reality 82 Chapter 10 A Brand Sees the Error of Its Ways and Tries to Give Back 87 Changing Course and Saving Face Through Brand Building 90 Facing a Segment Market 91 Part IV A Brand in Decline—The 1980s Chapter 11 A Changing World 95 Politics vs. Playboy in the 1980s 95 Society vs. Playboy in the 1980s 97 The Longevity of the Playboy Brand 98 Chapter 12 A Changing of the Guard 103 The Meese Report Attacks Playboy 105 Christie Hefner Takes Control 106 Chapter 13 A Change of Course 112 Controversy Takes a Toll on the Brand Champion 112 A Turn to Merchandising 115 viii CONTENTS Moving into Television 118 The Brand Champion Shocks the World 120 Part V Reinventing a Brand—The 1990s Chapter 14 A New Focus 123 Hugh Hefner Retains Control of Playboy Magazine 124 Celebrities and Playboy 128 Playboy Magazine by the Numbers in the 1990s 130 Chapter 15 New Brand Extensions 133 Global Expansion of Playboy 134 Expanding the Television and Video Segments of Playboy Enterprises 135 Expanding Playboy Merchandise 138 Playboy Online 139 Chapter 16 The Brand Champion Returns to the Spotlight 141 Competition Grows 143 Leveraging an Integrated Marketing Strategy 144 Part VI A Brand Rises Back to the Top—The 2000s and the Future Chapter 17 A Brand for a New Generation 151 Competition, the Macro Environment and the Girls Next Door 154 Chapter 18 A Relationship Brand History in Review 159 Developing a Brand 163 Extending a Brand 165 A Brand Comes Full Circle 166 Chapter 19 The Future of the Playboy Brand 168 Hugh Hefner—The Ultimate Brand Champion 172 What’s Next for Playboy 173 Bibliography 177 Index 183 ix ILLUSTRATIONS TABLES I Timeline—The 1950s 1 II Timeline—The 1960s 35 III Timeline—The 1970s 65 IV Timeline—The 1980s 93 V Timeline—The 1990s 121 VI Timeline—The 2000s 149 FIGURES 4.1 Four orders of brand experience 33 7.1 The three stages of consumer emotional involvement 62 BOXES 1.1 The creation of the Playboy bunny logo 11 2.1 The Silent Generation 14 2.2 Understanding relationship branding 18 4.1 Defi ning an experience brand 30 4.2 Consumer emotional involvement theory 32 5.1 The Hard Rock Cafe and Jack Daniels as experience brands 40 5.2 Brand extension strategies and risks 41 x ILLUSTRATIONS 5.3 Examples of brands forced to contract 44 6.1 The Baby Boomer Generation 48 6.2 “I Was a Playboy Bunny” by Gloria Steinem 52 6.3 How Toyota and Pepsi leveraged the macro environment with different results 53 7.1 Celebrities and writers in Playboy during the 1960s 56 7.2 The inclusive brand strategy of Barack Obama’s 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign 60 7.3 Cult brands 61 8.1 Generation Jones 68 9.1 Competitive market positioning strategies 76 9.2 Offensive and defensive positioning strategies 78 9.3 Brands that failed to meet customer expectations 81 9.4 Brand expansion without restraint 83 10.1 Awards and honors bestowed upon Hugh Hefner during the 1970s 89 11.1 Brands that faced decline and survived with mixed results 99 11.2 Brand survival stories 101 12.1 The repositioning of Clorox and Hyundai 110 13.1 Awards and honors bestowed upon Hugh Hefner during the 1980s 114 13.2 Success stories of extending and merchandising brands 116 13.3 The Hallmark Channel 119 14.1 Generation X 127 14.2 The power of celebrity brand endorsements 129 15.1 United States vs. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. 137 16.1 Awards and honors bestowed on Hugh Hefner in the 1990s 142 16.2 Integrated marketing in business 144 17.1 Generation Y 153 17.2 Interns 158 18.1 Steve Jobs: The Apple brand champion 161 18.2 Mary Kay Ash: The Mary Kay brand champion 162 18.3 Awards and honors bestowed on Hugh Hefner in the 2000s 163 19.1 Skoal and Playboy 174 xi FOREWORD Ask any man who has read Playboy magazine at some point in his life and he’ll most likely tell you with a wink and a nod that “it’s for the fi ction.” While the esteemed writers who contributed stories and essays to the publication include no less than the likes of Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, and John Steinbeck, the notion that any- one has ever read Playboy solely for the fi ction is, well, a fi ction. From its inception, men have enjoyed Playboy magazine because it repre- sented one of the most well-defi ned and differentiated brand prom- ises of the 20th century. It was an experience built upon a simple, yet meticulously planned and implemented brand idea: every man’s dream of the good life. In its heyday, Playboy, the magazine and the empire, was a brand like no other. In fact, it may well have been in a brand class by itself. That Playboy has achieved renown as a global brand is no acci- dent. Its success is the result of founder Hugh Hefner’s adherence to the rules of Branding 101. With no formal background in brand man- agement, Hefner still understood that strong brands are not built on logos, clever and ubiquitous as his turned out to be, but on a set of mental associations brought to life through a spectrum of carefully aligned experiences. From my own, more formal background in brand management, I can tell you that Susan Gunelius’, engaging new book, The Playboy Brand, is not just a great tale skillfully told, but also a per- fect lesson for anyone interested in what it takes to build a powerful brand, regardless of the category. While he started the multimillion-dollar Playboy enterprise with $600 and a desire to challenge the repressive sexual attitudes of his xii FOREWORD day, Hefner’s ultimate achievement was his ability to identify a unique idea, a promise that was both different from any other in the category (no smut, please), and relevant to the target market.