And yet as adrift as it may be in this gender-neutral zeitgeist, Playboy may be better poised for brand longevity than competitors like Esquire or Maxim. That’s because it doesn’t have to be in the content game, dependent on clicks and newsstand sales.
Playboy 2-in-1 shampoo and Playboy cologne, watches, hats and backpacks are sold around the world, purchased primarily by women, according to the company, and bring in over $1 billion each year.
Owing to those lucrative licensing deals, the magazine does not need to generate profit. But more than any nightclub or TV show or fashion designer collaboration, it defines a brand. Without the magazine, the empire is arguably just a mishmash of sexed-up Hard Rock Cafes and Spencer’s Gifts stores.
That’s why it came as a shock to some in the company when Playboy’s chief executive, Ben Kohn, told The Wall Street Journal in January that he would likely stop publishing the magazine, saying, “we want to focus on what we call the ‘World of Playboy,’ which is so much larger than a small, legacy print publication.” (Indeed the “World of Playboy” is wide: the company operates a casino in London and spaces across Southeast Asia, though because of local customs, not all employees wear Bunny uniforms.)
But in an interview with The New York Times last month, Mr. Kohn insisted the core product was safe, for now. “The magazine is not going to stop printing,” he said by phone from Playboy’s offices in Los Angeles. Though Mr. Kohn did say he plans to make the magazine a quarterly, reducing the current print run of six to four beginning next year.
Cooper Hefner, who is described by current and former employees as having a progressive, pansexual vision for Playboy that could assure it a future with his generation and beyond, cracked down on a 2015 hipster revamp that removed nudity from the magazine’s pages.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/style/playboy-club-gloria-steinem-lauren-hutton.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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