I think Playboy Enterprises is on its last legs. It’s closed down most of its operations. I think it’s getting most of its income now from licensing and is running the magazine at a loss to keep the company in the public eye. Hefner himself is still a valuable asset to the company as a public figure - but he’s 87.
Well, it’s a huge deal to switch infrastructure and methodologies, so it doesn’t happen overnight.
First they installed at their test site and then they installed at 2 more DC’s earlier this year. I think it’s safe to assume it will continue unless they determine it’s just not as effective as their current methods.
I’ve often wondered how long they will carry on for - the “Men’s lifestyle magazine with (varying degrees of) tasteful nudity” thing is now well and truly the province of Lad Mags and anything more explicit than that is but a few mouse clicks away on the internet, should one be so inclined.
I would have thought the current interest in all things Mad Men would be an ideal chance for the magazine to recapture some of its former glory as the definitive text on what was cool, but apparently not.
Aside from the magazine, I’ve thought that Playboy Enterprises could have better managed the brand. Places like Hooters and Twisted Kilt sell food and drinks along with a little T&A. (And then there’s the Hustler Club.) How about several upscale Playboy Clubs, in major cities? Yes, there would be T&A, but classy, with first-quality food and drinks. And if you visit any department store, you’ll see how every celebrity has been turned into a brand. So put the Playboy brand on upscale, quality items. (Not cheap shit like auto air fresheners.)
Basically, they could have taken a page from the Disney playbook. Disney knows how to market the hell out of any property; movies, TV shows, live action, licensed merchandise, etc.
There are probably a few mid-level energy companies that are being looked at by the big guys. Hess, Apache, and Chesapeake come to mind and while they might not be hurting, they do have some valuable assets that could be had relatively cheap.
Playboy, the magazine, is kind of weird. It’s 50-something in circulation in the US. It should be doing okay. But it doesn’t get nearly the ad buys for it’s circulation. There is a disconnect with it’s style (and which types of ads would fit) and the actual audience. Putting ads for Ferraris in Playboy probably isn’t worthwhile. And the el cheapo ads in the back don’t pay well. So they aren’t even 12 issues a year anymore.
Lad mags have far fewer pretensions and run more general ads.
OTOH, Newsweek and Parenting had higher circs. and have recently failed. With TV Guide being the all time champ at going from best selling weekly to a shuffled around brand.
To succeed as a magazine today, you have to target a niche with desirable demo. Business-folk, golfers, etc.
A lot of the industry and trade press I’ve seen lately suggest in Australia, the magazine market is tanking, with plummeting revenue and circulations.
To put that into context however, there are an insane number of magazine titles in this country. Even the smallest newsagent will usually have an entire wall jam-packed with titles covering everything from Serious News & Current Affairs to trashy gossip to motoring to music to fashion to history and beyond, to more esoteric stuff like pigeon racing, hobby electronics/amateur radio, and so on.
The thing is, all these magazines are expensive - start at $5 an issue and go up from there. Average price seems to be $8-$12 an issue and to me (and a lot of other people, judging from the figures) that’s just too much for something you can read in an hour or two.
As you say though, the way to survive seems to be micro-niche, but some of those niches are so micro they just won’t support a profitable readership base, IMHO.
To be fair, Playboy is a publication that was built on knowledge of men’s culture and setting a certain tone. Unfortunately, for a very long time it has been run by an elderly man who is completely disconnected from current culture, trends and behaviors.
Is this a whoosh? Playboy did all these things. They had a chain of clubs and casinos. They were highly successful for a while but ended up going broke.
But as I noted, take Hefner out of the picture and what do you have left? Hefner’s lifestyle may seem outdated and hokey to a lot of people nowadays but there are still a few people who look at him as an icon. Remove Hefner from the picture and you’ll lose that minority without picking up any new supporters. Playboy can’t risk making any major changes and losing the one percent that still think Playboy is cool.
Per Wikipedia, the Playboy Clubs started in 1960 and the last one closed in 1991. Over two decades ago, in other words. Then they opened about six clubs between 2006-12, of which some closed. So either not recently or not a full effort. My point is that other brands (Hooters, Tilted Kilt, Hustler Club, Maxim magazine Cigar Aficionado, etc.) are aimed at the same audience as Playboy with better success.
For now. Google now rents text books. Physical and electronic.
Bob
I can remember the first time I ever went into a K-Mart. I was young, of course, but I was impressed. The smell of freshly popped corn and freshly cooked nuts at the candy counter in the front of the store was wonderful. I never much went for the blue-light specials, though. One thing they used to offer that even Wal-Mart didn’t is larger sized clothes. I had a friend who did most of his clothing shipping there because of this.
Bob
Potentially a better-run publication that appeals to a wider audience.
Radio Shack is an obvious one. The Onion article is spot on.
Barnes & Noble, as awesome as their “new” nook HD tablets were, never caught on. If you’re in the market for a cheap, servicable android tablet, go out and get a nook HD right now. I love mine and won’t get another tablet for a very long time, I’m sure, long after B&N is gone.
Suggesting that Boeing is going anywhere anytime soon is ridiculous. That’d be like suggesting that Lockheed Martin or something is going away. The US government won’t let it happen. They’ll buy them out ala AIG if they have to.
I’m shocked that Rite Aid and KMart are still around. They are always so sad and depressing. I remember the last time I visited a Rite Aid and it was really eerie and lonely feeling. I can’t remember ever going to a KMart though I’m sure I have.
What about HP and Gateway? The HP tablet was a flop and didn’t they say they were getting out of making desktop PCs? And I can’t even remember the last time I saw anyone with a Gateway computer.
HP is an $111 billion (in revenues) company and, excluding one-time charges, made over $7 billion in profits in the past 4 quarters. Unless they’re cooking their books Enron-style, they’re not going anywhere.
Gateway is now owned by Acer.
HP is huge in the printer biz, so there is money to be made in computer peripherals. That said they did lay off a lot of people last year.
I thought his daughter has actually run the show for quite a while now, and he’s sort of a semi-retired brand ambassador / founder emeritus sort.
The issue with Playboy is that nude photos have ceased to be a draw since about… 1995 or so, and the non-photographic content of the magazine has been more or less duplicated in Maxim, Stuff, GQ, Esquire, et al. Penthouse changed formats and became more explicit, while Playboy has sort of puttered along, without changing much.
I personally think that Playboy should have gone after the lad mags tooth and nail back about 15 years ago and tried to position themselves as the high end, classy MEN’s magazine and painted the others as something for teenage boys, and not for grown men in their 20s and early 30s. Instead, they basically ceded that space to Maxim and Stuff, and are now in some sort of zombie twilight of not being particularly relevant to anyone.
Added to that, the one spot where Playboy could have competed on the nudie pix front was getting “big names” for their magazines. But these days, you just wait a day after the issue comes out (if that long) type “[B-Level Celebrity] Playboy” into an image search and there it is. You just saved $7 or whatever an issue of Playboy runs for these days.