Building Brand Value the Playboy Way

• By Susan Gunelius
• On 3:00 am EDT, Monday September 14, 2009

This article is an edited excerpt fromBuilding Brand Value the Playboy Way, availablefrom Palgrave Macmillan.

Whats the first thing you think of when you hear the word, Playboy? If you said sex, then youre just one of hundreds of millions of people around the world who make the same association, and Im going to tell you two things right now based on that association:

1. The Playboy brand is working.
2. This book is not about sex.

Of course, if you didnt answer the above question with the word sex, then Im very curious to know what your answer was. Regardless, I didnt write this book to talk about sex. This book is about branding and marketing. Its about the history of an iconic, globally powerful brand that represents an unlikely subject for a product that has gone from highly controversial to somewhat of a commodity over the course of half a century. Most importantly, this book is about the role of a brand champion in building a brand.

For Playboy, Hugh Hefner played the role of brand champion throughout the brands 55+ year lifecycle. It could be argued that there has been no other brand champion in history who could be so closely associated with the brand he championed, nor is there another brand champion who has fulfilled that role for such a long period of time. Other brand champion names such as Steve Jobs, Mary Kay Ash, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Martha Stewart come to mind, and many of those people will be discussed in this book. However, they all pale in comparison to Hugh Hefner who became the living embodiment of the Playboy brand.

I should mention that Hefners role as brand champion was one he played with vigor and resolute purpose. But as some might wonder how his stamina endures in his private life, I wonder how his stamina to champion the Playboy brand in the publics eye and through his workaholic behavior continues to drive him. As you read this book, youll learn more about Hugh Hefner, the man. Youll learn how his childhood shaped his thinking and much of his behavior, and youll learn what that meant to the Playboy brand. Youll learn how his belief in the product he created, Playboy, was all-encompassing, and youll learn how he promoted and defended the brand and company above all else as a tireless brand advocate and brand guardian.

Marketers and branding experts are always searching for the perfect recipe to boost brand equity. There is no doubt that a powerful brand can be an invaluable company asset, however, marketers have always battled with senior management to secure the budget necessary to build brand value. The reason is simple. Brands are intangible assets. Company owners, shareholders, and analysts want to see hard numbers reflected on balance sheets and income statements.

Unfortunately, there is no space in accounting software for Brand to fit in the Assets column. That doesnt make it any less meaningful and useful, but companies focus on metrics and quantifiable data. Things like brand fall to the wayside. Its an unfortunate reality in the profit-driven, bottom-line conscious world of business. Building brand equity is a long-term strategy. When shareholders demand double-digit growth year over year, corporate executives typically choose short-term tactics to meet those expectations and keep their jobs over long-term strategies to position the company for continued success in the future.

All days werent perfect in the history of Playboy. In fact, much of the past 30 years have been bleak for Playboy, however, the company survived. Despite facing a wide variety of challenges, not the least of which has been an inability to be proactive and develop long-term strategies, Playboy has survived. How? This book will show you that a strong brand can help a company weather the storms and overcome insurmountable obstacles.

Dont get me wrong. A strong brand doesnt guarantee success, but the power of a well-established, well-known brand can boost a companys chances for success immensely. Did anyone think that Martha Stewarts company could fully rebound after she was found guilty of violating insider trading laws and spent several months in prison? Many people thought her business would fail after its brand champion brought such public humiliation to the company. However, the public was able to disassociate Stewarts personal financial troubles from her brands promise. The company rebounded and her stint in jail is remembered as a mere diversion in the brands lifecycle.

Similarly, did anyone believe that Tylenol could regain its stronghold in the over-the-counter pain reliever market after the Tylenol poisoning epidemic in the 1980s? The brand seemed tarnished beyond repair, yet within a very short time, the company not only repaired the products brand image but it reclaimed its place as market leader. Again, the power of a brand cannot be denied.

The Playboy brand overcame myriad obstacles during its lifecycle. Despite being linked to violent sex crimes, a murder, drugs, and more, the brand emerged from each attack strong and continued to grow. Much of that success can be attributed to Hugh Hefner as the ultimate brand champion continually defending the brand. His utter belief in his product and brand was tenacious. In fact, many people found it hard not to believe with him.

That leads to one of the most important aspects of the longevity of the Playboy brand. At its core, Playboy is a relationship brand, and relationship brands are always well-positioned to become extremely powerful. As youll learn in this book, a relationship brand invites people to personally connect with it, directly interact with it, and share brand experiences with others. Relationship brands typically lead to strong customer loyalty, and loyal consumers turn into repeat buyers and brand advocates. There is no more powerful form of word-of-mouth marketing than a band of loyal brand advocate customers. They talk about the brand theyre loyal to with others, defend it, and buy it again and again. There is a reason why that old Breck shampoo commercial used the tagline, and she told two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. It just works.

Even if you detest pornography and would never purchase a product sold by Playboy, its undeniable that the brand is powerful and has lived a long and prosperous life. And there is no denying that much of the brands success can be linked directly to Hugh Hefner.

Susan Gunelius is president and CEO ofKeySplash Creative Inc., a full service marketing communications provider and branding consultancy, and owner ofWomenOnBusiness.com,a leading blog community for business women. She is the author of severalbooks, includingKick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Stepspublished byEntrepreneur Press. Her newest book,Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, will be available October 27, 2009.

Buzz up!