How I would handle the Playboy Relaunch
Playboy dont fuck this up.
bc Victorias secret fucked it up.
Playboy is relaunching their print magazine (after 5 years of being solely online) with an annual edition.
Playboy had a chokehold on the mainstream porn scene for the better half of 50 years. The name synonymous with sex, mens interests, sex again, the playboy mansion and nudes. However with this relaunch, there’s paying respect to the history and then there’s reading the fucking room. Considering they closed the print editions only 5ish years ago, the cultural landscape has changed significantly in the meantime.
Not to mention it is widely understood that the brand would offer content creators and popular sex worker names a coveted spot as the covergirl for the online editions, only to then ask them to pay 20-30k in order to secure it. (detailed in Carly Electric’s Podcast, Girlfriend for Hire)
There’s publicity and then there’s scamming. That’s certainly one way to put a chip in the shoulder of your brand reputation.
For the sake of the rabbit hole, I am not going to go into the history of Hugh Hefner but you can look up everything you need to know about the man on the internet. I’m approaching this strictly from a brand point of view, however I do not gloss over the details of what went on in the Playboy Mansion, and I believe the women that have spoken out about their time involved with HH.
Forbes: This time around, media veteran Mark Healy will be at the helm of Playboy. His resume includes senior roles at GQ, Rolling Stone, and Men’s Journal. The February 2025 issue will make its debut in conjunction with Big Game Weekend and Super Bowl LIX.
According to Playboy’s latest announcement, “Original content will be produced with a keen focus on embracing the creator economy, partnering with some of the leading creators today to showcase their unique interests,” suggesting the target audience is young and flush with disposal income.
The print issue will be released at a launch event and celebration during the Big Game Weekend in New Orleans.
Lori Harvey was announced this week as the covergirl, too… quietly, in my opinion. There would be millions on the line for this annual edition, put your pussies into it!
I didnt know about the covergirl announcement for THREE DAYS even though I’ve been researching and stalking their pages to write this piece. That pissed me off.
Welcome to the Playboy Board Meeting with me as self-appointed imaginary Chief Creative Officer, we will cover 3 important things.
Covergirl
Creative Direction
Content Strategy
I would implement a mere semblance of a motherf*cking content strategy.
Posting old covers with some text aren’t cutting through the feed as if the caption is glossed over, the announcements are glossed over.
You’re going to get a big name to be your Playmate Covergirl, and I’m going to burn the rulebook for what playboy bunny “is” and ever was. Sorry to Lori Harvey.
Usually the cover girls were famous part of a creative direction campaign or a random girl picked off the street
Remembering this is a magazine for men, the creative choices can go hard with that in mind. My pick is Demi Moore with guest appearances with Margaret Qualley. If we’re coming back into the zeitgeist, we need to appeal to the nostalgic audiences who are in their 60’s, remembering that Demi is a classic goddess of a woman, who’s name is already everywhere in the pop culture headlines now after her performance in the Substance. Including Margaret Qualley as a guest playmate in the creative direction of the campaign to appeal to a modern, younger audience.
Demi is completely in her Siren and Star era
Put that woman with wet hands in front of a pottery turntable (a la Ghost) or recreating her iconic Striptease poster and you’ve got a viral moment already.
Creative Direction:
Calendar Girls: all the Nostalgia
As this is the first annual edition we’re going with a calendar girls angle. There’s going to be 12 mini sections of the magazine, with articles, mini photoshoots and pull-out posters reminiscent of a college boys and corresponding classic (less misognyistic) comedy stories and cartoons. With attention spans reaching shorter lengths we need the print magazine so be a smorgasbord that is refreshed as the viewer reaches each new ‘month’.
Things brings the traditional fun and cheekiness into the magazine in line with opportunities for modern perspectives on the male gaze, think Easter spread for April, the F1 in March, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders featuring modern adult content creators, the porn stars of a new age.
Content Strategy:
Anything is better than the less-than-bare minimum I’m seeing on their socials right now.
The Barbie Movie’s, for example, marketing budget was MORE than the budget of making the movie. With such iconic brand recall value (the bunny logo is IMPRINTED in everyones mind) this also needs to be priority, and a few posts over the course of a month is not enough.
For print (and a huge investment to the PLBY company) we would absolutely go IRL with their marketing and document everything for accumulative viral moments and intrigue.
Posters, collaborating with sex educator influencers and carefully curated influencers in the male space, popups and sponsorship at the recent AVN and XBIZ awards ceremony’s (The Oscars and Golden Globes of Porn).
With the relaunch happening on Superbowl weekend, can we stretch the budget to get Anna Faris to reprise her role as The House Bunny for a Superbowl Ad??
Keeping it PG with jokes that are still doing the rounds in the pop culture world Getting in front of the biggest audience possible.
I would organise guerilla ‘follow the bunny’ giveaways in major cities like NY and promote them on Instagram Stories, where people are following clues posted on stories (confirmed/signalled by playboy bunny stickers) around to end up at a promotional party, or to win prizes.
PR packs would go to female influencers, this is a men’s magazine but women are still nostalgic of the brand, front and centre in their comments on socials, and they have high influential power.
Until the 9th of Feb, I am going to enjoy speculating on what we can expect in this new Annual edition, I've ordered a digital copy so I can know straightaway and report back to my fellow hotties.
OH I also finally got to see Babygirl last night, my small regional town is playing it only for a week and at 8:30pm screenings 😂 Do you want my thoughts?