Building Brand Value the Playboy Way

by Susan Gunelius

With $8000 and a dream to create a men's lifestyle magazine that he would like to read, Hugh Hefner put together the first issue of Playboy magazine on his kitchen table. Over half a century later, Playboy has grown to become one of most well known brands in the world, and Hefner remains the face of the brand and the ultimate brand champion.

Susan Gunelius uncovers how a brand associated with sex survived and thrived despite attacks from every direction, in an increasingly competitive market and jaded consumers. For over 50 years, Hugh Hefner has lived the Playboy brand promise, and Playboy has become one of the most recognized brands in the world. It's a fascinating story of determination, dedication and belief in a product. It's the story of brand building, brand value, brand longevity and the ultimate brand champion.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2009

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's more of a textbook than a non-fiction analysis into Playboy's operations and its creation of brand value. However, it is very well researched and gives good insight into how Playboy has prospered and suffered through the decades and how its slow adaption to change will ultimately be its demise if it doesn't change its business structure quickly.

It stops at the 00's which is unfortunate as the 2010's was one of the worst decades for Playboy with the general death of the print industry, the death of the brand leader Hugh Hefner, and the ever-growing free availability of porn online.

However, Playboy is likely to have a comeback in the 2020's from a merchandising perspective but I don't know how long the print magazine will last. Will be interesting to have a follow-up on this research paper in the next few years.

One gripe is the ebook version of it has bubbles of information that would be separated in a physical copy but in the ebook version just interrupts a sentence mid-way.