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Portrait By Leif Zurmuhlen
old women. “Women are fascinated with Playboy,” Duncan says. “It’s a guilty pleasure for them. They don’t relate it to sex.” The Playboy Foundation fights for First Amendment rights, but the firm’s support of free speech, choice, and gay rights is probably not what draws women to the brand. “It just says ‘pop culture’ to them.” Soon after Playboy re-launched its product lines in 1999–2000, Sarah Jessica Parker wore a rabbit charm on Sex and the City. Her appeal helped the brand reach fashionable women. Each season, Duncan and his team of eight designers produce a look book, including a series of phrases to set the mood. Past buzzwords include “American dreamer,” “Eighties excess,” and “young and loaded.” Color choices follow, with an eye to what’s on-trend. At times, branding can be more abstract. In September, the company launched four men’s fragrances with city themes—Hollywood, Malibu, Las Vegas, and Miami. The packaging incorporates the logo, but how does something smell like Playboy? Duncan says, “When you spray it on, you feel like you’re relaxing at the mansion.” Even price is a branding consideration. To make the Playboy experience attainable for the young consumer as well as the mansion-dwelling magnate, products are available at different price points. The upscale Playboy Icon line offers a cocktail dress at $600 and menswear starting at $200. At the other end of the spectrum is merchandise licensed for the chain store Hot Topic, so everyone can afford Playboy’s idea of the good life.
70 percent of Playboy merchandise is bought by 18-to-25-year-
“We’re not a subtle brand,” says Aaron Duncan, who, as senior vice president and creative director of global licensing, develops branded fashion and accessories for Playboy Enterprises International. Few would disagree— and most would allow that the company is brilliant at extending its brand through its merchandise. Today, Playboy product licenses earn $850 million in retail sales and are sold in more than 150 countries. More than 150 firms manufacture Playboy products, and Duncan makes sure they understand the brand’s fun-loving, hedonistic image—and its limitations. Revealing lingerie, for example, is branded, but sex toys aren’t. “We’re a heritage brand. That means we have a history. The licensee has to understand that, and contemporize it without going over the line.” When Duncan was hired as design director ten years ago, he was charged with extending the brand into women’s. “We relied on Aaron’s strong sense of marketplace trends and consumer desires,” says Christie Hefner, chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (and daughter of founder Hugh Hefner). “He has a unique ability to translate the Playboy brand and iconography into products that appeal to smart, fashionable consumers worldwide.” His creativity, she adds, is limitless. The magazine, launched in 1953, appeals chiefly to men; but surprisingly,
Fuzzy dice, air fresheners, and other “trashy” items Playboy did in the ’70s were discontinued because they “cheapened the brand.” Also rejected: Paddles for fraternity hazing rituals, and branded sex toys: “We do sexy, but not sex.”
Flash, But No Trash
Playboy’s founder is a key reference point for the brand. “Hugh is the consummate entertainer. He stands for a fun, active lifestyle.” The Hef Peecol “action figure” is a collaboration with Kidrobot, noted creator of designer toys. A Hef bobblehead is also available.
Hefner, the Icon
Electric guitars and other “lifestyle” merchandise, like martini glasses, black satin bedding, and golf club covers, make the cut. But not paint: “The brand’s more suited to a dorm room than to home and furniture.”
The Playboy Lifestyle
Lingerie, sleepwear, cocktail dresses, and footwear for women; sportswear and underwear for men. No-nos: The Eddie Bauer-type look, or anything with a missy silhouette—“Not sexy enough,” Duncan says. And no skull-motif prints, even when trendy: “Playboy’s about life.”
Hot or Not