The bunny leads the way

By Laurika Bretherton, ITWeb Chicago-based correspondent

Johannesburg, 13 Jul 2000

Playboy CEO and chairman, Christie Hefner, had a captivated audience during her keynote address at yesterday`s Chicago InternetWorld 2000. The grand ballroom, where she was scheduled to speak, was filled long before her presentation.

Hefner has been with Playboy since 1975 and during this time restructured operations, eliminated unprofitable businesses and initiated the company`s electronic and international expansion.

Hefner pointed to Jack Trout`s book "Differentiate or Die" as a good read for companies looking for permanence.

Playboy has taken the advice in this book and expanded into areas other than just the magazine. The company now offers a range of Playboy-branded clothes and lifestyle products in over 70 countries. Alliances with international partners have led to the production and distribution of 16 editions of Playboy magazine and Playboy TV networks in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Going online

When Playboy became one of the first national magazines to go online in 1994, the company wanted to make money from this venture. "It`s not enough just to generate traffic, we want to make money. So, one year after the launch, Playboy.com became one of the first sites on the Web to sell advertising," explained Hefner.

In 1997, Playboy launched its subscription service, Playboy Cyber Club. Members of Playboy Cyber Club can participate in live Webcasts of exclusive Playboy events, access Playboy Interviews and Playboy Advisor columns, as well as view images from the Playmate Portfolio, Playboy Photo Library and Playboy Art Gallery. The site has more than 48 000 members.

During 1998, the company made a commitment to build this business, primarily by developing original content designed to attract Playboy`s target audience of young, urban men.

In August 1999, Playboy also began offering pay-per-view Webcasts of select Playboy events. Traffic to Playboy.com reached as much as 113 million page views in a single month. Revenues generated by the business more than doubled in 1999 over 1998.

Hefner believes Playboy.com is one of the few successful online entertainment businesses generating revenues from four sources: advertising, e-commerce, subscriptions and pay-per-view.

She concluded that companies have to diversify their offerings and move with the times if they want to be successful in business. "We have been doing this very successfully over the years. First we had the magazine. When TV came, we were there. Now we have initiated our online business, which I believe has the potential of becoming the largest money generator for Playboy."