TV commercials for Playboy?

Peggy Wilkins mozart@lib.uchicago.edu
Fri, 18 Apr 2003 15:59:16 -0500


>>>>> "Mark" == Mark Tomlonson <tomlonson@wmich.edu> writes:

    Mark> ... I think it would be very difficult to
    Mark> advertise the Playmates or celebrity nude features without
    Mark> coming across like one of those 1-900-GET-A-DATE late night
    Mark> ads.

I remember seeing television ads for PLAYBOY subscriptions, and every
last one of them struck me as both trite and sleazy.  To me, the
largest problem came down to the style of narration, where the tone of
voice changed to "wink wink, nudge nudge" when they started talking
about the beautiful women.  The rest of these ads didn't strike me as
all that impressive, either.

I think it's quite hard to make a magazine sound good on television; I
have yet to see an approach that I really like, for any magazine,
wheter PLAYBOY or Sports Illustrated or what have you.  I think this
is the reason that we don't see many magazine ads on television.

The 50th anniversary offers a golden opportunity to have some really
unique, impressive television and radio spots for PLAYBOY!  It is an
ideal chance to break out of the usual magazine ad style.  So what
could they do?  Here's an idea.  Why not have Hugh Hefner come on and
give some personal reminiscences about some interesting episode in
PLAYBOY's history -- for example, a time when he was arrested, or a
groundbreaking feature in the magazine -- in short, an interesting and
compelling vignette.  Maybe this could even tie in with some really
well known PLAYBOY features that many people will remember, so it will
jog people's memories.  Have a variety of these, and then at the end
of each one, have a common, short, subtly spoken reminder that the
current issue of PLAYBOY is on sale now; maybe show the cover.
Careful choice of a narrator could be key; why not even consider Hef
for this subtle reminder?  This could be equally effective as a voice
over on a radio spot or as a television ad.  Put this ad in the
expected markets, but also in the unexpected ones -- maybe get back
some old readers, some of the ones that made up the old audience from
the 7 million circulation days!

Personally I think this is a great idea!

    Mark> This assumes that there is enough quality, non-sexual
    Mark> material in the mag to pitch on TV.

Again, the 50th anniversary offers the golden opportunity.  Remember
that advertising is a double-edged sword: you can have the best ads in
the world and if the product doesn't deliver, people will be
disappointed and will never believe the hype again.  I think that an
extra effort at good content should be aligned with an excellent ad
campaign -- they go hand in hand.  Deliver the goods.

If I were spearheading a content redesign, as Mr. Kaminsky is, I would
see that a good ad campaign rolled out along with the new product.

Peggy Wilkins
mozart@uchicago.edu