News
Playboy’s non-naked mobile ambition
Stuart O'Brien May 7 2008, 4:45pm
Iconic brand speaking to operators, content partners and sponsors as part of renewed mobile push.
Playboy is ready to make its mark in mobile – and the name of the game is not adult, but lifestyle content and social networking.
The strategy is part of the iconic brand’s wider move away from the ‘late night’ and ‘glamour’ content categories and the connotations they carry, particularly in the traditionally conservative operator community.
The Miss Playboy Mobile competition, which culminated at CTIA last month, is the springboard for a renewed wireless focus – the contest will expand beyond the US this year using social networks like Facebook to drive mobile interaction.
The company is also re-launching the PlayboyMobile.com portal, which will act as a hub for localised, ad-funded content and community services around the world. Playboy has already partnered with Minick to get its mobile content operations up and running in Europe.
Speaking to ME, Ed Lang, SVP of mobile and international online at Playboy Media Group, said: “We made a conscious decision some time ago to take ‘nude’ off the table and focus our digital efforts on other, more aspirational qualities of the Playboy brand – we’re now playing at a higher level.”
Indicative of the company’s new ‘lifestyle’ approach in other media is the Playboy U social networking site and the Girls Of The Playboy Mansion TV show, which has a 60 per cent female audience on E! in the US.
In mobile that message is being rammed home by mass-market licensing deals such as the one inked earlier this year with THQ Wireless for a series of mobile games, which Lang says will open previously closed doors for the Playboy brand ‘on-portal’.
Meanwhile, the rollout of PlayboyMobile.com will be coordinated in conjunction with the company’s 20-odd international publisher partners.
Lang added: “We’ll definitely be looking to sell premium content through our mobile channels in the future, but right now we want to present them as a sponsorship opportunity for operators and third-party brands.”
