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| 'It’s incredibly exciting to be the publisher of such a powerful brand, but it doesn’t have anything to do with being a woman' |
as its first woman publisher
Comes over from Sports Illustrated for Kids
By Jeff Bercovici
For decades, Playboy magazine has caught the public eye by filling its pages with pictures of lovely women in various states of undress.
Now it has again turned heads by putting a woman in charge of selling those very pages.
Gail C. Day has been named publisher and senior vice president of the Playboy Enterprises Publishing Group. She will be the first woman to hold that title.
Is Playboy up to something, hiring a female for the top sales spot at a high-profile men's magazine better known for its flesh shots than its literature? Some speculate that it could be part of an attempt to soften its image so as to seem more approachable to reluctant advertisers.
Day insists it’s not.
"I’m a magazine marketer," she says. "No matter what their content, magazines all have one goal in mind: to grow revenue."
She says there’s no special thrill in being the first woman publisher at a major men's book.
"It’s incredibly exciting to be the publisher of such a powerful brand, but it doesn’t have anything to do with being a woman."
Day’s appointment has been regarded somewhat quizzically in the media community, as her background is not in men’s magazines but rather with Sports Illustrated for Kids, where she was associate publisher and, before that, at Country America magazine and Cooking Light magazine.
She insists, however, that sales is sales. "Even though SI for Kids is different in content, a lot of the advertisers were the same or similar. It’s a new cast of characters, but largely the brands don’t change that much."
Whether that’s indeed the case, the media community retains a high degree of confidence in Playboy magazine.
"I’d say the numbers speak for themselves," says Melissa Pordy, senior vice president-director of print services at Zenith Media in New York. "Playboy continues to deliver a very, very large male audience."
Bolstering the magazine’s strength is the explosion in dot.com advertising. While the flood of internet money has swelled all purses, Playboy in particular stands to benefit.
"I think it’s an easier sell for new e-commerce advertisers," says Paul Benjou, vice president-director of media planning for Draft Worldwide in New York. "They tend to take more risks and be a little more adventurous than the old corporate stalwarts."
Increasing dot.com business will be an important part of the new program, says new publisher Day.
"Our goal is to continue with the momentum we have while branching out into new business."
Day also aims to solicit more fragrance and beauty advertising, and more electronics ads, which is already a big category for the magazine.
At Day’s right hand will be new associate publisher James Dimonekas, who has been promoted from eastern advertising director.
Also promoted is Terri L. Bunofsky, who will take the post of vice president, marketing services for the publishing group. She was corporate marketing research director.
The announcements come at a time when the whisper of the scythe can be heard at the Playboy Enterprises offices. The company is planning to cut approximately 5 percent of its staff in the next month or so, according to published reports.
Layoffs are expected to center on the unprofitable catalog unit, as the company seeks to reduce costs by moving its catalog operations online.
This may be a smart move. "Playboy Enterprises is floundering because of its non-publishing ventures, such as the catalogues, the casinos, and TV programming," says Benjou.
The magazine itself is enjoying healthy ad sales, up 7 percent in pages and 14 percent in revenue through November of 1999 over the previous year, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.
However, "What you see at Playboy Enterprises is that the publishing end is shoring up everything else," says Benjou. "I think the publishing end will eventually suffer."
The damage thus far has been negligible; the consensus is that per share earnings on Playboy stock will dip five cents so this year, says Benjou. Next year, however, the earnings are likely to drop by as much as 15 or 20 cents a share, many feel. Benjou predicts the stock will languish in the $22-27 dollar range.
"If I were them, I’d take a long, serious look at how they’re managing their non-publishing endeavors," says Benjou.
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Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.