We’ve all heard Playboy will stop featuring nudes starting with next month’s issue. This move gives the magazine some distribution advantages, such as the possibility of being on more newsstands without being plastic covered as well as being able to be left out on coffee tables and desktops without being offensive to some. However, to think this move will be the main driver to revamp the brand and, consequently, significantly increase readership from the low 800,000 levels it has plummeted to is misguided.

An interesting PR tactic attempted to explain the move away from nudity by claiming the magazine has achieved Playboy’s founding goal “of normalizing the female body by introducing women to the world in their au naturel state.” What? 

We know no one “reads” Playboy or any other nude magazine for sex, porn, etc. It’s been free and more explicit on the Internet for years.

The energy and money placed behind this relaunch is admirable, but will not move the needle to revive the Playboy brand – nor will the current TV and digital efforts of the organization. A continued erosion of the brand seems inevitable since all efforts to expand it beyond the magazine have largely failed. In fact, I’m going out on a limb, but the only effort that helped the brand with the next generation has been reality TV show “The Girls Next Door,” which aired on E!

Playboy Enterprises, based in Beverly Hills, is a brand that influenced generations of men and women alike. The simple reason is it presented a lifestyle, one you could touch, emulate and then reinforce with the pages of the publication. Playboy Clubs were available in many cities in America and key international locations. The mansion and the celebrities who gathered in its grotto were legendary and aspirational. Playboy was a badge representing a lifestyle. It wasn’t called “Juggs” or “Barely Legal.” It was declaring who the reader was and his philosophy on life. 

Short on experience

Herein lies the rub: You cannot experience the Playboy brand anymore. The magazine is now watered down, for whatever reason. No destination clubs really exist anymore except in Las Vegas and the likes of the stuffy London Clubs International. The current TV and digital offering are unimaginative and generic, not allowing for clear delineation and identity from so much more “defined” competitive marketplace offerings. Playboy has lost its way.

The way to revive the Playboy brand, is no different than the way “Star Trek,” “Mission Impossible” and James Bond did it. Go back to its roots, modernize and make the brand relevant to a new audience, a new generation of Playboy loyalists. In Playboy’s case, that means making the brand experiential again.

Why are the most popular nightclubs called “Gatecrasher,” “Twilo,” “Privilege,” “Garden of Eden,” “Crobar,” “C2K” or “Club BBoss”? Why aren’t they called “Playboy,” providing the Playboy experience? Clubbing is essential for millennials around the world. And expert club investors need brands to exploit. Playboy should take advantage of this dual dynamic.

Also, take a cue from the hospitality industry and make management deals – 50-50 revenue splits; Playboy provides the management and the brand; the operating partner provides the brick-and-mortar investment. I don’t mean like the clubs at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas or the tired London facility. Close ’em down. Reinvent the experience of the original clubs, infusing it with the brand pillars and the contemporary club experience. Such a strategy would mean relatively low costs for Playboy, club operators would get a compelling brand to work with and a new generation of customers could be converted to the Playboy brand by experiencing it.

Let’s see what happens.

Senn Moses is founder and principal of TransGlobal360, a strategy and implementation firm in Sherman Oaks.