Last week, Hugh Hefner popped his clogs; at 91 he’d had a fine innings and he had lived a fairy tale (distinctly adult themed) kind of life. Whilst I can’t bring myself to write a heartfelt obituary for the Playboy impresario, I am prepared to write a post acknowledging that the bloke was a legendary brand owner/manager.
Much has been written already by others reflecting on his life. I have read everything on the BBC because I’ll be honest, I knew very little about him really. I wasn’t surprised to learn that, like most highly successful people, he was thoroughly driven, he had passion and when he found his niche, absolutely owned it.
Regardless of whether you think that Hefner was an exploiter of women, an architect of the social/sexual revolution or just a dirty old man, the brand he created was one of the most recognisable in the world.
As a marketer, I think that Hefner was as synonymous with Playboy as Richard Branson is with Virgin. Both these chaps built their empires whilst acting as the figurehead for them, the success of the brands so linked to their founders’ personalities and determinations. Hefner totally lived his brand, the mansions, casinos, publishing all bringing glamour and nudity into the mainstream. Regardless of whether you’d want to have your own harem or be permanently draped with young, scantily clad women, you’d have to acknowledge that all the behaviour was in line with the Playboy brand.
As a bloke I’ll admit that there is a lot of me that thinks that Hefner was a cult like superhero sort of character. He must have had charisma by the bucket load. If he was a Viking, I’d argue he lived in Valhalla whilst still being on earth. He was rich, he was infamous, he bedded more than a thousand women and he had sex on tap. What a life! He absolutely lived the dream. No bloody wonder he lived for so long, who wouldn’t find the strength to face each day with all his advantages?
But dreaming would be as close as most blokes could get to his lifestyle. He lived it for decades when most blokes I know would run across burning coals just to live his way for a couple of days.
Though I live on a different continent, exist in a different reality, never met Hefner, never knew anyone who met or knew the chap, and always thought Playboy was rubbish as a porno mag (though I appreciate that it was pitched at a higher level), I think that the world is less colourful for Hefner’s exit.
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Much has been written already by others reflecting on his life. I have read everything on the BBC because I’ll be honest, I knew very little about him really. I wasn’t surprised to learn that, like most highly successful people, he was thoroughly driven, he had passion and when he found his niche, absolutely owned it.
Regardless of whether you think that Hefner was an exploiter of women, an architect of the social/sexual revolution or just a dirty old man, the brand he created was one of the most recognisable in the world.
As a marketer, I think that Hefner was as synonymous with Playboy as Richard Branson is with Virgin. Both these chaps built their empires whilst acting as the figurehead for them, the success of the brands so linked to their founders’ personalities and determinations. Hefner totally lived his brand, the mansions, casinos, publishing all bringing glamour and nudity into the mainstream. Regardless of whether you’d want to have your own harem or be permanently draped with young, scantily clad women, you’d have to acknowledge that all the behaviour was in line with the Playboy brand.
As a bloke I’ll admit that there is a lot of me that thinks that Hefner was a cult like superhero sort of character. He must have had charisma by the bucket load. If he was a Viking, I’d argue he lived in Valhalla whilst still being on earth. He was rich, he was infamous, he bedded more than a thousand women and he had sex on tap. What a life! He absolutely lived the dream. No bloody wonder he lived for so long, who wouldn’t find the strength to face each day with all his advantages?
But dreaming would be as close as most blokes could get to his lifestyle. He lived it for decades when most blokes I know would run across burning coals just to live his way for a couple of days.
Though I live on a different continent, exist in a different reality, never met Hefner, never knew anyone who met or knew the chap, and always thought Playboy was rubbish as a porno mag (though I appreciate that it was pitched at a higher level), I think that the world is less colourful for Hefner’s exit.
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