Thread by @iamjasonlevin

I spent my weekend reading old Playboys

(The articles and interviews of course)

Here's how Hugh Hefner turned $600 into the Playboy empire:

Hef got into journalism very early.

At age 8, he started his own newspaper and sold it door-to-door

In high school, he wrote a magazine for his friends called School Daze.

He kept publishing it through his time in college and the army

By age 27, Hef was working at Esquire magazine.

But he always wanted to started his own legit magazine.

In the 50s, most men's magazines were about "The Great Outdoors"

Hef wanted to start a sophisticated magazine about "The Great Indoors"

Wine, women, and art

So he invested $600 of his own money.

Then Hef gathered $3,000 from friends and family

They printed 70,000 copies of the first Playboy and sold all of them.

This gave them momentum to print another edition.

And then another and another.

As the face of the brand, Hef lived like a playboy.

In 1959, he bought the Playboy Mansion in Chicago

He lived there with his girlfriend, friends, and 20 Playboy bunnies.

Then in 1974, he bought the LA Playboy Mansion.

He also bought the Big Bunny: a black jet with the Playboy bunny on it.

Living in LA, Hef entered Hollywood and hosted wild parties with celebs.

As a teenager, I thought Playboy was just naked women.

But each edition contained articles, interviews, and jokes

They interviewed everyone from MLK to Mark Cuban

Hef wanted Playboy to be the ultimate magazine for men's leisure.

Playboy quickly grew from a magazine to an empire with:

• Hotels and clubs
• Clothes
• Books
• Movies and TV

Playboy is proof you can build anything if you have a powerful brand

I'm publishing a case study on Playboy's brand in 48 hours, subscribe:
cyberpatterns.xyz/subscribe?utm_…

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