Jason Levin Profile picture
Jun 19 9 tweets 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
I spent my weekend reading old Playboys

(The articles and interviews of course)

Here's how Hugh Hefner turned $600 into the Playboy empire: Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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_…
Thought this was cool?

Follow me @iamjasonlevin for more ideas like this

Like & RT the top tweet if u want me to post threads more often

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Jason Levin

Jason Levin Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @iamjasonlevin

Jun 16
Loneliness is hitting men the hardest

But the solution isn't AI girlfriends or the metaverse

Here's 7 reasons why all men should consider joining the mafia:
You get supportive male friends. Image
Stimulating meal-time conversation Image
Read 11 tweets
Jun 15
My friend Charlie made $1 million from a meme account 🤯

I interviewed him for my new book

How a random dude in Minnesota became a millionaire memelord: Image
In 2020, @charliewrich was bored at his finance job

So he started a meme account based on a grumpy rich old man

He named the account John W. Rich (@Cokedupoptions) Image
Charlie tweeted funny posts and replied to big accounts

His account grew really fast

Soon, people were DMing Charlie asking:

"Can you write funny posts for me too???"

Charlie was like "Ok, pay me."
Read 8 tweets
Jun 12
Did you know PR stunts have a secret formula?

Here are 6 legendary PR stunts from over the past 100 years

Try to find the 1 thing in common (the secret formula):
STUNT #1:

In the 1920s, women only smoked inside

American Tobacco Company wanted women to smoke outside

So their PR guy told models to smoke in a parade to show they were equal to men

"The Torches of Freedom March" hit the front page

Event → News → Demand Increase (for 🚬) Image
STUNT #2:

In 1933, congress was investigating JP Morgan

A senator told the paper it was "a circus"

The Ringling Brothers Circus were in town and had an idea

At the next hearing, they brought a dwarf to sit on Morgan's lap 😂

Event → News → Demand Increase (for the circus) Image
Read 10 tweets
Oct 24, 2022
In 2011, @antoniogm sold a company to Twitter.

Now he's taking on AdTech in web3.

Here's why @SpindlXyz will change web3 forever:
Currently, web3 teams know which wallets bought NFTs.

But, they have no idea how users found the project.

In AdTech, this knowledge is called Attribution.

It's how companies know if you're coming from Twitter or Google.

Attribution is nonexistent in web3 — until now.
Attribution helps companies know where customers come from.

Using attribution data, companies can adjust their ad spend.

In web3, companies have been blindly spending money on ads.

Wasting billions with no way to know what's working.

For web3 to succeed, this needs to change.
Read 10 tweets
Sep 28, 2022
Hello anon.

How/why do you build a pseudonymous brand?

Let's take a look at lessons from @BoredElonMusk.

🧵👇
Pseudonyms have 3 advantages:

Creative Experiment: ability to take creative risks

Reputation Firewall: no fear of getting canceled

No Bias: judged on merit — not degree/looks

"The pseudonymous economy is our best bet to combat both discrimination and cancellation" - @balajis
This leads to 2 consequences:

Creators create the content they want, which is better than self-filtered content.

Because pseudonyms are judged off merit, the best ideas rise to the top

This leads to 🔥 anon creators/builders like @punk6529, @BoredElonMusk, & @funghibull.
Read 12 tweets
Aug 15, 2022
I dropped out of my English degree.

Now I make $100,000+ writing online.

11 online writers that will teach you more than any English professor:

[🧵 thread]
1/ I wrote threads for @Gregisenberg’s company @latecheckoutplz.

His google doc comments were more valuable than any English teacher.

What I learned:
- Make it personal
- Make the hook pop
- Keep shouting your truth

Subscribe to Greg: latecheckout.substack.com
2/ @ljin18 is a venture capitalist and writer.

She's the leading investor in the creator economy.

What I learned:
- Find your 100 true fans
- You can make money doing what you love
- Invest in your community and they'll invest in you

Subscribe to Li: li.substack.com
Read 14 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(