Target Market for Playboy - Essay Example

The sales figure was decreasing, and it experienced the lowest in the year 1982. (The Tech, 1990)
To regain financial stability and overcome losses, playboy has extended its target market to a broader spectrum and positioned the brand differently. The whole targeting approach is explained below:

Target Customers:
Playboy has done the market segmentation based on demographic factors especially gender, income profile, and business groups to which the potential consumers belong. During the launch of the magazine, its target market was working men but after the decline of sales in 1982’s, they have shifted its focus to working-class women also. The current median age of their target age group is 33. Playboy has introduced their product in a variety of mediums such as television and online. Visual products were targeted to couples, irrespective of their working class, and the online media for market penetration and reach. (Playboy Enterprises. N.d)

Going Global:
In the 1990s, the declining sales figure forced Playboy to rethink its market segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy. They discovered that explosive growths are available in the Far East market, like in Japan. The company realized that the change in income profile in Japan has changed the demographic as well as the psychographic orientation of the customers. Hence the segmentation was done according to the psychographics of the consumers. As people started to get out of their workaholic and obsessive behavior, their mindset also changes and the targeting strategies must be restructured to expand the market. (The Tech, 1990)

Latest and Future Targeting Approaches:
Recent studies have shown that to stop the ever-decreasing sales figure, playboy needs to rethink their positioning strategy differently. Playboy is no longer considered to be a lifestyle magazine against conservative male norms. The company is targeting middle-aged uneducated and underpaid people too because of product saturation in the existing market (Lapp.2013). Market share can be increased further if the company targets the ever-increasing number of young males. It has already started marketing approaches that can redefine the brand and position the brand meaningfully in the current situation. They are trying to attract the youth by placing roadside signs at different junctions of the road in a retro style (Bojović, 2013). Recent market research has discovered that most of the target audience visits the Playboy website after finishing their work and there is an opportunity to reach a significant number of online target audiences sitting at their desk, not working, sending emails to their friends. Recently playboy has created a new website that is very safe to read in the workplace (The Telegraph, 2010).

Conclusion:
In conclusion, it can be said that the target audience of Playboy is:
Age Group: 25-34 years, previously 33 years (The Telegraph, 2010)
Gender: Men (Primary), Women
Employment status: Men: Working (Primary), Non-Working (Recent)
Women: Working
Education: Men: Educated (Primary), Uneducated (Current Focus)
Women: Both
Income profile: Highly paid (primary), Underpaid (Current)
Segmentation Approaches: Within the country: Demographic
Foreign Market: Demographic and Psychographic
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