Maxim Gets Back Into Licensing Biz

Maxim, which epitomized brand extensions gone amok by slapping its name on everything from sheets to hair dye, is getting back into the licensing business.
 
But this time, said Joe Mangione, CEO of Maxim parent Alpha Media Group, “We are going to be very careful.”
 
Through a just-announced deal with licensing giant IMG, the 2.5 million-circ lad magazine is closely eyeing products like apparel and grooming—for women as well as men.
 
As its circulation exploded in the lad mag boom of the late ’90s, Maxim launched an ambitious expansion plan that included a string of steakhouses with Jeffrey Chodorow, casinos and resorts in addition to the aforementioned bedsheets and hair dye.