A speculative creative pitch nearly a decade ago has paid off for Lee Kovel, chief creative officer of Kovel Kresser & Partners.
The agency has won the lead role on Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises’ estimated $10 million account. Its first assignment is to launch Playboy’s first corporate branding campaign in over a decade, with about $3 million in ad support.
KKP was invited to pitch by Cindy Rakowitz, Playboy’s vice president of promotions, who recalled a pitch that Kovel made seven years ago. “I never forgot his work,” she said.
“They wanted an agency that could create a brand campaign for a product which is misunderstood right now,” said Kovel. Donita Nelson will serve as management supervisor on the business at the Venice, Calif., shop.
The agency succeeds The Leap Partnership, Chicago, which has been working on strategic projects, according to Rakowitz. Some Playboy divisions will continue to use their own shops, she added.
The first ad in the new TV, print and outdoor campaign broke last week in newspapers such as The New York Times saluting Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s induction into the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame.
The new campaign will highlight Playboy’s role in the sexual revolution under the theme, “The revolution isn’t over, it’s just beginning,” said sources. One proposed tagline appeared in the body copy of the Hefner ad: “Life, liberty and the pursuit of fantasy.”
Playboy Enterprises includes Playboy magazine with three million readers, plus books, a TV network, videos and Web sites.
Playboy Chooses KKP
