Playboy puts on its pyjamas for new sites

Playboy, the original girlie magazine, is putting on its clothes – or at least its pajamas. The NYSE-listed company is setting up a mix of new sites that it hopes will appeal to a variety of readers and advertisers. It is currently working on a ''free, safe-for-work site'' named TheSmokingJacket.com, as well as additional subscription content, company executives revealed during its first-quarter earnings call.

The name is obviously derived from the fact that its famous founder Hugh Heffner is usually portrayed in pyjamas and a smoking jacket. The executives were shy about revealing further details of the project, such as a launch date or the beauty-to-text ratio. But the old joke about coy Playboy readers saying they read it ''just for the articles'' may well become a little truer.

Playboy in the past has certainly featured some great writers – Nobel and Pulitzer winners among them – alongside its 'boyzone' pics. Major authors like Arthur C Clarke, Vladimir Nabokov, the inimitable P G Wodehouse, and Margaret Atwood have all featured in the magazine. It has also featured some remarkable interviews, like former US president Jimmy Carter admitting that he has ''committed adultery in my heart many times''.

Now, it apparently will have to put up an even tamer image, with more emphasis on article content, as its aim is to attract more mobile users and additional ad revenues from marketers who may be skittish about appearing on a nude site.

Still, if the aim is to defeat rivals like Maxim.com, it can scarcely afford to do away with skin content. As a blogger remarks, ''I just checked out Maxim, and I have to say ... it's not a site you want on your 25-inch computer display when your boss comes creeping up behind you.''

In the meantime, Playboy will continue fine-tuning its other digital plans, such as a mobile version of Playboy TV and an interactive chat room, which launched in February. On top of that, Playboy is also testing new pay options for its site and content, including a pre-paid subscription card.

But although Playboy announced better-than-expected financials for its first quarter, the company is still bleeding revenue to the tune of $1 million last quarter.

And in an age when web surfers can find a galaxy of free smut at the click of a URL, Playboy's strategy of going the "safe-for-work way" might not be as counterintuitive as it sounds.