The new business will draw on the distribution know-how gained through Columbia House’s more than 50 years in the marketplace, but will not be marketed to current customers.
Officials at Columbia House were reticent to talk about the new service, but did confirm that Hush will officially open by the end of January and will be available on its own website.
“It’s a separate company,” spokesman Doug Piwinski told XBiz. “It won’t touch any of the existing Columbia House customers, so it’s basically starting with zero members.”
Instead of using its own customer base, Columbia said that it intends to draw from Playboy’s direct-mail list, which the company says contains millions of prospective customers. Columbia will use the list to distribute a wide variety of adult titles.
The new business comes just months after Columbia House inked a non-exclusive distribution deal with Playboy and began offering some of its DVDs in its video clubs.
“One of our top priorities is to provide the widest selection of product to our members,” said Columbia House CEO Scott Flanders at the time. “The agreement enables Columbia House to offer new, diversified titles produced and presented by a world-recognized brand, and provides Playboy with access to our millions of members.”
While Columbia House officials have said that the new business will not be marketed to current customers, the company, which has been pounded recently with the introduction of discount online distributors like Amazon.com, said it hopes to capitalize on the estimated $5 billion-per-year market of adult video sell-through and rentals.
Hush will be marketed through direct mail and advertisements in adult magazines, and also sponsor contests on Howard Stern’s radio show.
