The logo is. The Playboy rabbit head is one of the most iconic and recognizable logos ever created. Perhaps once it is no longer associated with a nudie mag, it could become even more valuable.
Maybe. But wouldn't that be like no longer associating Ronald McDonald, or the "Golden Arches," with fast food hamburgers? Like McDonald's, PB may not just have an image problem -- or logistics, as in the internet competition. It's the culture. McDonald's is having a hard time keeping the young because of the shift toward healthier eating. McDonald's could start serving tofu burgers (yuck!) but then it is no longer . . . McDonald's. It's just a pale imitator.
PB didn't just sell pics of naked ladies. It created a whole cultural experience by catering to the "Madmen" ideal-- WASP, sophisticated, intellectual. ("What sort of man reads PLAYBOY?" was the recurrent ad.)
Which is why I enjoyed their editorial content. Excellent, thoughtful pieces, at least back in the 60s & 70s.(Hefner once said that intelligence is the greatest aphrodisiac.) That generation is dying out, along with their aspirations.
Will the younger men flock to PB, either print or online, for its editorial content? It might be too mature for them. If PB has to dumb down its content, then it will become no different than MAXIM or even ESQUIRE, which was also once a quality gentleman's magazine but now seems geared for either Metrosexuals or frat boys. Sort of a gay rag dressed up in "straight" clothing.
It wasn't just the internet that killed the quality men's mags. Frankly, I think it's all just the end of an era. PB might be able to revamp itself like Disney, but it might eventually go with Hefner to that big Playboy mansion in the sky.