To provide a “home base” for his video crews, Girls Gone Wild acquired two million-dollar tour buses decked out with the “Girls Gone Wild” logo. The buses serve as rolling billboards, creating attention and excitement wherever they appear. The buses travel to over 700 live events per year and interact with more than 30,000 college-age consumers every week. Bars, clubs and entertainment venues across the country are eager to book Girls Gone Wild events for the crowds it brings in, providing yet another revenue stream for Girls Gone Wild.
Francis expanded the Girls Gone Wild catalog of titles, opened new markets such as pay-per-view TV and video on-demand, and hired a talented production staff to sharpen the look of the GGW videos. But the core element of Girls Gone Wild has always remained the same: real college girls, real hot. By staying true to the original vision, Girls Gone Wild eventually achieved what most marketers only dream of: brand ubiquity. USA Today affirmed Girls Gone Wild as one of the top 25 most important trends of the last quarter-century.
As a result of his success, Joe found himself in demand for interviews and public speaking engagements. He was invited to share his perspectives on business development in three separate speeches at Yale University, and has shared his wisdom with members of the International Young President’s Organization (YPO) a nonprofit network comprised of more than 20,000 leaders in 100 countries dedicated to helping its members become better leaders and make a positive difference in the world, for almost a decade.
In 2002, Francis helped design a corporate retreat in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to serve the expanding needs of his company. Featuring a main house, two guesthouses, three pools and lush tropical gardens, Francis named the estate Casa Aramara from the local Indian name for “The Goddess of the Pacific Ocean.” The house has been featured in several magazines and TV shows and is a centerpiece of the book Casa Mexicana Style by Tim Street-Porter. Celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Courtney Cox, Sheryl Crow, Quincy Jones, Kimberly Stewart, Farrah Fawcett, Mimi Rogers, the Kardashians and many others have stayed there and sung its praises. The property serves as a shooting location for infomercials, making it a valuable asset to the company and an excellent investment, much like the Playboy Mansion.
In 2004, IN DEMAND, a pay-per-view TV company, asked Francis to produce an event for broadcast during the Super Bowl Half-time. Francis recruited college girls from all across the country to come to “Girls Gone Wild Island” to participate in a series of naked games for what became his biggest production yet, the “Girls Gone Wild Halftime Games.” A DVD of the games remains one of Girls Gone Wild’s most popular titles.
In May 2006, as Francis was about to turn 33, his company showed its appreciation for his achievements by renting Southern California’s Magic Mountain amusement park and throwing the biggest birthday party in recent Hollywood history.
More than 5,000 friends, business acquaintances and celebrities enjoyed the park’s rides, restaurants and food stands along with four full bars and a dinner buffet with sounds provided by the late DJ AM. The event was covered extensively by the mainstream entertainment media, adding further luster to the Girls Gone Wild brand.
In early 2007, Francis commissioned a complete line of high-quality Girls Gone Wild apparel, including casual wear, sleepwear and, with famed designer Ashley Paige, a line of spectacular swimwear. A runway fashion show was held during Mercedes Benz fashion week in South Beach and the GGW designs were an instant hit. The line has been carried by retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Zumiez, Fred Segal, Bloomingdales, Kitson and Lisa Kline.
As Francis explains, the Girls Gone Wild clothing line helps expand the brand to an audience that wouldn’t normally order a DVD, but still wants to experience the Girls Gone Wild lifestyle. “From what we hear,” says Francis, “every girl who puts on a Girls Gone Wild shirt gets more comments and attention from men for that piece of clothing than from anything else she’s ever worn.”
In early 2009, during the government TARP controversy, Francis and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt announced that they were petitioning the US Congress for a $5 billion financial bailout for the adult entertainment industry. “Our industry has been very successful,” Francis said at the time, “but since Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses, we feel we deserve the same consideration.” The bailout request was regarded by many as a simple PR stunt, but Francis insists that his intent was to make an impact on the discussions surrounding the government’s role in business. It had an impact, becoming headline news in the mainstream print and TV media. “We were the first people to raise that absurd idea and play it straight and play it long enough for people to say to themselves, ’Wait a minute …?’ and question the whole concept of the US Government bailout program. I believe we exposed this misuse of taxpayer funds to “bail out” select private corporations and changed the discussion point in this country on this issue,” Francis said.
Girls Gone Wild has grown into a diversified global media company, rounded out with a highly-skilled team of professionals who have unparalleled experience in the company’s core business segments.
While overseeing this diverse business organization, Francis also devotes much of his energy and financial resources to supporting a variety of charities, including the Lili Claire Foundation, established to help enhance the lives of children with neurogenetic disorders; the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation, which works to secure a better future for children in conflict areas around the world; The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which seeks to prevent pediatric HIV infection and to eradicate pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs, and Direct Relief International, which provides medical assistance to improve the quality of life for people victimized by poverty, disaster, and civil unrest at home and throughout the world. In addition, Girls Gone Wild has donated 100 percent of the gross sales, not profit, from the sale of Mardi gras-themed DVDs and videos to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Francis has proven adept at keeping his brand in the public consciousness through his high-profile lifestyle and provocative public statements. For example, when a Girls Gone Wild commercial was inadvertently shown throughout the Philadelphia market by the Comcast cable network during the broadcast of a Good Friday service at the Vatican, Francis noted publicly that the cable service received only one complaint, and sales of Girls Gone Wild spiked. “We may have tapped into a whole new market,” Francis said at the time. “It seems that many of the same people interested in the Pope’s message are also interested in ours.”
In October 2009, Francis joined over 250,000 marchers who turned out in Washington DC to demonstrate in front of the White House in defense of gay rights. Civil rights for all people has always been a passionate issue for Francis. “I know first hand how it feels to have your civil rights stripped from you,” Francis said following the march. “It was an amazing thing to be there for what will hopefully be a major turning point in history. ”
Francis’ dependably cogent viewpoints on current affairs have made him a sought after commentator by TV journalists ranging from Anderson Cooper, Greta Van Susteren, Dateline NBC, Neil Cavuto, Geraldo Rivera, Martin Bashir, The Daily Show, CBS’s 48 Hours, and all the entertainment television shows.
Girls Gone Wild lifestyle entertainment products continue to be developed and distributed to audiences worldwide through television, live events, wireless, Internet, VOD, SVOD, Pay Per View, mobile and home video distribution channels. The company is a leader in the direct response marketing and membership segments, and has been a home entertainment pioneer in both DVD and Blu-Ray Disk formats. Additionally, GGW spans the licensing, apparel, cross promotion, television, and gaming industries with an aggressive push into new lifestyle segments and product offerings. In 2008 Francis launched Girls Gone Wild Magazine, a monthly publication that is available at over 16,000 newsstands and retail outlets across North America and per dollar sales, is ranked 5th best-selling men’s magazine in the United States.
In 2009, Francis was approached by Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban who had been an admirer of the Girls Gone Wild brand for years. Cuban asked Francis to develop a reality TV series focusing on Girls Gone Wild’s search for the hottest girl in America, for airing on Cuban’s HDnet television network. Francis oversaw the production of and starred in Girls Gone Wild Presents: Search for the Hottest Girl in America, which was an immediate hit and has become the number one series on the network. Impressed with the production values of the show and with its runaway popularity, Cuban quickly ordered up an addition three seasons of the show. Francis has since created a production company called WILDHD to develop additional reality TV series concepts.
What this impressive entrepreneur has achieved up to this point in history makes for a compelling story, but perhaps even more interesting is what the future holds for Joe Francis, the consummate businessman.
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