WWW- Mention the name Chippendales to most people and they probably think of a cheesy group of shirtless hunks in bow ties getting dollar bills tucked into their G-strings by hysterical women. What Kevin Denberg [pictured] wants them to think about, however, is tasteful but still titillating entertainment for women with high-end production values and ticket prices to match.

Denberg, whose grandfather ran a Chippendales club in New York in the 1980s, bought Chippendales in 2000 with several other investors and immediately set about distancing the company from its somewhat risqué past. Today, the Chippendales perform in a $10 million theater and lounge built specifically for them at The Rio in Las Vegas, and Denberg is hoping to extend the brand to movies, television, and the internet.

“The biggest challenge as we reinvent the brand is overcoming its historical roots,” Denberg says. “This is not your mother’s Chippendales; it’s a full-scale production that 18-year-olds come to see with their mothers and grandmothers.”

According to Denberg, contrary to what the Chippendales brand represented earlier in its history, the company’s sweet spot is in providing more mainstream entertainment to the masses.

“There’s a lot more value to being a brand that’s associated with being socially acceptable than in being associated purely with sex,” says Denberg, who has two children and says he holds traditional values. “With men, they want to see everything. [But] frontal nudity is not something our customers look for, and it’s not what I, myself, am about.”

Chippendales started as a male exotic dance act in a Los Angeles nightclub in 1978 and soon became well-known, expanding to several other cities. Over the years, it’s had its share of colorful owners, including founder Steve Banerjee, who was arrested for trying to kill a former Chippendales choreographer and eventually committed suicide in jail, hours before his sentencing. Another owner was boy-band impresario Lou Pearlman, who was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for helping run a financial scheme that cheated investors out of more than $300 million.

By the late ’90s, the act had dwindled to a cabaret show in Europe and a few troupes working in small venues around the U.S., and Denberg and his fellow investors saw the potential to deliver the show to a much wider audience over the internet.

“Originally, we were thinking of it as a million women at $10 a head watching a live Chippendales show streaming on the Web,” Denberg says. “But the technology wasn’t there.”

Instead, they chose to focus on making the live shows more profitable, hiring a team from Broadway to add glamour and sophistication to the show with more elaborate costumes, choreography, and fantasy plots. Gone also were the lap dances and the opportunities for women to kiss the dancers in exchange for tips.

The changes succeeded in broadening the show’s appeal, and today, the Chippendales garner $10 million annually from their Las Vegas show (tickets cost upwards of $40) and four other touring shows. The company reaps an additional $3 million in product licensing from products such as T-shirts, calendars, themed slot machines, and even cell-phone downloads of their dancers.

Denberg, however, believes he can turn Chippendales into a $150 million company by aggressively pursuing new revenue streams. A Chippendale movie and workout video are in development, and a reality show is scheduled to begin shooting in Germany this fall.

Denberg also plans to enhance the Chippendales website by adding a member’s section later this year, which will offer live chats with the performers, workout tips, and videos on performer’s personal lives.

Given its tremendous brand recognition, analysts say Chippendales certainly has the potential to deliver on its ambitious plans.

“The Chippendales are iconic in male cabaret content for women,” says Farley Cahen, vice president of business development and licensing for AVN Media Network, an adult entertainment industry trade group. “In Vegas, ‘Thunder from Down Under’ is a recognizable brand name, but nowhere near the Chippendales, which thrives internationally as a male revue.”

Protecting that brand name is an ongoing challenge, however. Denberg says Chippendales spends nearly $500,000 a year fighting infringement on its three primary trademarks—the Chippendales name, the dress of collars and cuffs, and the tagline “The Ultimate Girls Night Out.” The company has also purchased more than 100 domain names with global derivatives of the Chippendales to prevent cybersquatting, and to prevent women from equating the company with porn sites.

“I’m sure we lose money to [imposters],” Denberg says. “But the bigger problem is protecting the brand. We don’t want women who see a handful of guys in cheap wardrobes to think they’re seeing the Chippendales.”

Further establishing and protecting that image of Chippendales as good, clean, sophisticated fun is something that Denberg says is essential to the company’s success.

“You’ll never see more in a Chippendales show or Chippendales website than you’ll see on a late prime-time TV show,” Denberg says. “For our long-term strategy of producing a global brand and working with reputable companies, we need to keep the brand clean.”