Big tobacco is once again showing why it’s the evil genius of the marketing world. And we say this with sincere, if grudging, respect. There’s so much the rest of the marketing industry can learn from them-if we can get past our revulsion at their actual product offering.
Tobacco is one of the most, if not the most, regulated, restricted and vilified businesses in the world. It’s banned from most marketing channels, including TV and print advertising; it’s prevented from sponsorship activities; its packages are forced to carry graphic photos of things like cancer lesions. Its in-store “powerwall” displays will be banned in Ontario and Quebec in 2008, with the rest of the country eventually to follow suit. Tobacco companies themselves have been found to be involved in smuggling and have repeatedly been guilty of misleading the public-as recently as last week-according to yet another U.S. court ruling. Clearly, no tobacco company will ever be a poster child for the corporate social responsibility movement.
And yet, the industry continues to survive-thanks largely to innovative marketing, sly branding and, of course, a loyal if shrinking customer base.
As an example, take the announcement earlier this month of Rothmans’ “no-name” cigarette (Marketing Daily, Aug. 14, also highlighted on p. 5 of this issue). Rothmans, which sits in the middle of the market share pack between leader Imperial Tobacco and third place JTI-Macdonald, introduced a brand that used the colours, chevron logo and coat of arms of the Marlboro brand, but not the name. While U.S. tobacco giant Philip Morris owns the Marlboro brand, the Canadian rights to it are owned by Imperial Tobacco, which has sold its own brand under the Marlboro name in Canada for decades. By leaving “Marlboro” off the package, Rothmans has flicked ashes at one of its main competitors. “Our belief is that consumers will see the design, see the trademark ‘Come to where the flavour is’… and are going to make the connection and recognize it as an American-style cigarette,” Karen Bodirsky, director of public affairs for Rothmans told our reporter Matt Semansky. “We thought that using any other name, or any name at all, would detract from the design.”
The Marlboro name occupies a lofty position as one of the world’s best-known brands, so any marketer that had access to such a powerhouse would find a way to take advantage of it. But anti-smoking advocates like Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada were left as flummoxed as a condemned man without a light for his last cigarette.
Take also tobacco’s moves into direct marketing. There was the Mission: Impossible-style campaign in 2001 that encouraged buyers of Imperial Tobacco brands to call a toll-free number that was included on the packages, so they could be added to a mailing list and receive prizes. That effort was condemned by Paramount Pictures for what it said was the unauthorized use of a PG-13 movie to sell cigarettes. There’s also JTI-Macdonald’s Extreme Music and Sports Series, a website that makes no mention of cigarette brands, but directs people to nightclub events where “X-Team” members give away prizes and where JTI products are sold.
But big tobacco’s marketing strengths are not without their limits. A U.S. court ruling earlier this month will force tobacco companies to rename their brands and remove the “light” and low-tar labels from use there. Convenience store owners are expecting to take a hit from the renamed smokes. One manager of several U.S. convenience stores was quoted in a Wall Street Journal report saying tobacco sales are “99% perception and 1 per cent product.”
Look for yet more innovative marketing as big tobacco quietly works its way around these latest roadblocks.
But keep in mind its response to the need to keep kids from taking up the habit from a few years ago. The short-lived “Tobacco is wacko” effort was ostensibly designed to prevent kids from smoking, using a goofy Calvin and Hobbes-type character. It was immediately slammed by anti-tobacco activists as a not-so-veiled attempt to equate cigarettes with fun. They were right, and the effort was deep-sixed. But, from a marketing perspective, you had to be impressed by the industry’s sheer nerve to even try such a tactic.
But while we’re praising the genius, let’s not forget the stained, blackened heart (er, lung) that is really at the core of tobacco marketing.
