Nick Dow's blog : How to Make the Whole World Smoke
Cigarettes for Women: The Beginning of Marlboro
In the 1920s, the "torches of freedom" began to light in America - cigarettes became a symbol of women's independence and their fight for equal rights with men. "Marlboro" was a great fit - they began producing luxury cigarettes for women. Even the filter was specially made red to hide lipstick stains.
How advise https://cheap-cigarettess.com/ but the market for women's cigarettes really took off in 1929 thanks to the Lucky Strike company. They also wanted to reach a female audience and, together with the advertiser Bernays, held the "Torches of Freedom" campaign. Women paraded with cigarette-shaped torches in their hands. Feminist Rud Hale spoke at the event, and one of her quotes became iconic.
The campaign worked: in 1923, women smoked 5% of all cigarettes, and in 1929, it was already 12%. The market was growing, and Marlboro was doing well; competitors’ advertising even helped them sell more.
This was the case until World War II, but then sales dropped. Camel, Lucky Strike and Chesterfield took over the market, and Marlboro's share of the US market dropped to 1%. But science suddenly came to the rescue.
Lung Cancer and a Second Chance
In the 1950s, the first long-term studies on the dangers of smoking were published. Scientists observed smokers for years, collected data on their health, and compared them with non-smokers. As a result, they came to the conclusion that smoking causes lung cancer and a bunch of other diseases.
In the mid-20th century, most cigarettes were produced without filters – and, accordingly, they were mainly mentioned in studies on the dangers of smoking. Marlboro marketers realized that this was their chance, and began promoting filtered cigarettes as a safe alternative for health-conscious men.
There was one small nuance: Marlboro had been promoting filter cigarettes as a women's option for several decades. The advertising campaign needed to change and show men that smoking filter cigarettes was cool and healthy.
The Marlboro Cowboys
Philip Morris, the manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes, approached the advertising agency Leo Burnett Worldwide and asked for help. They needed to get men to smoke. The advertisers racked their brains and realized that they didn’t need to talk about the benefits of filters or convince logically — they needed to show and form associations.
In the end, Marlboro decided to hook the male audience with brutal images. The message is simple: cool guys smoke filter cigarettes, if you want to be just as cool and also take care of your health, smoke Marlboro. They tried images of sailors and athletes for advertising, but cowboys were the best.
Don't Be a Maybe. Be Marlboro: Advertising for Youth
Advertising is banned on TV, Formula 1 tightens the rules for placement, and everyone has forgotten about cowboys. But new smokers need to be attracted, after all, the target audience for tobacco advertising is people under 25. That's why marketers decided to play on the daring image again. They replaced the cowboys with teenagers and launched the Don't Be a Maybe. Be Marlboro project.
The advertising posters showed young people kissing and hanging out, accompanied by slogans about how to doubt less, do more, and generally smoke Marlboro - you'll be a cool dude.
In Germany, activists launched a large-scale campaign against this advertising and two years later succeeded in banning Don't Be a Maybe. Be Marlboro in court. In other countries, the advertising continued for several more years.
Improvise, adapt, but better not smoke
Philip Morris masterfully adapts marketing to new realities. The emergence of feminism - here are cigarettes for women. Smoking is harmful - so here is a filter for you, guys! You can't advertise cigarettes on TV - look at product placement. Sports and cigarettes are incompatible - we have been advertising for 50 years with the help of Formula 1. People are starting to smoke less - so we are already the first in alternative products.
Although cigarettes are evil, we can learn from Philip Morris how to market products, not give in to difficulties, and quickly adapt to the market.
In: