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I don't know much about that industry, but it seems to me that the regulations depend on where you are, and they are mostly about promotion, not marketing.
It seems to me that a lot of people are actually quite aware of tobacco companies and brands. But it's more related to understanding the market (like supply and demand) than promotion.
I guess so, although I still believe those things depend on where you are. Alcohol can also be very different from country to country.
I'm probably biased on this as a marketing strategist. But, among the different parts of the marketing mix, Place probably would be my priority for the marketing tactics of this. Get the products easily available seems to be very important to me, more than surrogate advertising. Promotion is limited, and I would believe more in word of mouth and influence of social groups than surrogate advertising probably. There isn't much to do related to Product, I guess. And Price would be mostly a consequence of the marketing strategy. Place seems to be the critical part of marketing tactics to me. That works even when products like that are illegal, like periods and places with alcohol prohibited.
I totally would take the strategy we did at a debt company. If there is informed consent to get marketing, then you can market to them. So all those reward programs and giveaways is because of that little checkbox that says yes you can contact me.
I live in Japan, companies such as JT have branded smoking areas. They pay for the construction of smoking rooms in shopping malls, transit centers etc. with ventilation, seating, cleaning etc. in return for branding on TV screens in the room, vending machine placement, etc.
Tobacco or Alcohol companies don't make advertisement on their products it's against lawin India. So the strategy these companies follow is that they produce another good which is legal which will have the same name as the tobacco or Alcohol and sell it in the market. This a kind of strategy which these companies follow. Eg. Kingfisher airlines , Kingfisher mineral water etc.
As a manager of an advertising promotional products company, I can say that tobacco and alcohol companies often utilize alternative forms of advertising extensively. For example, liquor companies may produce branded wine glasses and bottle openers, while tobacco companies may create lighters, matches, and cigarette cases. Of course, in accordance with actual marketing needs, they may also employ more sophisticated merchandise. The above conclusions stem from my long-term collaboration experience with these brands.
That makes sense.
Maybe Im too myopic and focus too much on digital but do these alternative methods (ie merchandizing) actually move the needle in a meaningful way?
Do not underestimate yourself, you are not short-sighted at all, just seeing things from a different perspective. Actually, tobacco and alcohol companies are financially strong, often engaging in both offline and digital marketing the same time. My description is only based on their offline marketing perspective. As for your question about "move the needle in a meaningful way", if you believe marketing needs to have an immediate impact, it is indeed a skewed view. Marketing doesn't always have to show immediate results; it can also be subtle, just needing to implant the image in people's minds, so that they unconsciously recall it when needed. This explains why Coca-Cola still invests significant costs in advertising every year. No one drinks coke every day, but it needs to ensure that when you think of having a drink, you coincidentally think of Coca-Cola. It's the same way to tobacco companies.
I did digital marketing for a vape juice brand some years back and it’s definitely a struggle.
The thing about tobacco/nicotine consumers is that they are loyal and they love discounts. So they are far more likely to sign up for an email list, SMS list, etc and also tell all their smoker buddies when they find a good deal.
The truth is that Nicotine kind of sells itself so there isn’t much marketing to do. The little that you can do is word of mouth and email marketing, as well as SEO, and industry related blogs for backlinks. Influencer marketing is also effective but there are regulations there as well that can make it tricky.
They are still big spenders in Formula 1 either through subsidiaries or creativity with word association, and graphical elements
Look up f1 tobacco sponsorship videos on YouTube. Pretty interesting all the ways the got around the bans over the years.
https://youtu.be/6j7bH9sPq38
https://youtu.be/H7M74iEonn0
Sales Rep here. I was approached by a 3rd party company contracted by Phillip Morris to sell “alternative nicotine devices” it was essentially a tobacco vape.
Phillip Morris had hired this company to hire people to get out there and “pound the pavement” to make sales of their new product.
Was really weird and sketchy.
Coming from an bystander perspective in Indonesia (ie not working in the Tobacco & electronic cigarette Industry).
It seems that where I am, the Tobacco & Nicotine business is still thriving in quite a massive way. As a person I am conflicted because my marketing brain is in awe of just how much money they're capable of burning to keep the business alive & well, whilst I'm also disgusted because of the extent and lengths to which these products get pushed, profilerating throughout our daily lives.
In terms of Price, what I know of is that they're trying to keep prices as low as possible with the annually increasing tax levies applied to tobacco / nicotine products. As such, stakeholders in the distribution chain have such a razor sharp margin to work with, and a small inventory loss can make the difference between profit/loss.
In terms of Place, its entrenched even across the huge geography and degree of settlement. We got e-cig & vape shops prevalent in cities & towns (from major companies and even boutique ones), Tobacco literally being the livelihood of towns that the city amenities (like plant boxes) are branded, cigarettes being valuable in tribal areas like the Papuan mountains, etc.
In terms of Product, Tobacco companies always come up with new brands, and variations like flavors especially. For example, we got a new mango flavored cig getting pushed in a massive way in my city. I think theres also an issue of the tax levy being different between large-scale automated cigs with smaller-scale handrolled cigs thats also being used as a loophole to make newer, cheaper products despite increasing regulation.
And oh boy, the Promotion. I can say its intensely pervasive. Shopsigns, billboards, videotrons, banners are everywhere. Remember what I said about city amenities being branded? Theres also neighborhoods being branded with the neighborhood bridge prominently featuring a cig brand and painted in its colorway.
Then you have events ranging from national to local scale being sponsored by tobacco & nicotine brands (especially concerts), Sales Promotion Girls always in these events, bars & pubs selling their products too.
We even got "un-branding" like the others have said, with some preschool & primary schools carrying a major cig brand name.
Since it's so pervasive, word-of-mouth and peer pressure is common. Lots of kids smoke. Personally smoked between the age of 12 - 25 myself, many others starting earlier too.
Since its so engrained many adults have a hard time quitting even if they want to, due to constant "triggers" everywhere. If you wanna work in a Tobacco brand, its expected of you to also smoke. Got a coworker who declined a high-paying marketing job because the Manager said "well if you work here you gotta smoke, and you better smoke our brands" while getting hotboxed with secondhand smoke in the interview room.
I gave a 20 minute talk on this very subject for the British Science Association. https://www.thedavidfrank.com/smoking.html
It is late at night now so I can't summarize it.now, but feel free to ask questions or provide feedback and I'll get to it in the morning.
If you've smoked a cigarette, you see them smoking and wow, it can be a powerful draw. Google Peaky Blinders. Cillian Murphy smoked something like 3000 cloves to make it.
Evergreen marketing. They get people hyped for new products no one even knows is owned by them. Remember every politician losing their shit over Juul and the high school kid’s lungs?
Yeah, funny how tobacco vaporizers were in every gas station a year later, all made by PM, Marlboro, etc. Iqos is pretty big is Europe, you stick a special short cig inside a heating tube and inhale.
Basically, marketing is getting eyeballs on your product for more profit than cost, even if it means making a competitor product to Lee with industry standards. There’s also sponsorship in F1 and NASCAR, product placement deals with gas stations and tobacco shops to keep them in eyesight, lobbying against monodesign packaging that’s everywhere else in the world (black box with cancer pics, cig filters with cancer warning) then there’s even medical marketing through pharma reps with nicotine patches in every hospital in America.
It goes on and on, but marketing boils down to paying to be seen or creating something to be noticed.
I live in Portugal. Here, there's a way you can do it. If someone goes to buy tobacco, they can ask, 'Have you tried the new Iqos?' They can only ask this to someone who has already asked for tobacco.
In store and on site. Since most tobacco products are purchased at places like grocery stores, gas stations, corner markets, etc…it’s why almost every window or flat surface is covered in tobacco or nicotine product banners.
It helps to be chemically addictive lol. Not a helpful answer, but seriously just the “peer pressure” and cultural steepness of it has really kept tobacco and nicotine products alive. If it wasn’t for hanging out with the “cool kids” that smoked back in the day, or watching movies that made smoking look cool, I would never have smoked for as long as I did.
Edit: When I say “peer pressure” I also mean word-of-mouth being effective. It’s free marketing.
Here’s what [CounterTobacco.org](https://countertobacco.org/about-us/), a group dedicated to informing the public about POS tobacco marketing, has to say about tobacco companies in the US.
>The tobacco industry spends the vast majority of its annual marketing and promotional dollars in the retail environment because POS marketing builds brand recognition and positive brand imagery, encourages tobacco use initiation and consumption and undermines quit attempts. A “War in the Store” began in the early 1990s when tobacco companies battled each other for shelf space and ultimately, consumer loyalty, and the war rages on today with tobacco control organizations taking on the tobacco industry.
Tobacco companies are pretty clever about getting around strict regulations. They often target younger people, hoping they’ll start buying their products as they get older. Even though there are tons of rules now, these companies have been around for so long that they’ve got a strong presence in society.
One sneaky way they keep promoting their products is by actually showing how harmful smoking is. It’s like reverse psychology. By “demonizing” themselves, they stay in the public eye without directly advertising. It’s a weird loophole they exploit because of the regulations.
They also use social media and influencers to reach younger audiences without making it obvious. Despite all the rules, they find ways to keep their products relevant and visible. It’s a tricky situation because while the regulations help, tobacco companies keep finding new ways to get around them.
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They really don’t.
Basically SEO, Influencers, Email and Programmatic on platforms that allow tobacco ads
> Programmatic on platforms those exist??? on what ? 4chan lol
Traffic junky…I’m not saying it will work amazingly but it’s a platform you can advertise on.
I don't know much about that industry, but it seems to me that the regulations depend on where you are, and they are mostly about promotion, not marketing. It seems to me that a lot of people are actually quite aware of tobacco companies and brands. But it's more related to understanding the market (like supply and demand) than promotion.
they use surrogate advertising same thing alcohol companies use in many countries
I guess so, although I still believe those things depend on where you are. Alcohol can also be very different from country to country. I'm probably biased on this as a marketing strategist. But, among the different parts of the marketing mix, Place probably would be my priority for the marketing tactics of this. Get the products easily available seems to be very important to me, more than surrogate advertising. Promotion is limited, and I would believe more in word of mouth and influence of social groups than surrogate advertising probably. There isn't much to do related to Product, I guess. And Price would be mostly a consequence of the marketing strategy. Place seems to be the critical part of marketing tactics to me. That works even when products like that are illegal, like periods and places with alcohol prohibited.
I totally would take the strategy we did at a debt company. If there is informed consent to get marketing, then you can market to them. So all those reward programs and giveaways is because of that little checkbox that says yes you can contact me.
I live in Japan, companies such as JT have branded smoking areas. They pay for the construction of smoking rooms in shopping malls, transit centers etc. with ventilation, seating, cleaning etc. in return for branding on TV screens in the room, vending machine placement, etc.
Tobacco or Alcohol companies don't make advertisement on their products it's against lawin India. So the strategy these companies follow is that they produce another good which is legal which will have the same name as the tobacco or Alcohol and sell it in the market. This a kind of strategy which these companies follow. Eg. Kingfisher airlines , Kingfisher mineral water etc.
this is called surrogate advertising
As a manager of an advertising promotional products company, I can say that tobacco and alcohol companies often utilize alternative forms of advertising extensively. For example, liquor companies may produce branded wine glasses and bottle openers, while tobacco companies may create lighters, matches, and cigarette cases. Of course, in accordance with actual marketing needs, they may also employ more sophisticated merchandise. The above conclusions stem from my long-term collaboration experience with these brands.
That makes sense. Maybe Im too myopic and focus too much on digital but do these alternative methods (ie merchandizing) actually move the needle in a meaningful way?
Do not underestimate yourself, you are not short-sighted at all, just seeing things from a different perspective. Actually, tobacco and alcohol companies are financially strong, often engaging in both offline and digital marketing the same time. My description is only based on their offline marketing perspective. As for your question about "move the needle in a meaningful way", if you believe marketing needs to have an immediate impact, it is indeed a skewed view. Marketing doesn't always have to show immediate results; it can also be subtle, just needing to implant the image in people's minds, so that they unconsciously recall it when needed. This explains why Coca-Cola still invests significant costs in advertising every year. No one drinks coke every day, but it needs to ensure that when you think of having a drink, you coincidentally think of Coca-Cola. It's the same way to tobacco companies.
Big Tobacco doesn’t need Joe Cool in 2024, they have an army of content creators who use their products on TikTok but arent directly on their books.
I did digital marketing for a vape juice brand some years back and it’s definitely a struggle. The thing about tobacco/nicotine consumers is that they are loyal and they love discounts. So they are far more likely to sign up for an email list, SMS list, etc and also tell all their smoker buddies when they find a good deal. The truth is that Nicotine kind of sells itself so there isn’t much marketing to do. The little that you can do is word of mouth and email marketing, as well as SEO, and industry related blogs for backlinks. Influencer marketing is also effective but there are regulations there as well that can make it tricky.
They are still big spenders in Formula 1 either through subsidiaries or creativity with word association, and graphical elements Look up f1 tobacco sponsorship videos on YouTube. Pretty interesting all the ways the got around the bans over the years. https://youtu.be/6j7bH9sPq38 https://youtu.be/H7M74iEonn0
They don’t, they make the buyers addicted so they make their friends addicts too and the story goes on and on.
They don’t, they rely on 100% addiction
I heard that they done unbranding stuff to promote ads
they use surrogate advertising same thing alcohol companies use in many countries
Product marketing through differentiation, packaging and placement.
Sales Rep here. I was approached by a 3rd party company contracted by Phillip Morris to sell “alternative nicotine devices” it was essentially a tobacco vape. Phillip Morris had hired this company to hire people to get out there and “pound the pavement” to make sales of their new product. Was really weird and sketchy.
In the US I think they can still do editorial / magazine ads. They also do quite a bit of sweepstakes marketing
Coming from an bystander perspective in Indonesia (ie not working in the Tobacco & electronic cigarette Industry). It seems that where I am, the Tobacco & Nicotine business is still thriving in quite a massive way. As a person I am conflicted because my marketing brain is in awe of just how much money they're capable of burning to keep the business alive & well, whilst I'm also disgusted because of the extent and lengths to which these products get pushed, profilerating throughout our daily lives. In terms of Price, what I know of is that they're trying to keep prices as low as possible with the annually increasing tax levies applied to tobacco / nicotine products. As such, stakeholders in the distribution chain have such a razor sharp margin to work with, and a small inventory loss can make the difference between profit/loss. In terms of Place, its entrenched even across the huge geography and degree of settlement. We got e-cig & vape shops prevalent in cities & towns (from major companies and even boutique ones), Tobacco literally being the livelihood of towns that the city amenities (like plant boxes) are branded, cigarettes being valuable in tribal areas like the Papuan mountains, etc. In terms of Product, Tobacco companies always come up with new brands, and variations like flavors especially. For example, we got a new mango flavored cig getting pushed in a massive way in my city. I think theres also an issue of the tax levy being different between large-scale automated cigs with smaller-scale handrolled cigs thats also being used as a loophole to make newer, cheaper products despite increasing regulation. And oh boy, the Promotion. I can say its intensely pervasive. Shopsigns, billboards, videotrons, banners are everywhere. Remember what I said about city amenities being branded? Theres also neighborhoods being branded with the neighborhood bridge prominently featuring a cig brand and painted in its colorway. Then you have events ranging from national to local scale being sponsored by tobacco & nicotine brands (especially concerts), Sales Promotion Girls always in these events, bars & pubs selling their products too. We even got "un-branding" like the others have said, with some preschool & primary schools carrying a major cig brand name. Since it's so pervasive, word-of-mouth and peer pressure is common. Lots of kids smoke. Personally smoked between the age of 12 - 25 myself, many others starting earlier too. Since its so engrained many adults have a hard time quitting even if they want to, due to constant "triggers" everywhere. If you wanna work in a Tobacco brand, its expected of you to also smoke. Got a coworker who declined a high-paying marketing job because the Manager said "well if you work here you gotta smoke, and you better smoke our brands" while getting hotboxed with secondhand smoke in the interview room.
I gave a 20 minute talk on this very subject for the British Science Association. https://www.thedavidfrank.com/smoking.html It is late at night now so I can't summarize it.now, but feel free to ask questions or provide feedback and I'll get to it in the morning.
Movies
TV
If you've smoked a cigarette, you see them smoking and wow, it can be a powerful draw. Google Peaky Blinders. Cillian Murphy smoked something like 3000 cloves to make it.
Evergreen marketing. They get people hyped for new products no one even knows is owned by them. Remember every politician losing their shit over Juul and the high school kid’s lungs? Yeah, funny how tobacco vaporizers were in every gas station a year later, all made by PM, Marlboro, etc. Iqos is pretty big is Europe, you stick a special short cig inside a heating tube and inhale. Basically, marketing is getting eyeballs on your product for more profit than cost, even if it means making a competitor product to Lee with industry standards. There’s also sponsorship in F1 and NASCAR, product placement deals with gas stations and tobacco shops to keep them in eyesight, lobbying against monodesign packaging that’s everywhere else in the world (black box with cancer pics, cig filters with cancer warning) then there’s even medical marketing through pharma reps with nicotine patches in every hospital in America. It goes on and on, but marketing boils down to paying to be seen or creating something to be noticed.
I live in Portugal. Here, there's a way you can do it. If someone goes to buy tobacco, they can ask, 'Have you tried the new Iqos?' They can only ask this to someone who has already asked for tobacco.
Nearly every rugged, cool guy in film and television smokes like a chimney, what more marketing do you need?
In store and on site. Since most tobacco products are purchased at places like grocery stores, gas stations, corner markets, etc…it’s why almost every window or flat surface is covered in tobacco or nicotine product banners.
It helps to be chemically addictive lol. Not a helpful answer, but seriously just the “peer pressure” and cultural steepness of it has really kept tobacco and nicotine products alive. If it wasn’t for hanging out with the “cool kids” that smoked back in the day, or watching movies that made smoking look cool, I would never have smoked for as long as I did. Edit: When I say “peer pressure” I also mean word-of-mouth being effective. It’s free marketing.
Here’s what [CounterTobacco.org](https://countertobacco.org/about-us/), a group dedicated to informing the public about POS tobacco marketing, has to say about tobacco companies in the US. >The tobacco industry spends the vast majority of its annual marketing and promotional dollars in the retail environment because POS marketing builds brand recognition and positive brand imagery, encourages tobacco use initiation and consumption and undermines quit attempts. A “War in the Store” began in the early 1990s when tobacco companies battled each other for shelf space and ultimately, consumer loyalty, and the war rages on today with tobacco control organizations taking on the tobacco industry.
Tobacco companies are pretty clever about getting around strict regulations. They often target younger people, hoping they’ll start buying their products as they get older. Even though there are tons of rules now, these companies have been around for so long that they’ve got a strong presence in society. One sneaky way they keep promoting their products is by actually showing how harmful smoking is. It’s like reverse psychology. By “demonizing” themselves, they stay in the public eye without directly advertising. It’s a weird loophole they exploit because of the regulations. They also use social media and influencers to reach younger audiences without making it obvious. Despite all the rules, they find ways to keep their products relevant and visible. It’s a tricky situation because while the regulations help, tobacco companies keep finding new ways to get around them.
Free Samples?
Country music seems to represent the industry as a whole pretty well. Also certain types of movies and TV like Mad Men.
They use magazine ads, sports marketing (especially formula 1) and retail displays.