


there are limited opportunities for marketing.
MARLBORO BEYOND BLUE TV
There are no TV or cinema ads, no print or billboard ads, no sports endorsement, no non-tobacco products brandished with cigarette brands and following the implementation of the Point of Display Ban, which was introduced in stores over 3000 square feet in April 2012 with smaller stores expected to comply by 2015, the UK tobacco market is now known in marketing speak as a ‘dark market’, i.e.
MARLBORO BEYOND BLUE FULL
In the UK, the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002, which came into full effect in 2005, put an end to conventional forms of tobacco advertising in the UK. 9 10 Importance of Packaging for New Brands 6 7 8 All cigarettes are equally damaging to health. Along with the lighter colour and lighter feel of the platinum pack, this information may lead consumers to believe that the platinum cigarettes are less harmful. The Platinum variant has 7mg tar, 0.7mg of nicotine and 7mg of Carbon Monoxide in comparison to 10mg tar, 1.0mg nicotine and 9mg carbon monoxide in the original Marlboro Bright Leaf. Marketing manager Smith said “The packs are a light platinum colour and maintain the tactile finish of Marlboro Bright Leaf together with the innovative ‘lighter style pack’ which opens at the side with a distinctive click.” In April 2010, an announcement featured in the retail publication ‘’Talking Retail’’ stated that Marlboro Bright Leaf were extending their brand to include a ‘Platinum’ variant (Image 2). Closing the pack is similar to the snap shut functioning of a zippo lighter. The inner foil is perforated and tears off easily in one piece. The top of the packet opens at the side revealing a metallic orangey-red coloured inner layer of the packet with the slogan “Style meets flavour, Marlboro Bright Leaf, designed to be different”. Most striking was the opening mechanism of the pack which has been likened to that of a zippo lighter. The Marlboro name and chevron on the front of the pack were raised and the BL representing Bright Leaf was flat and smooth, differentiating it from the feel of the rest of the packet (Image 1). From its distinctive taste to its tactile pack design, Marlboro Bright Leaf brings the Marlboro brand to the mid-range tobacco market for the first time here in the UK.” 4įrom the time of launch until January 2013, the Marlboro Bright Leaf packet was charcoal grey in colour, embossed with curved thin black lines. “It is an exciting new product which has been specifically designed to address the taste dimensions of the British adult smoker. 3 The brand, created specifically for the UK market, retails at 8% cheaper than other Marlboro products and it therefore fits into the mid-priced cigarette segment competing with other brands such as JTI’s Benson and Hedges and Imperial Tobacco’s Lambert & Butler (the top selling brand in the UK at the time of writing).Īccording to Marketing Week, Zoe Smith, Marlboro marketing manager for the UK and Ireland said at the time: In August 2009, PMI announced that they were launching a new brand into the UK market, ‘Marlboro Bright Leaf’. Prior to 2009, PMI did not offer a non-premium brand in the UK market. In comparison to Imperial Tobacco who owned 43.8% and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) who owned 37.1%, PMI has a much smaller brand portfolio in the UK despite owning 7 of the top 15 global cigarette brands. Philip Morris International (PMI), the tobacco company behind the Marlboro brand, owned 8.8% of the UK cigarette market share in 2011. However, in the UK, Marlboro is not the most popular brand, ranked at fifth place in terms of sales in 2011. Marlboro is an example of a premium brand, priced at the higher end of the cigarette market, it has been the world’s number one cigarette brand since 1972. This has led to increased product and packaging innovations both in the mid-priced and economy segments as the big four tobacco companies fight for market share. In response to the economic down turn, consumers of cigarettes have been down trading to cheaper non-premium brands.

Marlboro Bright Leaf pack purchased December 2012
