BC Ministry of Health
Document 32468
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DATF,
Ist July, 1976
LONG-IIANGE FORECASTS (19~6)
As you probably know, marketing assumptions and the main
policies (plus some stratcoies) were dealt with, both at Hot Springs
a~=d the T.D.B. Planning meetin0 held on 25 June. One of the results
of the Chairman's Advisory Conference
Marketing Conference wiIZ be held in October i~ order to discuss
significm~t ch~ges in strategy affoctinU the marketing of cJ.g~et%es.
There are several assumptions r~lated to product which
beyond the ones you listed for m~kcting ~d which overlap those you
have listed for the product, ie. Ayres Paper I. Perhaps I shoul~
quote them and then a final synthesis could be made covering all the
work that has been done.
I quote reIev~t extracts from the paper I wrote for the T.D.B.
P~ning meeting.
THE ~{~ING ENVIRONHENT
Ci~ette Consumption m~d Smoker Confidence
Assumptions
I. The most serious threat to the smoker
posed by incre~in9 pressures brought ~o bear on him, ~'i~ the
social unacceptability o~ smokin9. Unless certain initiatives
~e ~en by cig~e~te m~lufacturers~ or by the ~ndustry as
~ole, a declinin@ incidence in
These pressures against %he smokin~ habit app].y mainly %o tl*e
developed countries, althouuh i% is likely that %hey will ~ruw
in %h~ de~elopin~ coup,tries also.
THE CON~HER ~D THE SHOKING HABIT
There ~e two main assumptions which should be made here as a
li~{ %o %he section whi~ follows on product developmeul..
I. The smoker of %he futuru will have far more knowledso ;ibouL
the %ethical composition of the ci~aretie. This will come
about at first through %ho publication of loa~ue tables in which
~the ~emical constituents of tobacco and smoke will be featured.
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At a later stago~ the monu£.',cturers reacting to compnt.itive
pre~:sures will need to ~ustify ~nd explain th~ product ch~n~es
~'hlch ),ed~a-ke %he t]cllvur~ levels of parhJcular cons%~tuunts
(CO, NO, HCN, ~tc). At the s~,~ time, commentary by 3ourn;~lists
~d ~iters in the popuI~ press will develop ~d expand 9uneral
]~owledge about constituents and their effects.
Thus the consumer will base his choice not only o, image and
"taste" but also on quasi-technJ.cal appreciation of the br~d
to a f~ ~reator ~tent than heretofore. ..
are in themselves unlikely to diminish the incidence of smoking.
. ~ery's %hoary is that smoking is an easy, convenient ~d very
_~.~ effluent method of ,'educing %he distracting effects (and the
called "extrovert").
PRODUCT DEVEI~P~NT - CONSTITUENTS
I~ng-term changes in the structure of society forecast by futurists
~
In forecasting ±he shape o~ the product (Paper I), t~o major
assumptions wore made which must be re-stated he.re~ in order to justify
the strategies which folio,:-
Three major classes of consumers will prevail in the '8O's
with particular product needs:
a)
b)
Younger smokers, less concerned with health hazards and
detelnnined to achieve satisfaction with ~tld--flavou~,__
rel.a_,tively big!* ~f-6~£~cs.
Relatively older .o, mokers, say 30+, including those with
young families ~d~o will demand cigarettes with a degree
of health reassurance but with well-defined taste and
fl avour.
c)
Older smokers, especially those over 2~0, who are much
concerned with health ~u~d are particularly sensitive to
constituents alleged to be "noxious" by the authorities
and require significm,tly low delivery cigarettes.
Both social stattls~ in particular~ and the personalities of smokers
may well cut across the age groups su0gested above so tl.~at particular
segments may be identified where differin~ s,nol¢ing needs hav~ to bc
satisfied~ for examp]e~ manual v. non-manual workers~ the carefrcc
,he are %Is~ally prepared to take risks~ the {|re~arious, the loners,
the nervous and the hypochondriacs.
T~) further assumptions are made:-
Due to the antl-smoking prosst|res and hoo.l£h thrcat.si the ])rosen|;
trend to,&u-ds ~uitting by middle-aged and older smokers is likely to
BAT Industries document for Province of British Columbia 14 November 2000
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continue. However, it seems probable that the development.
of products with justifiable health renssur~mce ~vld
reverse this trcnd~ to s:..e extent.
The trend to ~rowin~ J~Idependence of females will continu~
and with it the opportunities [or ci~ttcs of pnrticulttr
f~mle appeal. M~y women will relish ~ull-[lavoured ci~ar-
ettes~ but require packa~in~ ci~ctte dimensions ~d presen-
tation ~hi~ ue c~e~m~t and stylisl~.
PRODUCT DEVE~PH~NT - PAC~GZNG
Assmn~ti ons
i. Con~e~ tastes ~ preferences ~e likely to remain conservative
as f~ as pa~a~in~ ~ are concerned~ ie. HLB and SC, ~ld %o
a lesser extent, Shell and Slide with their v~iations in sizes.
Some relatively small modifications in style may well occur
wherever these bring about ~reater conveni~ce in use. However,
such ch~es ~ ~nlikely ~ r~quire radically nuw machines, nor
will ~y ~Ses resultin~ from our contiuued ~ndeavour to ~c~icve
more economic use of materials.
2. Nithln the increasin~ly restricted enviro,~ent, especially as far
as reduced media availability is concerned, surface dcs~.g,~ of
pad,s ~11 assume ~reater importance. The pa~ will increasingly
become %.he principal message bearer for cl~nr br~d ide~t~ties
~d ~oodwill stewing from br~d f~ili~s~ whethor line extensions
or new ones associated with traditional "houses".
The use of inserts or cigarette cards is likely to increase in
order to provide infon,alion~ reassurance related %o ~y pack
~esi~n ~es~ or even %o n~,ounce fort}*coming new brands. At the
s~e time~ %he limita%ion of this techniqu~ is recogn~sed~ because
it cannot adequately rea~ the ~okers of competitive brads.
P.L. SHORT..
BAT Industries document for Province of British Columbia 14 November 2000
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