This 1991 market research "creative presentation" was written for the Philip Morris tobacco company to market a new brand of cigarettes called "Battistoni" to young adults.
The research concludes that young adults of the time were heavily influenced by the rock star Madonna, craved control over their lives and suffered from "dimmed financial hopes." Building on these conclusions, the report states that this need for some sense of control over their world led young adults to create social action groups Greenpeace and Act Up.
The writers state that Philip Morris's advertising should "empower" young adults with "permission to smoke":
"In this era when smoking is under attack as dirty imposition on a just-say-no society, smokers need to be empowered with permission to smoke. For young adults, the single most powerful argument that can be made in defense of smoking is, 'no matter what others say, I am entitled to enjoy my pleasure because I chose it....' With the exception of Camel--who well understands defiance as part of the smoking experience--no cigarette offers smokers a way of saying, '______ off, it's my life and my pleasure....'
In a blantant attempt to disguise the addictive aspects of smoking, the advertising plan says the company must manipulate the "target" (young adult consumers) into believing that it is " 'correct' or socially appropriate to smoke," and that that the brand must "help him justify his belief that the decision to smoke is calculated, reflecting his own free will" and help him "avoid feeling that a cigarette company is inducing him to smoke with advertising that 'insults his intelligence,' telling him what to do.
The writer cites the Joe Camel campaign as a prime example of how a cigarette company can respond to the new anti-smoking environment in a defiant way that appeals to younger people:
"In the U.S.A., Camel's new positioning reflects an understanding of how to respond to the anti-smoking environment in a fresh, new way that engages the sympathies of a certain segment of young Americans. The Smooth Character's mischievous wink endorses a defiant juvenile delinquency that sums up a certain response to authority and growing up."
This paper offers insight into how advertising companies play on human frailties to boost sales of a deadly product. It also shows the part advertising companies have played in helping tobacco companies undermine public health messages about tobacco.
User-Contributed Notes
Fields
Quotes
THE PHILIP MORRIS OPPORTUNITY
GIVING YOUNG ADULTS PERMISSION TO SMOKE
In this era when smoking is under attack as dirty imposition on a just-say-no society, smokers need to be empowered with permission to smoke. For young adults, the single most powerful argument that can be made in defense of smoking is, "no matter what others say, I am entitled to enjoy my pleasure because I chose it." To quote Madonna, "Poor is the man whose pleasure depends upon the permission of another." With the exception of Camel--who well understands defiance as part of the smoking experience--no cigarette offers smokers a way of saying, " _____ off, it's my life and my pleasure."
THE PHILIP MORRIS OPPORTUNITY
THE NEED FOR GLAMOR
Cigarette marketers also fail to capture another key category benefit: glamor. In spite of the feeble attempts at offering glamor and sophistication by a number of brands (Benson & Hedges, More, Cartier, YSL), not one offers the kind of sophistication that smokers expect cigarettes to impart to them. Cigarettes, like clothes, send a signal to the world. For young adults, having the right clothes that connote the right values signifies sophistication. While very few young adults would want their peers to think that they blew a wad of money on clothing with a fancy label, the right brand of clothes still says everything--as evinced by the successes of such youth- adult targeted brands as The Gap, Benetton and Guess. We believe that there is tremendous opportunity for the first cigarette maker who can market a product that provides glamor and sophistication without asking the consumer to pay extra for it. These qualities should be part of what cigarettes promise anyhow. If a brand of cigarettes can bring these qualities to the twentysomething generation, there is an untapped opportunity to form a strong bond with smokers ripe to develop brand loyalty. Moreover, providing a brand with a point-of-view relevant to the target's values can help give the young adult "permission to smoke." If further coupled with the defiant sensibility embodied in the Smooth Character, such a brand can reaffirm to the smoker that the right to one's own pleasure is one's own business. Madonna would agree.
PHILIP MORRIS USA ADVERTISING STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Throughout development of an advertising campaign for Battistoni, we kept three fundamental objectives in mind: Advertisinq must indicate a new product, differentiating it from already existing products that consumers show little interest in switchinq to. Almost all cigarette advertising imagery draws from three main areas: --aspirational/upscale situations --nature/outdoors --socialization/relaxing with friends. To young adults, these familiar approaches are stale and irrelevant; this generation is savvy to familiar approaches as "typical" or "phony" advertising. Advertisinq must involve the consumer in the brand enouqh to make trial possible. As most current cigarette advertising does not engage the consumer's interest, there is little reason for young adults to even try a new brand. Moreover, their attitude towards advertising, particularly cigarette advertising, encompasses not only boredom, but also suspicion of "claims" or enticing imagery. Elegant situations and idyllic natural settings come across as lies, and are therefore easily dismissed. Cigarette advertising needs to engage the consumer in the brand by leading him to, as opposed to foisting onto him, a brand identity that reflects his values. From the ideas the advertising provides, he must draw his own conclusions about what the brand stands for, so that, in effect, his own values~become part of the brand. Advertisinq must also give permission to smoke. With increasing social pressure not to smoke, the rationale behind choosing to smoke has to counter the rationale against smoking. Advertising should reassure the consumer that it is "correct" or socially appropriate to smoke. The brand image must be compatible with consumers' attitude toward smoking. Somehow, the brand must help him:
--justify his belief that the decision to smoke is calculated, reflecting his own free will;
--reassure himself that others will not think less of him for smoking;
--explain that his attitudes toward smoking fit in with his peer group's "philosophy of life."
--avoid feeling that a cigarette company is inducing him to smoke with advertising that "insults his intelligence," telling him what to do.
BATTISTONI CIGARETTES BRAND PERSONALITY
Battistoni is the triumph of emotional expression within rational control. Battistoni's packaging expresses this idea already. Battistoni is Rome and New York; classic and contemporary. A restrained, ordered modern graphic treatment superimposed over fiery red, and a latin name on an American cigarette both communicate the tension between emotional expressiveness and control, and the place that emotional expression has in a rational world.
BATTISTONI CIGARETTES BRAND PERSONALITY RELEVANCE
Most conflict in the daily lives of ordinary people has to do with the differences between internal, emotional drives and rational obligations or external pressures. Early adulthood is the time when most people submit to the "rational" world, beginning careers, settling down, looking back, perhaps longingly, on the freedom of youth. But the basic emotional drives remain. Most people live lives dominated by order and rational precepts: going to work, meeting deadlines and obligation, taking care of oneself, and abiding by the social contract. Cigarette smoking, especially in the current environment, does not belong to the rational world. With the new puritanism spreading beyond Anglo Saxon countries, expressions of basic drives are receding from popular favor. In the U.S.A., Camel's new positioning reflects an understanding of how to respond to the anti-smoking environment in a fresh, new way that engages the sympathies of a certain segment of young Americans. The Smooth Character's mischievous wink endorses a defiant juvenile delinquency that sums up a certain response to authority and growing up. To be sure, the Smooth Character's appeal is limited, and would unlikely appeal to a more mature twentysomething generation worldwide. However, there is opportunity to address this conflict between emotional drive and the rational in a subtler, more sophisticated way that appeals to older, more educated, middle class consumers.
BATTISTONI ADVERTISING 12% BLACK 88% RED
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS AND THEIR PROPORTIONS
Emphasizing the color red through copy and visuals suggests that red, and everything the color signifies, dominates the brand. Red is the color of emotion, passion, heat and blood. It is elemental and strong, and in our world, relatively rare. Numerous color research studies indicate that the color red--as opposed to cooler blue and green-- attracts individuals who challenge authority. As adolescents grow into adulthood, their preference for red gives way to liking for cooler colors. In psychological studies, people can be classified as "form-driven"--detail oriented and rationally inclined, or "color driven"--emotional, sensitive and expressive. These people prefer red. The 88% red, however, is offset by the 12% black, suggesting restraint on the power of red. Across the world, black connotes darkness and mystery, suggesting imagination and the unknown. During the past two decades, color experts have documented growing popularity of and sympathy to the color black, in spite of (or because of) its negative connotations. Together, red and black suggest great passion, tinged with mystery and darkness. This is the popular understanding of human psyche.
PHILIP MORRIS USA
THE BIG OPPORTIINITY ON THE AMERICAN MARKET
I
I
I
i
I
I
I
I
I
I
Cigarette marketers have overlooked a major
opportunity on the American market: young adults in
their twenties. There are currently 48 million people
between 18 and 29. Numerically, this "baby bust" is
much smaller than the baby boom, but constitutes an
important generation that cigarette marketers--like
others have overlooked.
Ask people of this generation--as we have--if
cigarette advertising is targeted at them, and they
feel none are, except possibly Camel. An informal
survey of fifteen twentysomething smokers yielded the
following consensus on who these brands were for:
Marlboro
Virginia Slims
Benson & Hedges
Camel
Kent
Merit
Salem
Kool
Newport
Winston
everybody/nobody in particular
middle age never-beens
yuppies
young adults
yuppies
older people
blacks
blacks
yuppies, blacks
older people
Among this group, there is a clear lack of any "brand
empathy" except possibly to Camel. Even Marlboro,
their preferred brand, is chosen by default; all the
other brands emitted signals that the twentysomethings
did not see as appropriate to themselves.
I
t
THE AMERICAN CIGARETTE MARKET
THE CAMEL KIND OF THREAT
I
I
I
I
I
The Smooth Character--a.k.a. el Tipo Suave--is
apparently very successful in attracting young adults
that Philip Morris might otherwise have attracted.
Camel's success cautions that other competitive brands
may strike where Marlboro is weakest--among the young
adults that Marlboro needs to sustain sales growth.
Camel's example indicates that Philip Morris needs to
win back Camel smokers now, so that as they remain
brand loyal through life, the ensuing sales benefit
does not accrue to RJR.
~
0
0
c'i'rt
~
I X
I
t
THE TWENTYSOMETHING GENERATION
ATTITUDES & LIFESTYLE
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
i
A recent study showed that young adults spent 24 hours
out of every week listening to music. To understand
the values of this generation, it is essential to
understand its music and the attitudes it reflects and
instills.
A good place to start is Madonna, whose appeal centers
on men and women in their twenties; she has exceeded
all other recording artists in sales to this group.
Despite her myriad changes in look and image, and the
complexity of the controversies she has provoked, the
basis of her appeal is simple and constant.
"I'm the boss around here," is her signature self-
assertion, and regardless of the pleasure she chooses-
-frilly feminine submission, sadomasochism, lesbian
homoeroticism or sex-pot blondness--the choice is
hers, and she is admired for it, and for her
expression of it; the Chancellor of Boston University
recently devoted a graduation ceremony to a diatribe
against what he saw as the unabashed self-interest of
young adults. What prompted his lecture: a graduating
student told him that he admired Madonna more than
anyone else because, "she can do what she wants."
] N
N
I
I
t
YOUNG ADULTS
THE QIIEST FOR CONTROL
Indeed, this sense of entitlement to control one's
world goes well beyond Madonna and other pop stars.
In a CNN poll, 58% of this generation agrees that
"there is no point in staying in a job unless you are
completely satisfied." As expressed by more than one
pop star, common sense should tell you that if you
don't take care of your own happiness, no one else
will.
In a Roper Organization survey, the baby bust asked
what it wanted most from work: rapid advancement--read
control--topped the list, followed by "happiness"
concerns such as time off, with salary in sixth place.
I
I
I
i
d
! W
O
9 0
~
C
I
t
YOIING ADULTS
DISILLUSION WITH MATERIAL STATUS
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
In a key difference from the values of the preceding
generation, money, per se, is not deemed an
appropriate object of existence. In a report from the
William Grant Foundation, the baby bust's financial
prospects, in real dollar terms, are 25% worse than
the generation that preceded it, a notion not lost on
young adults. In spite of the usual optimism of
youth, 65% see their material future as worse than the
preceding generation's.
~
{ ~a
0
w
0
a
( o
I
m
N
I
t
YOUNG ADULTS
LOOKING ELSEWHERE FOR FULFILLMENT
I
I
I
I
This sense of futility regarding likelihood of
financial success helps explain several key phenomena
among young adults. Instead of focusing on income,
they tend to look elsewhere for the opportunity to
control their world. This generation is behind such
social action groups as Act Up and Greenpeace, whose
narrowly focused goals and pragmatic agendas satisfy
their members' need for accomplishment. It is also
a generation that places leisure ahead of work, with
an emphasis on travel and seeing the world; CNN
reports 60% of the twentysomethings intend to travel
extensively.
Dimmed financial hopes also manifest themselves in
resentment--call it envy, perhaps--towards yuppieism.
Status symbols of the 1980's have fallen far from
favor, perhaps as the result of this generation's
antipathy towards the icons of money: BMW's, Ralph
Lauren apparel--or anything with a designer logo
emblazoned on it, Rolexes and Godiva are dismissed as
"pretentious," perhaps the ultimate pejorative for
this generation. This generation, even were its
circumstances different, is not at the point where it
wishes to signal to others its arrival or
accomplishments.
0
~ 4~-h
0
m
I
YOUNG ADULTS
PROUD OF WORLDLINESS
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Nevertheless, this generation prides itself on
"knowing better," and members demonstrate coming of
age by asserting their world-wise savvy. Political
cynicism, aggressive anti-politician apathy, a
predilection to shock with truthful bluntness
(Madonna, Andrew Dice Clay, Howard Stern) , blithe
acceptance of advertising for what it is all
characterize this generation. When it comes to
consuming, the desire to show off sophistication is
perhaps even stronger than the baby boomers'.
YOUNG ADULTS
WORLDLINESS AND CONSUMPTION
I
I
I
I
I
~
I
I
I
i
But instead of seeking the best of the best and
flashing it to the world, this post baby boom takes
pride in recognizing value. Having grown up with
escalating materialism and advertising promising
prestige and envy from less fortunate others, this
generation sees BMWs, Godivas and Rolexes as colossal
rip-offs. Getting comparable quality without paying
for the status badge motivates (and makes possible)
purchases for these consumers.
I
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
I
I
I
I
The arrival of this generation is as much the cause
of the much-heralded new trends in the market as the
aging of the baby boomers. While the material-success
fueled generation that made the 1980's what they were
grows into middle-age family values, their yuppie
impulses are not being replaced by newcomers to the
market.
What is happening in the market across many different
categories is the decline of expensive, status-
oriented often European brands. While some have
interpreted this as a "return to basics," or the end
of some sort of consumer fad the evidence suggests
that a power legacy of the 1980's remains: high
standards of quality. What is gone is consumer
willingness to pay for status symbols or slight
increments in quality associated with great increments
in price. Here are some examples:
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
THE AUTOMOBILE MARKET
I
.1
I
I
i.
The 1980's were good years for expensive imports;
sales of European imports peaked in 1986, up more than
double from a decade before. A new more sophisticated
generation of consumers moved away from the "bigger
is better" psychology of the Big Three to a more
European appreciation of driving. But during the end
of the decade, consumers became unwilling to pay for
what they saw as status symbols; BMW sales in 1989
fell back to 1982 levels.
But instead of returning to the boxy behemoths and
tiny tin cans of the 1970's, they turned to cars that
offered European styling and luxury performance at
more modest prices; in spite of the recession, most
recent 1990 YTD figures show the total luxury market
up 8%. But BMW, Saab, Mercedes, Jaguar, Volvo and
Sterling sales are all down, losing ground to more
sensibly priced new Japanese luxury models and
Lincoln, now modeled after and positioned as an
American Mercedes.
Mass-market manufacturers have come to recognize that
the new taste for European styling and the new
appreciation of driving as an "art" has reached beyond
the automotive market's high end; one can't imagine
"Fahrvergnugen" happening ten years ago. The result
today: Volkswagen sales are up 4% after a long, steady
decline.
I
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
THE CANDY MARKET
f
I
1
I
I
I
I
I
In the $11 billion candy category, resembling the
cigarette category in its downmarket skew, new product
successes have been extremely rare; 22 of the top 50
brands were among the top 50 in 1920, and most of
these 22 are among the top 25 today. But during the
1980's low-volume, but high-profile brands like Godiva
and Lindt benefitted greatly from better-travelled,
more sophisticated consumers' appetite for imported
quality and cachet.
While the desire for status symbols faded with the
demise of yuppieism, the taste for high quality
remained. Recognizing this, Hershey launched
"Symphony" as a "European-style" chocolate bar at a
standard candy price, making it in less than a year
one of America's top 25 brands. By comparison,
Hershey's upscale Golden Almond Line, launched in the
1970's, enjoyed only modest success. Now, Mars,
traditionally content with its stable of mass-market
gold mines, is launching Sussande, another "European-
style" chocolate at American chocolate prices.
~
o
(
N
W
O
1 N
0
it
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
THE WINE MARKET
I
I
I
I
V
c
I
During the 1970's, imported wine generally meant
Lambrusco--or perhaps Blue Nun. But the 1980's, with
its penchant for quality and sophistication, brought
tremendous sales increases for expensive French and,
later, Californian wines. By the late 1980's, the
explosion in growth of high-price wines abruptly
stopped, forcing vintners to take pause and regroup.
Many vintners saw opportunity in the "fighting
varietals"--cork-finished wines in the $4-$8 range--
that offered the European wine values of the high-end
(corks, specific variety as opposed to "chablis" with
a small "c," impressive labels, etc.) with prices
closer to Carlo Rossi than Rothschild. As a result,
jug-wine holdout Gallo, controlling 60% of total U.S.
wine production, was forced to join the fighting
varietals with a major campaign repositioning the
brand with European-style brand values.
I
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
THE WATER MARKET
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
From 1984 to 1988, bottled water imported from France
more than tripled in gallonage. But in 1989, French
water sales rose only 7.7%, while imports of less
expensive Canadian water more than doubled in one
year--even before the Perrier contamination scandal
caused consumers to evaluate their water consumption.
The example of Canadian brands such as Sparcal and
Montclair has aroused the attention of both Pepsico
and Coca Cola, who are test marketing moderately
priced sparkling water products such as H2OH! and
Clarte. Consumers weaned on Perrier in the 1980's are
unlikely to return to tap water or big plastic jugs
from questionable suppliers, but the soft drink giants
are betting that they will accept a more sensibly
priced mass-market bottled water, as will soft drink
users that avoided Perrier because of its cost.
I
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
THE HOME APPLIANCEIHOME FURNISHINGS MARKET
I
I
I
I
I
P
I
I
I
The taste for European design and performance in home
appliances gave rise to Cuisinart, Braun, Krups and
other European appliances; from 1988 to 1989, Braun's
share of the market more than doubled to 11%,
largely at the expense of clunky American brands like
Procter-Silex and West Bend.
But during the last two years, American manufacturers
have fought back; new "Eurostyle" appliances are
available from Hamilton Beach and West Bend. American
companies have adapted Cuisinart's technology to
increasingly price and convenience-oriented customers,
forcing Cuisinart into bankruptcy by taking over the
"chopper market."
The taste for European style in home furnishings
brought the 1980's such icons as Tizio lamps and
"Eurostyle" cabinetry. Seizing the moment when
American willingness to pay exorbitantly for quality
design had passed--even when taste for it had not--
Ikea is the exemplar of a new breed of stores that
offers imported design at reasonable prices; since
coming to the U. S. five years ago, Ikea is now the
nation's fourteenth largest furniture retailer, with
stores in only six DMA's.
I
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSIIMPTION
THE FASHION MARKET
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, Americans underwent
escalating fashion consciousness. French and then
Italian designer labels boomed as baby boomers showed
off their newfound worldliness. But by the late
1980's, the success began to trail off for high end
European imports. GFT, the Italian fashion
conglomerate marketing such labels as Giorgio Armani,
Ungaro, Valentino and Christian Dior, has seen America
fall from its most important export market to its
fourth because of declining sales.
For American designers, the rejection of overpriced
high-end clothing has provided a windfall: the
enormous successes of moderately priced second lines
such as Anne Klein's Anne Klein II, Donna Karan's
DKNY, Calvin Klein's Calvin Klein Sport all attest to
consumers who want fashion cachet but don't want to
pay extra for it, as they must for European designers
who until last year have refused to develop second
moderately priced lines.
The Gap has been even more successful at seizing onto
young consumers' unwillingness to pay extra for a
designer label. With its "individuality" campaign
aimed at the twentysomething generation, the Gap has
doubled in size to $1 billion since 1985, with sales
up 20% versus year ago as a result of the new
advertising campaign. Newsweek called this growth,
"the transformation of The Gap from the Snickers bar
of fashion to something more like Godiva chocolates."
In effect, for all that the Gap pretends to be anti-
designer fashion, it is only a new breed of fashion,
but at the right price.
I
t
CHANGING PATTERNS OF CONSUMPTION
THE COFFEE MARKET
I
I
I
I
Throughout the 1980's, coffee marketers agonized over
what to do about aging, increasingly health-conscious
franchises, and their ability to attract younger
consumers to the category. And while they were busy
introducing decaffeinated or instant this and that,
sniping at their competitors with price promotions and
turf invasions, a major new trend was building.
Gourmet, local specialty and boutique brands sprouted
up. Dismissed as peripheral by companies interested
in volume, they were not given much attention--until
such hitherto obscure brands as Millstone Coffee had
captured one third the volume in Washington State, and
similar brands began to do the same in other regions
with major concentrations of young adults. Gourmet
coffee, which in the early 1980's accounted for less
than 2% of the market, has reached a share of nearly
12% of the $6.6 billion market, and is expected to
exceed 20% by the mid 1990's.
These brands, with their quirky handcrafted images and
specialty market character, are now on the way to
doing what KGF, Nestle and P&G had dreamed of doing
all along: halting a slide in category sales by
renewing a "coffee culture" among young people
previously relinquished to Pepsico and Coca Cola. Now
there's Maxwell House French Roast, but the golden
opportunity to be the brand for a new generation of
coffee drinkers is fading.
t
THE AMERICAN CIGARETTE MARKET:
ABSENCE OF A WELL-POSITIONED UPMARKET CIGARETTE
I
I
I
I
While every category is unique, and many may not seem
to offer opportunity for upscale brands, even at
standard prices, we believe that consumer tastes have
been overlooked by major cigarette marketers.
Cartier, Yves Saint Laurent, Ritz and Dunhill
cigarettes are all too expensive for a population
already made to feel guilty about smoking. The notion
of paying substantially more for what their "rational"
brain tells them is not much different is not only a
great barrier to trial, but also a financial
imposition on the vast majority of smokers. Smokers
don't want to have to rationalize even further
something that is an irrational pleasure if they don't
have to.
Moreover, from a product standpoint, European imports
do not offer American customer qualities that are
acceptable to his tastes. The unfiltered, black
tobacco cigarettes that sell well in France, for
example, do not meet the product requirements American
needs dictate.
Finally, the few designer brands on the market are the
equivalent of designer logos: each of these brands is
a badge designed to tell the world, "I have enough
disposable income to afford something beyond the
ordinary." These brands, especially Cartier and Yves
Saint Laurent, are in the minds of young adults
incarnations of vulgar ostentatiori associated with an
irrelevant brand of materialism.
~
C.~
Q
~ Q01
Q
I
t
THE PHILIP MORRIS OPPORTUNITY
GIVING YOUNG ADULTS PERMISSION TO SMOKE
I
I
I
.1
I
I
I
I
I
In this era when smoking is under attack as dirty
imposition on a just-say-no society, smokers need to
be empowered with permission to smoke. For young
adults, the single most powerful argument that can be
made in defense of smoking is, "no matter what others
say, I am entitled to enjoy my pleasure because I
chose it." To quote Madonna, "Poor is the man whose
pleasure depends upon the permission of another."
With the exception of Camel--who well understands
defiance as part of the smoking experience--no
cigarette offers smokers a way of saying, " off,
it's my life and my pleasure."
N
O
1 W
0
CR
O
CD
I
?Ot
THE PHILIP MORRIS OPPORTUNITY
THE NEED FOR GLAMOR
i
I
I
Cigarette marketers also fail to capture another key
category benefit: glamor. In spite of the feeble
attempts at offering glamor and sophistication by a
number of brands (Benson & Hedges, More, Cartier,
YSL), not one offers the kind of sophistication that
smokers expect cigarettes to impart to them.
Cigarettes, like clothes, send a signal to the world.
For young adults, having the right clothes that
connote the right values signifies sophistication.
While very few young adults would want their peers to
think that they blew a wad of money on clothing with
a fancy label, the right brand of clothes still says
everything--as evinced by the successes of such youth-
adult targeted brands as The Gap, Benetton and Guess.
We believe that there is tremendous opportunity for
the first cigarette maker who can market a product
that provides glamor and sophistication without asking
the consumer to pay extra for it. These qualities
should be part of what cigarettes promise anyhow. If
a brand of cigarettes can bring these qualities to the
twentysomething generation, there is an untapped
opportunity to form a strong bond with smokers ripe
to develop brand loyalty.
~ Moreover, providing a brand with a point-of-view
relevant to the target's values can help give the
young adult "permission to smoke." If further coupled
~ with the defiant sensibility embodied in the Smooth
Character, such a brand can reaffirm to the smoker
that the right to one's own pleasure is one's own ~
~ business. Madonna would agree. Q
N
W
~
O
I
t
PHILIP MORRIS IISA
ADVERTISING STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Throughout development of an advertising campaign for
Battistoni, we kept three fundamental objectives in
mind:
o Advertising must indicate a new product
differentiating it from already existing products
that consumers show little interest in switching
to. Almost all cigarette advertising imagery
draws from three main areas:
--aspirational/upscale situations
--nature/outdoors
--socialization/relaxing with friends.
To young adults, these familiar approaches are
stale and irrelevant; this generation is savvy to
familiar approaches as "typical" or "phony"
advertising.
o Advertising must involve the consumer in the brand
enough to make trial possible. As most current
cigarette advertising does not engage the
consumer's interest, there is little reason for
young adults to even try a new brand. Moreover,
their attitude towards advertising, particularly
cigarette advertising, encompasses not only
boredom, but also suspicion of "claims" or
enticing imagery. Elegant situations and idyllic
natural settings come across as lies, and are
therefore easily dismissed.
Cigarette advertising needs to engage the consumer
in the brand by leading him to, as opposed to
foisting onto him, a brand identity that reflects
his values. From the ideas the advertising
I
t
provides, he must draw his own conclusions about
what the brand stands for, so that, in effect, his
own values,become part of the brand.
o Advertising must also give permission to smoke.
With increasing social pressure not to smoke, the
rationale behind choosing to smoke has to counter
the rationale against smoking. Advertising should
reassure the consumer that it is "correct" or
socially appropriate to smoke. The brand image
must be compatible with consumers' attitude toward
smoking. Somehow, the brand must help him:
--justify his belief that the decision to
smoke is calculated, reflecting his own free
will;
--reassure himself that others will not think
less of him for smoking;
--explain that his attitudes toward smoking
fit in with his peer group's "philosophy of
life."
--avoid feeling that a cigarette company is
inducing him to smoke with advertising that
"insults his intelligence," telling him what
to do.
it
BATTISTONI ADVERTISING
STRATEGIC GUIDELINES
In developing executions, we also kept in mind three
elementary principles that good advertising should
follow:
o Advertising should work hard at linking imagery
with the product; the idea presented should be
immediately recollectable at point of purchase.
o Advertising should not depend upon one particular
culture, but on universally held values.
o Advertising should have a format which will
provide consistency and maximal awareness of the
brand imagery while engaging the consumer's
interest on a long-term, ongoing basis.
it
BATTISTONI CIGARETTES
BRAND PERSONALITY
o Battistoni is the triumph of emotional expression
within rational control.
o Battistoni's packaging expresses this idea
already. Battistoni is Rome and New York; classic
and contemporary. A restrained, ordered modern
graphic treatment superimposed over fiery red, and
a latin name on an American cigarette both
communicate the tension between emotional
expressiveness and control, and the place that
emotional expression has in a rational world.
it
BATTISTONI CIGARETTES
BRAND PERSONALITY RELEVANCE
o Most conflict 'in the daily lives of ordinary
people has to do with the differences between
internal, emotional drives and rational
obligations or external pressures. Early
adulthood is the time when most people submit to
the "rational" world, beginning careers, settling
down, looking back, perhaps longingly, on the
freedom of youth. But the basic emotional drives
remain.
o Most people live lives dominated by order and
rational precepts: going to work, meeting
deadlines and obligation, taking care of oneself,
and abiding by the social contract.
Cigarette smoking, especially in the current
environment, does not belong to the rational
world. With the new puritanism spreading beyond
Anglo Saxon countries, expressions of basic drives
are receding from popular favor.
o In the U.S.A., Camel's new positioning reflects an
understanding of how to respond to the anti-
smoking environment in a fresh, new way that
engages the sympathies of a certain segment of
young Americans. The Smooth Character's
mischievous wink endorses a defiant juvenile
delinquency that sums up a certain response to
authority and growing up.
To be sure, the Smooth Character's appeal is
limited, and would unlikely appeal to a more
mature twentysomething generation worldwide.
However, there is opportunity to address this
conflict between emotional drive and the rational
in a subtler, more sophisticated way that appeals
to older, more educated, middle class consumers.
?t
BATTISTONI CIGARETTES
CREATIVE TARGET AUDIENCE
I
o Current smokers, 21-30.
o Users of premium American Cigarettes and/or
superpremium upscale brands.
o Educated men and women.
0 Global.
?t
BATTISTONI ADVERTISING
12% BLACK 88% RED
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS AND THEIR PROPORTIONS
o Emphasizing the color red through copy and visuals
suggests that red, and everything the color
signifies, dominates the brand.
o Red is the color of emotion, passion, heat and
blood. It is elemental and strong, and in our
world, relatively rare.
o Numerous color research studies indicate that the
color red--as opposed to cooler blue and green--
attracts individuals who challenge authority. As
adolescents grow into adulthood, their preference
for red gives way to liking for cooler colors.
o In psychological studies, people can be classified
as "form-driven"--detail oriented and rationally
inclined, or "color driven"--emotional, sensitive
and expressive. These people prefer red.
o The 88% red, however, is offset by the 12% black,
suggesting restraint on the power of red.
o Across the world, black connotes darkness and
mystery, suggesting imagination and the unknown.
o During the past two decades, color experts have
documented growing popularity of and sympathy to
the color black, in spite of (or because of) its
negative connotations.
o Together, red and black suggest great passion,
tinged with mystery and darkness. This is the
popular understanding of human psyche.
t
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRECISE MEASUREMENT
o Precise measurements give context f or the product;
it suggests a scientific or rational form in which
the emotions of the colors exist; it is the pure
energy of emoltion put into some mathematical
order.
o The 12% 88% ratio suggests deliberation and
forethought. It is not simply red without regard
to consequences; it is measured and calculated,
indicating decision and awareness that red has
more meaning if it is not 100%.
o The organization that the ratio exerts over the
"chaos" of red and black recalls young adults'
search to put emotions and passions in the context
of their perfunctory lives.
THE CAMPAIGN'S MNEMONIC VALUE
o Without the gigantic budgets Megabrands like
Marlboro have to defend brand imagery, competitors
could erode its position. Given the modest budget
likely to support Battistoni, an advertising idea
that grants ownership of certain values is
extremely valuable.
o The values imparted by the campaign cannot easily
be appropriated by another brand, as Battistoni's
packaging is unique in the marketplace.
o The emphasis on the colors in the advertising will
also benefit the consumer decision process at
point-of-purchase. The 12% 88% will link the
brand values inextricably to the package, so that
the advertising message is recalled when it
counts.
t
12% BLACK 88% RED
SYMBOLS CAMPAIGN
o The objects chosen not only represent the color
breakdown of Battistoni, but also the contrast and
conflict between rational order and the elemental
or emotional.
o Many of the objects selected are natural
phenomena: watermelon, lobster, ladybug, butterfly
and bird. While these objects are the essence of
pure animality--primitive or untamed, the stark
visual presentation emphasizes the order that
governs their raw power.
o Similarly, objects such as the nail polish bottle,
the African mask, and boxing gloves have to do
with emotional drives, but the hand that created
them shows order and form.
o Other items--Le rouge et le noir, the joker, the
traffic sign, and the roller skate--reflect more
cerebral depictions of the same basic concept. A
joker is wild, but cards are numbers, and follow,
even the joker, the laws of probability. A roller
skate is childhood, freedom and play, but, as the
visual presentation shows, it is also a machine.
Stendahl's novel has to do with a similar conflict
between the red and the black. And the "Don't
Walk" sign signifies the American city, perhaps
the greatest conflict between imposed order and
underlying chaos.
o In each execution a"100%" wraps the idea, linking
the red and the black back to the brand. Taken in
sum, the 100% qualities are the same balance of
emotional energy and restrained order that the
brand stands for.
it
12% BLACK 88% RED
PEOPLE CAMPAIGN
o The photographs of people are all about expressing
passions and emotions--strong sexually driven
drives, especially ones that do not have the
blessings of society.
o But in each photo, there is a sense of purpose or
deliberateness to the emotions. There is no sense
that the subjects were caught off guard, in the
throes of passion. They have chosen to defy
conventional expectations and taboos, and to
express their desires.
o The stylized nature of the emotions and passions
again indicates the sense of passion within a
rational order. While the attitude of the
photography is forward and modern, the portrait
composition is essentially classical, suggesting
that what is happening within the photographs has
its place in this world.
o Even the black and white photography helps
reinforce this point; the order the photographer
has imposed is strongly felt, relating, again, to
the presence of 12% black.
o The intended net impression of the image is the
expression of a strong hedonism that is neither
reckless nor pointless, but instead is reconciled
with a sense of purpose.
o The 100% Battistoni wrap closes the argument, ~
letting the brand stand for the red and black as ~
expressed in the photograph. N
~
o Again, the campaign is meant to run in English O
everywhere. ~
~
~
~
t
BATTISTONI
RESEARCH RECOMMENDATION
We believe that the`Battistoni "People" campaign holds
promise for helping Philip Morris capture and cement
the loyalty of young adults.
We would like to work with Philip Morris in developing
a campaign based upon the values exploited in the
Battistoni campaign, whether it be for Battistoni
itself, or the repositioning or launch of another
brand aimed at the young adult market.
To this end, we encourage Philip Morris to test the
Battistoni "People" campaign through research that
would explore the appeal of Battistoni--product, name,
package and advertising as well as separately explore
the appeal and relevance of the advertising imagery,
in particular the photography.
t
BATTISTONI
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
As one of the key issues influencing the effectiveness
of cigarette advertising is the relative strength of
emotional versus cognitive response, we strongly
recommend research design and conduct that can isolate
these responses. One-on-one interviews can remove
much of the impulse for consumers to "put up defenses"
(a cognitive response) , and can allow observers to see
the emotional response stimulated by the imagery.
This will allow us to effectively examine the
strengths of the campaign's appeal.
As there is also a strong cognitive response to
advertising--especially over time, as consumers build
a rational response to selling arguments--it is also
critical to understand what happens on this level.
While some cognitive response will emerge in one-on-
ones, the cognitive response is more dependent upon
external, or social reactions, and will therefore be
more clear in group research. In mini-groups, we
would be able to see the kinds of rational defenses
of--and attacks on--the advertising that we might
expect to develop in the market over time.
Weighing the emotional and cognitive responses
together will help us gauge how effective we might
expect the advertising to be. At this point,
standards could be established for quantitative
research design that could determine the scope of the
brand's potential market.
t
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PHASE I
A battery of one-on-one depth interviews--conducted
with geographical' representation of where Philip
Morris might hope to market such a product--would
provide insight into the following issues:
o What kind of emotional response does the imagery
in the photographs show?
o To what extent does this imagery convey glamor and
defiance? Does it convey a European feeling?
o How involving is the appeal of the photographs?
o What does the name Battistoni suggest?
o What kind of appeal does a brand (priced at par
with the market) with European eclat have?
o How relevant are defiance, glamor and European
eclat as brand values?
We recommend a "balanced" research design, exposing
imagery without the brand to one group of consumers,
and beginning with the brand to others. We would
begin with photographs showing no product, followed
by photographs in which the product is featured. For
the photographs, one promising research technique
might be "Thematic Apperception-Type" testing--in
other words, asking respondents to tell a story about
the photographs.
tt
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PHASE II
Several mini-groups would be conducted to see how the
appeal of the campaign stands up to the need to defend
one's personal likes to others. While we would begin
the research with an exploration of emotional appeal
and imagery, we would expect to see consumers
formulating "arguable" opinions about the campaign.
Through these groups, we will learn how effective we
have been at suggesting the proposition that one's own
pleasure is one's own choice. The degree to which
this idea is appropriate to the campaign could be
explored without, and then, if necessary, with aided
stimulus from the moderator.
it
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PHASE III
Quantitative research to explore the business
potential of the product/imagery would involve
addressing the following questions:
o To which consumers will the advertising/product
appeal? While we suspect the twentysomething
generation are the best candidates, we believe
that other groups, including older baby boomers,
will also be interested in the product.
o What are the most likely sources of volume? In
France, initial research suggests only 33% of
Battistoni volume is cannibalized from Marlboro.
o Geographically, which region of the country offers
the greatest chance of success for testing?
Specific elements of the qualitative research
methodology will depend upon findings in quantitative
research.
