Metz, The Social Concept

2009: The Year of Tobacco Brands on The Social Web

December 31, 2008

This is the post that’s probably going to get me in a lot of trouble.

I’m writing this post on tobacco brands now because 2009 is going to be a watershed year for regulated brands on the social web (alcohol, tobacco, firearms, adult brands). This post is written for all of the lifestyle brand CMOs and Marketing Directors who want to know exactly how far this whole social web/social media marketing thing is going to go. It’s going to be so pervasive across all consumer brands, it’s scary. (Hell, if I’m wrong, maybe I’ll be asking if you want fries with that in 2010). :)

A little background on my interest here: I’ve experimented with smoking, on and off, throughout my life. I started when I was 16, and smoked on and off until I was 19. I started again when I was 21, and quit when I was 25. I’ll have a smoke once in a while these days, but only at a party or something, and I generally try to stay away from the stuff. I think that smoking is fun, and relaxing, but I’m not too wild about what it’s done to my health.

I only work with sustainable brands. That’s why working with tobacco companies has been a big question for me. I’m somewhat undecided as to whether I should give my services to a brand like American Spirit , that’s trying to chance the industry, and make a “healthier” cigarette, or is this just an area I should entirely stay away from? (I’m happy to hear your feedback in the comments below).

In the U.S. alone, Tobacco is a $100 Billion plus dollar industry, about ten times the size of the video game industry, and it’s only a matter of months before this regulated market begins to jump onto the social web. Heck, most of the alcohol brands have already gone this route, and the minimum drinking age is three years higher, here in the States. This industry has been spending $6-8 billion per year in marketing, back in the late ‘90s, so there’s clearly no shortage of budget.

Although tobacco consumption has dramatically slumped in the last two decades, 5.5 trillion cigarettes are still smoked every year. Camel Cigarettes led the charge into guerilla marketing for mainstream brands in the late 1990s, and their bar and club promotions pretty much set the bar for many music industry promotions.

Obviously tobacco brands are loath to jump onto the social web full-force for the same reason that they were not too keen on appearing at federal hearings for the last 54 years (although they did keep their noses clean in all litigation until 1996, to their credit). This type of marketing requires transparency. Last time I checked, Reynolds American, Lorillard, British American Tobacco and Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco haven’t exactly been known for transparency. (Further reading here would include the incredibly messed-up ““Marketing To The Marginalized”:http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/1095/ : Tobacco Industry Targeting Of The Homeless & Mentally Ill”, 2005.)

There are, however, a few tobacco brands that may be ready to get in the game. These are brands that are attempting to change the industry, and have something to gain by starting or participating in a conversation. Let’s also not forget rationale here; when your product is a regulated brand, the market has a clearly defined point-of-entry: the age of 18.

Here’s who I think these brands are, and how they could rise to prominence on the social web:

The Strategy:

This is a three-step method for how total dominance on the social web could be achieved by any of these brands. It’s a three-step method that puts the brand LAST. This is a strategy that we’re going to see employed over and over by regulated brands as they engage in new types of marketing. Here’s the order of messages that they’ll want to bring onto the social web:

1. How To Quit: Since the ’80s, tobacco has quickly figured out how to publicize teaching their consumers how to quit smoking. These plans were among the first items that tobacco brands put on the web ten years ago. Brands will want to do this first, in order to master the tools, and learn the success metrics. This would be the first 3-6 months, and then ongoing.

2. Branded Events: Frequently, tobacco brands will co-sponsor events (concerts, car races, etc.) with other brands. Facilitating social media implementations about these events bring the brands even closer to the consumer. The key part of this stage is that tobacco brand marketers will begin to learn behavioral targeting and customer evangelism deeply. They’d want to only go to this stage after demonstrating success with the “How To Quit” phase.

3. The Brand: This would be the very last stage in the strategy, and brands would only want to go to this stage once they’re comfortable with tools, the behavioral targeting and they have a small army of customer evangelists. This may take 10-12 months for any brand, but if the liquor companies can do it, these brands can too. This is where it gets bloody, in terms of consumer advocate reaction. But this is also where it gets bloody profitable.

The Brands

1. “Santa Fe”:http://www.nascigs.com Tobacco Company: These guys make the only mainstream “natural” cigarette on the market. They’re also pretty up-front about showing their consumers how to quit smoking (if they want to). In terms of “story,” this brand may have the most going for them, and pretty heavy environmental branding, for a tobacco brand. At the very least, these guys could start blogging to get the message out about their position and events. This brand could stand up to scrutiny better than most.

2. Camel/RJ Reynolds: For better or for worse, they’ve always been at the forefront of social marketing in this space. They’re fairly conscious about age-protecting their content (the website’s probably the most impenetrable major brand site I’ve ever seen). Camel’s probably most in-touch with the 20-something market right now, of all the brands. Easy wins would be theirs, by sheer scale of their engagement. On the other hand, they’d undoubtedly receive harsh criticism from consumer advocates for reaching “even lower” to get new smokers.

3. Marlboro/Altria: They probably have the most successful quit-smoking program, so it seems like a logical jumping-off point, given the strategy detailed above.

Naturally, this post was written on BART and at an AC Transit bus stop, listening to the Alkaline Trio . Is there any other way to write about tobacco?

—-

One note, the NYT just published an article on the Dems new push over cigarette regulation, under the FDA.

Email this • Save to del.icio.us • Share on Facebook • Digg This! • Tweet This!