Tobacco firms plot response to ad-ban
Last week, a bill threatening a ban on tobacco advertising moved out of committee and tobacco companies fear this will eliminate their primary marketing medium.
If cigarette makers lose that fight, they'll switch resources - now $250 million annually - from traditional advertising to event sponsorship to keep their share of the market for the world's heaviest smokers.
But companies said sponsorship here is already on the rise, both among established companies looking to consolidate their position and newcomers looking forward to upcoming tobacco plant privatizations.
"Three times more events than last year" is what Marcin Lasker, events marketing executive for Philip Morris, said his company has sponsored over the last three months.
For Philip Morris' brand Marlboro, a dominant market position and dominating the music sponsorship scene goes hand in hand, Lasker said.
Marlboro Music has sponsored events here for more than four years and continues to sponsor major events here, including last week's Joe Cocker concert and next week's Sopot Rock Festival, featuring several big-name American and British acts.
Competition is stiffening among cigarette companies vying to sponsor these big music events. Marlboro Music lost last week's Warsaw Summer Jazz Days to competitor West cigarettes. West and Prince are brands Marlboro officials are concerned about, both in terms of market share and share of sponsorship.
Camel also is a significant player sponsoring another seaside summer festival, Lato Studenckie, and last week brought in a famous Swedish DJ for a large club event.
Camel is also sponsoring a series of motorcycle races across Poland. Another R.J. Reynolds brand, Salem, marketed at young women, sponsored a spring fashion show.
"They want to establish a link with fashion, and use it for future use," says Jeremy Linsey, head of sponsorship and promotions for Studio 1, which also runs a modeling agency. "You need to work years in advance. You'll reap the rewards in the future."
Unlike many corporate sponsors, cigarette companies integrate ads and sponsorship into their highly focused, lifestyle marketing strategy.
At the spring fashion show, "Salem was everywhere," said Jolanta Wodiczko, who organized the event. She runs East International, a promotional agency that brought a dozen clothing lines, most of them western, to the show.
That event, oriented toward consumers rather than retail buyers, matched the menthol cigarette's target consumers - 18 to 30-year-old women - with fashion, said Kevin Jewsbury, marketing director at R. J. Reynolds Poland. Jewsbury said he's looking for two things from sponsored events: "A, they fit the image of the brand, and B, (they) raise the profile of the brand."
Sometimes that profile can backfire. Violence and a riot were the most notable events at the Marlboro Music-sponsored Jarocin Rock Festival two summers ago. It reflected on the sponsor and was the main reason Marlboro dropped its sponsorship in 1994, the festival's final year, Lasker said.
Events like Jarocin have mellowed Marlboro's sponsoring strategy. Marlboro is now concentrating on students, who "understand if it's too aggressive, too pushy a promotion - it's almost like putting a cigarette into your mouth," Lasker said.
If an advertising ban or restrictions result from passing a new law, Marlboro's strategy likely would be to step up their direct marketing approach through sponsoring smaller events with hostesses offering cigarettes, Lasker said. The venues of choice for most of these will be bars and nightclubs.
If cigarette makers lose that fight, they'll switch resources - now $250 million annually - from traditional advertising to event sponsorship to keep their share of the market for the world's heaviest smokers.
But companies said sponsorship here is already on the rise, both among established companies looking to consolidate their position and newcomers looking forward to upcoming tobacco plant privatizations.
"Three times more events than last year" is what Marcin Lasker, events marketing executive for Philip Morris, said his company has sponsored over the last three months.
For Philip Morris' brand Marlboro, a dominant market position and dominating the music sponsorship scene goes hand in hand, Lasker said.
Marlboro Music has sponsored events here for more than four years and continues to sponsor major events here, including last week's Joe Cocker concert and next week's Sopot Rock Festival, featuring several big-name American and British acts.
Competition is stiffening among cigarette companies vying to sponsor these big music events. Marlboro Music lost last week's Warsaw Summer Jazz Days to competitor West cigarettes. West and Prince are brands Marlboro officials are concerned about, both in terms of market share and share of sponsorship.
Camel also is a significant player sponsoring another seaside summer festival, Lato Studenckie, and last week brought in a famous Swedish DJ for a large club event.
Camel is also sponsoring a series of motorcycle races across Poland. Another R.J. Reynolds brand, Salem, marketed at young women, sponsored a spring fashion show.
"They want to establish a link with fashion, and use it for future use," says Jeremy Linsey, head of sponsorship and promotions for Studio 1, which also runs a modeling agency. "You need to work years in advance. You'll reap the rewards in the future."
Unlike many corporate sponsors, cigarette companies integrate ads and sponsorship into their highly focused, lifestyle marketing strategy.
At the spring fashion show, "Salem was everywhere," said Jolanta Wodiczko, who organized the event. She runs East International, a promotional agency that brought a dozen clothing lines, most of them western, to the show.
That event, oriented toward consumers rather than retail buyers, matched the menthol cigarette's target consumers - 18 to 30-year-old women - with fashion, said Kevin Jewsbury, marketing director at R. J. Reynolds Poland. Jewsbury said he's looking for two things from sponsored events: "A, they fit the image of the brand, and B, (they) raise the profile of the brand."
Sometimes that profile can backfire. Violence and a riot were the most notable events at the Marlboro Music-sponsored Jarocin Rock Festival two summers ago. It reflected on the sponsor and was the main reason Marlboro dropped its sponsorship in 1994, the festival's final year, Lasker said.
Events like Jarocin have mellowed Marlboro's sponsoring strategy. Marlboro is now concentrating on students, who "understand if it's too aggressive, too pushy a promotion - it's almost like putting a cigarette into your mouth," Lasker said.
If an advertising ban or restrictions result from passing a new law, Marlboro's strategy likely would be to step up their direct marketing approach through sponsoring smaller events with hostesses offering cigarettes, Lasker said. The venues of choice for most of these will be bars and nightclubs.
