Brown & Williamson Tobacco has launched a 75,000-piece direct mail test for its new cigarette Advance Lights.
The mailing went out in December to known smokers of competitive brands in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
The $5.4 billion company chose Indianapolis because a large portion of its residents are among the 24% to 25% of Americans who still smoke, said spokesman Steve Kottak.
The drop was sent to a cross-section of men and women over age 21.
It usually takes the company an average of six months to make any mail rollout decisions for specific new brands. But mail worked for a new B&W product last year. Starting in January 2001, the company sent out over 6.5 million pieces to promote its new Pall Mall filter cigarettes. Through October, mail helped build an 0.62% market share for that brand, up from nothing before then, Kottak noted.
More small-scale direct mail tests for Advance are likely in different regions early this year, he said.
The Advance test piece came in a 5-1/2-inch-by-6-inch box. It consisted of a combination cover letter and brochure, and a CD-ROM offering more information about the cigarette’s reduced toxin count.
In addition, the mailing piece offered personalized discount coupons requiring users to sign before they could be redeemed. These names will be added to B&W’s multimillion-name database.
Despite the presence of the CD, the test mailing was not aimed at younger or better-educated people, noted Kottak.
The letter begins by saying,
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