Lighting Up Loyalty

Think Marlboro. Think rugged cowboys. Think big, blue, open skies. Think Unlimited magazine.

The brand’s corporate parent, Philip Morris USA, is one of many tobacco companies turning to custom publishing to build brand loyalty. In the wake of government bans and restrictions on cigarette advertising, Philip Morris – like its competitors RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. – is turning to a medium more targeted than old standbys like billboards.

“One of the problems we have with mass media is that three-quarters of the people who see the ads aren’t even smokers, and the channel is becoming increasingly cluttered, particularly with other tobacco ads,” notes John Heironimus, premium niche brands division vice president for Brown & Williamson. “It’s really hard for us to break out in that environment.”

“Putting lots of dollars up against mass audiences is losing its appeal,” agrees Michael Hurley, director of custom marketing for Hearst Magazines, which works with Brown & Williamson. “You want to be able to reach as many people as possible with something that makes sense to them individually.”

Along with publisher Hachette Filipacci, in the fall of 1996 Philip Morris USA launched the lifestyle magazine Unlimited: Action, Adventure and Good Times. The magazine is currently delivered free to 1.8 million adult smokers who enjoy Marlboro, the nation’s number one tobacco brand. And no, editorial content doesn’t focus on the joys of a good cigarette but rather on outdoor activities like rock climbing, cutting loose in the Colorado backcountry and camping out on an iceberg, shown by research to be appealing to Marlboro smokers.

“By touching on subjects that are important to our adult consumers, we are reinforcing the brand loyalty and brand image of Marlboro,” says Kati Otto, spokeswoman for Philip Morris. Seventy-five percent of the company’s U.S. sales are generated from Marlboro products.

BRAND REINFORCEMENT

Tobacco ads in Unlimited are exclusive to Marlboro, which reserves the inside front cover and back cover for its product. Other products promoted in the winter 2000 edition include Kraft’s Miracle Whip, an ATV from Yamaha and Mississippi Mud beer.

RJ Reynolds and Brown & Williamson are also tapping publishers to reinforce brand to existing customers and to convert adult smokers of competitive brands with free editorial content and photo layouts that focus on the lifestyles and interests of their customers.

With Hearst Magazines, Brown & Williamson last year launched the quarterlies Flair, for young women age 21 to 35; and The Art of Simple Living, for women age 35 to 50. In January, Hearst also began publishing Real Edge, a rowdy publication targeting men age 21 to 30 (Petersen Publications put out the title last year). All three magazines – delivered free to a total circulation of about 3.5 million adult smokers – do not mention smoking in the editorial content and advertise a variety of Brown & Williams tobacco products and other non-tobacco related ads.

While Heironimus notes print has traditionally proven an effective vehicle, pilot tests were conducted just in case to determine the viability of the magazines. For example, some 100,000 copies of Real Edge were mailed in December 1998 and a slice of those customers were recontacted in January 1999.

LOOKING THE PART

The Brown & Williamson magazines appear indistinguishable from their consumer counterparts, relying on tobacco ads to subtly reach adult smokers, roughly 23% of the U.S. adult population.

But not all tobacco mags put up a smoke screen about their intent. CML, a quarterly magalog RJ Reynolds launched last October with London-based Wink Media, a division of Time Inc., is tightly versioned exclusively for Camel smokers, and also distributed to adult smokers of other brands. It contains some smoking-related editorial content and its ad space is exclusive to Camel products.

RJ Reynolds spokeswoman Carole Crosslin says that not only government-induced ad restrictions but marketplace competition, unprecedented price increases and an enormous array of brand/style choices has compounded the restricted environment, making custom publishing ever more attractive in reaching consumers on a one-to-one basis.

“We need advertising vehicles to work harder for us in this new world to powerfully communicate our brand’s position to adult smokers,” says Crosslin.

Custom publishing is expected to generate more than $1 billion this year, according to the Custom Publishing Council, a committee of the Magazine Publishers of America.

BIG BUCKS

While the tobacco companies were not willing to discuss the price tag for a custom published product, Magazine Publishers of America’s Custom Publishing Council reports that custom publishers charge $478,000 annually, on average, for each magazine. To determine the value of such products, publishers and the tobacco companies are conducting readership surveys, focus groups and telephone follow-up surveys.

Flair, Simple Living and Real Edge, for example, insert 100,000 surveys in every issue, asking such questions as: “How interesting overall would you say you find the cover of Flair to be?” “How many people, other than yourself, have read or will read this issue of Flair?” “Flair Magazine is being sent to you free of charge. Are you interested in receiving the next issue?” and “What brand of cigarettes do you smoke most often?” The surveys pull an average 6% to 8% response, says Hurley.

Responses from customers prompted Flair to tailor its product ever more closely to customer’s desires. It downplayed its inspirational column since readers reported that they were “not enjoying it very much,” and it lowered the price points of some of the fashion items it features, says Hurley.

Research also indicated that 33% of women and 45% of men who read Real Edge do not subscribe to any other magazines (thus not seeing tobacco ads in other magazines) and that the pass-along readership is “pretty good” at two-to-three readers per copy, according to Hurley.

Hurley also notes that while all names in the Brown & Williamson database have been certified as over-age-21 smokers willing to receive promotional materials, only a small percentage of the subscribers have opted-in to specifically receive Flair, Simple Living or Real Edge. An “aggressive” plan to gather opt-ins via blow-ins in the books will begin later this year.

THEIR OPTION

CML’s and Unlimited’s recipients have opted-in to receive Camel and Marlboro promotional materials, and have certified that they are at least 21 years of age and are smokers. Philip Morris requires customers to provide a government-issued photo ID and notarized certification that they smoke; the company is also working on an opt-out card to be included with Unlimited this year.

Names to build the databases are generated via the tobacco companies’ toll-free numbers, event promotions such as bar nights and sweepstakes trips, bounceback cards and product orders. A recent event in the House of Blues in New Orleans sponsored by Brown & Williamson and the cigarette brand Kool drew hundreds to a local disc jockey competition. There, prospects and customers could sample products and sign up for future offers. They are also added to the mailing lists along with product data such as cigarette brand and preferred choice of menthol or regular. Brown & Williamson, which has preliminary plans to expand circulation internationally, also buys names from third-party compilers, selecting age and – if available – whether an individual is a smoker.

While the tobacco firms do break down their databases into segments relating to tastes such as menthol or non-menthol, at present, none of the companies are creating customized versions of their magazines to cater to such fractions of their audience. Customization is limited to versioning the magazines for either smokers of particular brands (like CML and Unlimited) or members of lifestyle segments (like Brown & Williamson’s publications, which feature advertising for a number of brands like Kool and Capri).

Will these publications always be free? RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris have no immediate plans to seek paid subscriptions or sell the magazines on newsstands. Brown & Williamson, however, is planning a newsstand test this year for Real Edge.