History of Marlboro - Essay Example

History of Marlboro Introduction Marlboro has been one of the most recognizable brands in the world. It has been a leader in the field of cigarettes.The brand is from the stables of Philip Morris in USA and has captured the imagination of smokers all over the world. The company has been a prime component of Altria Group Inc. The mission of the company has been to market the brands responsibly to the smokers of the world and maintaining a good financial performance. The company has been able to construct trust in the minds of the customers. The trust and respect of the customers earned by the company has been active in the expansion of the brand. The company has been maintaining quality in its products over the years. (Mission & Values, n.d.) The paper will look into the history of the brand and the path of its glory. History of the brand The first trace of the Marlboro cigarettes was found in 1847 in England. The brand got its name from the Marlborough Street in UK. The brand was manufactured by Philip Morris, which was based in UK. It was in 1902, that the company extended its operations in the USA. The US market was seen as a good opportunity for the brand to cater to the needs of women in the society. The marketing strategies of the company over the years have been instrumental in the success of the brand. (Marlboro Cigarettes history, n.d.) The time it was introduced in the US, the brand used the slogan “Mild as May”. Obviously, the brand aimed at targeting the women. The advertisements of the cigarettes contained the hand of women. The filters of the cigarettes were painted red. This was done to hide the lipstick stains of the women while smoking. The marketing strategies of the brand underlined the fact that it was for women. The brand maintained the same stance up to the 2nd World War. However, the economic conditions of the war forced the brand out of the market. There was a rise in the popularity of the other cheap cigarettes. Various companies that were popular in the phase were unfiltered. The brands that survived the World War were Camel, Lucky Strike and Chesterfield. However, the Marlboro brand came back into the market when the conditions stabilized. After the World War, there was a rise in the health concerns of the people and several articles were published depicting the reasons of cancer for the use of the cigarettes. The companies understood the situation and began to produce filtered cigarettes. Marlboro introduced filtered cigarettes also. However, to be able to capture the market, the company had to involve a lot of marketing and the advertising campaigns. The company introduced the various marketing campaigns that were to be a benchmark in the history of marketing and advertising. (Marlboro Cigarettes, n.d.) In the 1950s, the brand changed the target customers from women to the men. Prior to the war, the cigarettes were aimed at a particular target group of customers based on the gender and the income levels. After the World War, the companies reviewed the situation and changed the target customer base. The brands began to cater to the needs of varied customers. The levels of awareness of the customers regarding the tobacco related diseases caused the brands to change to the filtered products. The Marlboro introduced its products in the market with filters and claimed that it was less harmful than that of the competitors. The advertising campaigns of Marlboro showed a rugged man with the cigarette. The first of the advertising campaigns showed the “tattooed man”. Next in line were the images of naval officers and the ranchers. However, the most successful of the lot was the “Marlboro man” which was the image of a rugged cowboy smoking the cigarette. It became so successful that it became the brand’s sole imagery by 1963. The image of the rugged man was reminiscent of the cowboy culture of the USA. The advertisement campaign consisted of a cowboy living in the Marlboro county chain smoking the brand. It was a direct contradiction of the cancer related issues of the brand and it struck a chord with the American people. The image of the ranches was a big hit with the people. The image was of the Wild West, which combined with the American Freedom. The use of the macho image in the campaigns of Marlboro has been instrumental in the success of the brand. Its reason for success can be stated as follows: “The Marlboro image represents escape, not from the responsibilities of civilization, but from its frustrations. Modern man wallows through encumbrances so tangled and sinuous, so entwined in the machinery of bureaucracies and institutions, that his usual reward is impotent desperation. He is ultimately responsible for nothing, unfulfilled in everything. Meanwhile, he jealously watches the Marlboro Man facing down challenging but intelligible tasks… Innocence and individual efficacy are the touchstones of the metaphor employed on behalf of Marlboro cigarettes.” (Goodman, 1994, pp. 112) According to Boobies Jackson, the advertising campaigns of the brand consisted of “Power, status, success and confidence.” (Goodman, 1994, pp. 112) This characterization of the brand entitled the company to cater to the masses. The characterization of the brand was the enigma of most of the people in the country. The brand soon cut across all the segments of the customers. It catered to all the people irrespective of gender, income level etc. (Hayes, 2005, pp. 547-548; Cone, 2008, pp. 130-131) The brand soon became one of the most successful brands in the USA. By the end of 1972, the brand became the largest selling brand in the USA. The success of USA enabled the company to reach out to the other markets of the world. In all the markets Marlboro has catered to, most has seen it as the top-performing brand. In all of theses countries the brand has followed the example of the US market. The company has continued in the mission to sell the image of the brand to the customers. After the Marlboro man episode, the company has enabled to cater to the needs of various customers. In the different countries, the company has been able to survive price cuts and competition. This was possible due to the image of the brand. The customers got involved with the products. (Hayes, 2005, pp. 547-548) Over the years, Marlboro has spent a huge amount of money in the advertising and the marketing campaigns. The industry is so competitive all over the world that companies have to get involved in the marketing of the products. The increase in the advertising campaigns has enabled the brand to have a good share of the tobacco market in the third world countries. One of the most widely known sponsorship of the brand has been that of Ferrari in the Formula One. There has been criticism of the use of the tobacco related sponsor in the auto sports. However, Ferrari has refused to go away with it as Marlboro has been an integral part of the team since inception. (Ferrari addresses criticism over Marlboro sponsorship, 2nd March, 2010) Another trouble for the company in the recent times has been relating to the name. The brands under Marlboro consisted of “lights”, “ultralights”, “Mild” etc. In a court ruling of 2006, the company was not allowed to use these names as it can convey different messages to the customers. The brand changed the names of the products like in the case of the Marlboro Lights it would be called as Marlboro Golds. This can have an impact on the sales of the cigarettes as the names became close to the customers. The use of the advertising and the marketing campaigns for the brand has been successful in catapulting the brand to be the largest in the world. In the case of the category of the cigarettes, the Marlboro has been the largest selling brand in the world. The brand has been able to diversify and offer varieties of cigarettes under the brand name. There have been several problems in the industry. However, the brand has continued its surge to be one of the most recognized brands of the world. Conclusions Marlboro, from the days of its inception, has been able to cater to the different groups of customers due to the innovative marketing and the advertising strategies. Marlboro brand is recognized world over as the premium brand of cigarettes. The use of imagery in the advertising campaigns of an independent minded rugged man has helped in its motion to the top. It has moved from being a women’s cigarette to cater to all types of customers. The move has been accelerated by the marketing campaigns of the company, which stated, "man sized taste of honest tobacco comes full through. Smooth-drawing filter feels right in your mouth. Works fine but doesnt get in the way. Modern flip top box keeps every cigarette firm until you smoke it." (Morgan, 19th February 2007). References: 1. Mission & Values. (n.d.). Philip Morris USA. Available at: http://www.pmusa.com/en/cms/Company/Mission_Values/default.aspx?src=top_nav (Accessed on 20th June, 2010) 2. Morgan, M. (19th February, 2007). A history in marketing of Marlboro brand cigarettes. Associated Content. Available at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/148497/a_history_in_marketing_of_marlboro.html (Accessed on 20th June, 2010) 3. Goodman, J. (1994). Tobacco in history. London. Routledge. 4. Hayes, D. (2005). The Japanese Disease. USA. IUniverse. 5. Ferrari addresses criticism over Marlboro sponsorship. (2nd March, 2010). UMoto.RU. Available at: http://www.umoto.ru/news4770.htm (Accessed on 20th June, 2010) 6. Marlboro Cigarettes history. (n.d.). CIG outlet. Net. Available at: http://www.cigoutlet.net/marlboro-cigarettes-history.html (Accessed on 20th June, 2010). 7. Marlboro cigarettes. (n.d.). Cheap cigarettes. Com. Available at: http://www.cheap-cigarettes.com/marlboro-cigarettes/ (Accessed on 20th June, 2010) 8. Cone, S. (2008). Powerlines. USA. Bloomberg Press. Read More