B&W's Ivey Eyes Greater Relevance, Local Flavor, for Lucky Strike & Kool

Brandweek, Feb 7, 2000

Talk radio, e-mail and plain old word of mouth are helping Brown & Williamson's Lucky Strike become more edgy, daring and hip. Word got around last summer about the toll-free number listed on Lucky Strike packs with a sugary "B&W loves you" recording. Now the call center serenades consumers with a ditty about the tobacco plant being "a lovely plant." If listeners think the song "really sucked," they're invited to write a better tune, and B&W will use it. The brand took to the streets during November and December offering free cell phone usage to smokers hanging outside airport terminals in Chicago, New York and San Francisco and hot coffee and tea to Manhattan office workers shivering outdoors during their smoke breaks. Consumers appreciate a brand that does not take itself too seriously, says Susan lvey, up-marketing for the British American Tobacco division since July, as such efforts increased awareness of Lucky's more contemporary positioning. Up next: a chance for consumers to riff on the brand's age-ol d "LSMFT" initials.

Lucky is available nationwide but is not in full distribution, hitting about 80,000 outlets in a retail universe of 300,000 stores. Lucky Strike's market share edged up to 0.3% during 1999's third quartet, while B&W's premium Kool brand was flat for most of the year, at 3.3%, per The Maxwell Report. Ivey, who previously managed global strategies for BAT brands, including Benson-Hedges, Pall Mall, Kent and State Express 555, talked with Brandweek's Mike Beirne about how micro-marketing blended with traditional advertising will be keys to success in the competitive market.

BW: Is Lucky Strike turning more guerrilla?

Susan Ivey: Building premium brands in this category is a long-term investment. But in the world of mass multimedia, having a direct relationship with consumers is particularly appealing. You have a brand like Lucky Strike, which everyone has heard of--its trademark was registered in 1871-but not in terms of recognizing that it is relevant to today and is a filtered product, not the one that went to war. These direct consumer interfaces demonstrate that Lucky gets it, Lucky is with you. They've been extremely well received by consumers these days [who] feel persecuted in having to smoke out in the streets.

BW: What other guerrilla-type events are you planning?

SI: I think we'll expand some of those (tactics) into other markets. We're also doing interesting things with Kool--another brand that is extremely well known, so it has its heritage and built the menthol category in the United States. But it got kind of old. When you talk about the commitment to local marketing, Kool is a good example. We have the Mardi Gras pack that is going to be on the market in New Orleans and we did that by commissioning a local designer, Andre Greenwood (owner of IconoGraphix) who has also designed some things for the official Mardi Gras events.

We're positioning Kool as innovative and relevant but in the local context, not in the mass-media basin. As we look forward, micro-marketing supplemented with mass media generating awareness is a more innovative way to go. The category has been very mainstream, very mass, and I think we'll get a lot of mileage working with these local activities, Certainly we plan to extend that kind of presence as we go forward.

BW: Is your emphasis on micro-marketing a result of those kinds of campaigns being more effective, or a consequence of the limitations on tobacco advertising?

SI: The result is a combination of things. I really believe that consumers today, particularly with all the multi-media barrage, see the direct consumer interface as a benefit to building a relationship with the brand. So it is a component of the marketing mix that we would use regardless of other restrictions. Given that there are restrictions and that this is an opportunity to ensure it is an adult-only interface, it really serves all purposes.

BW: How is Lucky's American Original ad campaign faring?

SI: It is helping us communicate this is Lucky Strike today, while not walking away from its heritage. The Raymond Loewy pack design is a classic icon. Many consumers in the U.S. still think the Lucky Strike without the filter is the only Lucky Strike. It's helping us communicate that there is a filter version, full flavor and lights; it is contemporary and capitalizing on its design heritage. I will say look for the return of LSMFT. The initials have been on the original Lucky Strike packs, I guess, since the 1920s and it always stood for "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco." But throughout its heritage there have been many sentences devised around LSMFT, and we'll be bringing it back on pack, hitting retail very soon. We'll be developing some marketing activities that engage the consumer in the meaning of LSMFT. There will also be mass media.

BW: What are the synergies between Lucky Strike and Kool?

SI: If you think about it, both brands are urban focused; both have bar programs in their marketing mix; both will have micro-marketing components, although not the same kinds of things. But there is a natural synergy within the agency infrastructure (at Bates USA, New York) that supports that kind of focus. We are committed to building Kool and Lucky Strike. We are committed to doing it out of the box, and we are going to do it through flexible and integrated marketing.