s bat, colin greig, bigger bag document

8/14/2019 s BAT, Colin Greig, Bigger Bag Document

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-Structured crea tivitygroup

Thought s by C C . Grei g- R&D Southampto n

Marketing scenari o

Before s tart ingonanyfuture s cenari o let us lookat what we

are c urrentlysell ingandwhere an dhowit has develo ped

Acigaret te as a -drug- ad mnistrat ionsystemfor publ ic use

has very very significant advantages

1) Spee d

Wthi n10 seconds of start ingtosmoke nicotine is availabl e

in the brain . Before t hi s, impact is availabl e giving an

instantaneous catch or h it, signifying to the user that the c igaret te

is -active- . Favour, also is immediatelyperceivable to ad d

tothe sensation

Other -drugs- such as marijuanha, amphetamines, and alcohol

are slower and may be mood dependant .

ii) Lo wdosag

The d elivery of nicotine fr omthe p uff of a UKmddle t ar

(USfull flavour) i s about O lmg or 1O0ug of the active agent .

By contrast, other common drugs such as aspirin require about

300mg (3000 fold excess on one puff, 300 fold excess on a per

cigarette comparison), and a saccharin tablet contains about 15mg

of act ive ag ent .

Oher ext remes o f drugdosages ar e al cohol ( 1-shot- of about

lox, - 28gms, at approx 40Z alcohol is about lOgms or 1O,OOOmg ,

anexcess of 100000foldper puff or 10000foldper ci garet te),

and LSD, where a dose of 100-500ug lasts 12-24 hours but is viewed


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askance by most legal authorities . The co ntraceptive pill another

all dayactive ( hopefully) d rug has 1to15mgof active i ngredients .

Thus nicotine is about the l owes t dose -common- drugavai labl e

Cost

The unit cost of a 10 minute "hi gh- fromtobaccois, in UK

ter ms, about 6 pence (approx . 9 5 UScents), al though such l ower el sewher e .

Thi s sumis about 40 seconds pre t ax ear nings at the UKaverag e wage or

about I minute after t ax

The future ?

Thus we hav e anemerg ingpict ure of a fas t, hi ghl y

pharmacologicallyeff ective andcheap-drug-, tobacco whi ch al soconfers

flavour andmanual andoral satisfactiontothe user . There a re other

things about tobacco though . It is legal (as is alcohol but not

marijuanha a ndLSD), andthe a rticles themselves are emnentlyportabl e

It canbe usedfr eelyinpubl ic places inmost countri es .

So all In all, it is a relativelycheapandeff icient delivery

system legal, andeasilyusable

However, it has drawbacks . The major one is that it has a

' health s hadow" over it whi ch i s not easytodispel . Secondly it is a

messyhabi t, pollutingthe non-smokers breathabl e atmosphere andleaving

ash anddebr is, not tomentionsmells, aroundfor h ours or days . Thirdly

carelesslyused it sets fi re tothings .

As a res ult of al l these It nowhas a social acceptabi lity

such bel owthat of former t imes .

As tothe d esignandproductionof the d evice like all consumer

goods it has had torea ct tothe marketplace. As time has evolvedmost

consumer products into more convenient, higher performance variants, so


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J

have tobacco producers reacted to consumer and governmental pressures .

Rowever, thi s rea ctioncanbe s eenas due t othree pressures ,

of whi ch o nlyone i s the co nsumer towhi ch we s el l our product s! The

other twoare bot h ar ms of government, onthe o ne han dthe Treas ury who

collect a vas t amount of thei r income f romour product . Indeedinthe

UK tobacco (mainly cigaret tes) i s the t hi rd larg est contributor to the

Gover nment revenue - at 4 . 5 bi llion it repres ents, aft er i ncome tax and

VAT ( a consumer s al es tax), 5Xor s light lymore of Gover nment revenue .

I propose t odwel l onlybr iefl yonthe c onsumer as pects of

product chan ge since I b el ieve that onlya mnor part of the t otal change

is due t othe co nsumer . Repeatedattempts byoutside forces todri v e

the c onsumer t olower tar h ave ingeneral , res ultedIn at wors t (in

Governmental andSoci al pres sure groupeyes ) a b acklas h andat bes t only

a steady inexorabl e grinddownwards i ndel iveri es . It is a moot point

whet her actual del iveri es tohumans have ever r eallydroppedacross the

vas t maj orityof t he s mokingpopulat ion . True there is nowa groupo f

heal th concernedsmokers " who buylowor ultra-l owdel ivery product s and

puff awayvali antly but I suspect that there are f eweven of thes e who

are real "s mokers " - t hey are n ot "s mokers " i n the r eal sense of the

word more u sers of cigarett es to divert internal stres s . It must be a

dilemma fo r themwhet her t osmoke at all - thei r peer groupprobabl yis

the most vocal anti-s mokingclass of all , sotheymust reallyneedthe

rel ief o f those i nternal pressures very badly iudeed

If one looks, cusorily, at the human behaviour records in GR&DC

over t he l ast fifteenyears, the immediate conclusionis that puff volumes

have ri senas inexorabl yas machi ne deliveri es have declined

Giventhe designparameters of t he cigaret tes, it is possibl e

tospeculate that humancompensationhas , for a s ignificant part of the


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smokingpopulat ion negat edat tempts toreduce tar d el iveri es .

Now ther e are manyconfoundingfactors involved - andI invite

youtotake your pickas towhi ch youthi nkmost important, but I s urmse

that over a s moker' s lifetime i nvolvement wth ci garettes ingeneral, he

tends toinwardly-t itrat e" or ad ust hi s curr ent deliverytowards that

wth whi ch he was fi rs t acquainted- i f the c igaret te wll let hi m

Indeed a doleful letter rec entlyappeared inthe "T imes" bewailingthe

fact that "Capstan" a plainUK70mmbrand usedtolast nine mnutes but

now is consumed in four . Allowngfor cigarette designandincrea sed

smoulder r at e for de livery reduct ions, one wouldexpect, onmachi ne

smoking tosee at least sevenmnutes duration . The c onclusionmust be

that whi le puffing thi s smoker is increasinghi s puff volume - a ndthus

hi s tar intake possibl yfromthe c urr ent machi ne delivery approx . 19mg

tar, uptothe 35 or s omgof hi s youth . Manypeople wl l tel l you

authori tativelythat, onsoundstatistical analysis of well designed

experiments, low tar smokers do not compensate . Rubbis h . The findings

are v al id but the cho ice of smokers probabl ywas not .

Observation of my mother-in-law tends to confirm the point . I

have, unbeknown to her, given her middle tar (BAT) products while she is

a, and possibly the, confirmed low tar Du Maurier smoker . She I would

guess, since I hav e nodata other than that seenfromobs ervations of

puff durat ionandcoal temperat ure certai nlydoes not take a 35= 1puff

onDuMaurier - p robabl ynearer 50 -, andprobabl yabout 35 onSat e

Express . Fromwhat we knowof del iver ies at non-standar dpuff volumes ,

I wouldsuggest that she get s about the s ame fromeither ci garette) So

yousay since shes 65 why-does' nt she onmypri or r easoning increas e

volumes and durations till she can get 35-40mg, which are the deliveries 0L

of her youth s ome 45-50 years ago? The a nswer i s simple - t he c igaret tes G :>W

wont let her)


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So I an proposingtwothi ngs for your considerat ion . One i s

that people t ry to compensat e fo r past ci garet te designs to the bes t of

their abi lity and the other i s, that o ver t ime these e ff ort s may become

less necessary as t he distant memoryof l ong-egoevents fades .

At thi s point youmayhave read those what I h ope were i nteres ting

"divert issements- andare n owwonderi ngwhat I am ai mngat . I hav

shownyounicotine inrel ationtoother d rugs, andindicatedthat hu man s

perhaps "t ltrate" fo r nicotine

Wer e dowe gofromher e? O ne obvious route i s togive people

more nicotine as tar i s reduced i .e . increase t he a lcocine :tar ra tio or

as we normal lyuse t erms, decrease t he t ar :nicotine rat io . But couldwe

Technically the a nswer i s yes , but al l our experi ences founder

onthe ro ckof acceptabi lity . The very reasonis that since tobaccoIs a

rel at ivel yeff ici ent nicotine del ivery system over what Is nowsome

hundreds of years, a bal ance Insubj ective flavour : strength rat ios has

been struck . If I allude ba cktomycomments about mymother- in-law

her Initial cigaret tes of 35mgtar (or so) probabl ydelivered 3mgof

nicotine . If we attempt todayby bl endmodification togive her her

3mgof nicotine at a t ar :nlcotine ra tioof say5 :1rather t han11 :1 as

previously she wll have a natural revulsiontothi s "fl avourl ess but

over potent- newcigaret tel It follow fromthi s that I h ave equated

the f lavour :strength ra tiowth t ar :nicogine whi ch I d onot thi nk

unreasonable .

If ve followthi s type of thi nkinga li ttle furt her, we can

begin, perhaps, to understand vhy we seem to be plagued with such a

conservative population of consumers . ' It is because earl y tri als o

cigarettes, as in so many of our meetings with novel concepts, shape ourL

later behaviour . W all hear comments like "ro ast beef (or hamburgers

O


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etc etc) doesnt taste like it usedto . Surely roast beef an d

hamburgers wont, because the s tyle of cat tle thei r f eeding the way

joints of meat are c ut, the u se of growh ac celerat inghormones andthe

presence of preserv at ives have had aneff ect . All are co nsumer ( or

Government?) demands . The signifi cant thing I s uggest, is that we

think we can remember what they were like years ago . Surely this must

ext endtocigarett es ?

It is veryimportant toremember t hat anyat tempt onour part

torevive past glories inconsumer m nds must be a c redibl e one . To

borr owfr omthe motor ca r bu siness, inthe UKthere is a small, pri vate

firm, Morgan, who manufacture a car whose design goes back to 1908 in

cert ainpart s andwhose s tyle i s 1930s . It wouldnot be c redibl e

(though i t has been tried) t ohave both modern car perf ormance and

convenience from such.a machine . Wowants a Model T t hat goes like a

Corvet te or anAustin7 l ike a F errari? The c oncept of Barcl aycanbe

alliedtothis type of nostalgia . Advert isinglines like the pleasure

Is back" s ugges t, thr ough t he p romotion a Scott Ftzgeral d1930 s USA

image . Is it credibl e that a 1mgcigaret te canperf ormlike the US

cigaret tes of t hat era? I d onot cri ticise Barcl ay whi ch i s a

magnificently engineered device . Neither doI cri ticise the promotional

Ideas which Led to the campaign . I merely ask' canthe c oncept be

substantiatedinrea l consumer at titudes?-

I wll gofurt her . Recently I dida longandcomplicated

piece of res earch work totry todiscover what elements of cigarette

design influence "smoking mechanics' . I reg ret tosay fr oma purely

scientifi c view I s ucceededonlytoa very limted but hopefullyusefu l

degree . Wat emerg ed inmyphi losophi cal thought s about the work was a

compari sonthat r wouldlike toshare w th you


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Youare an internat ional businessman wel l convers ant wth t he

jet set life - f lying fromAto B usually bei ng met and chauffeured to

your hotel . Bowever, fr omtime to time thi s is not possibl e and in

thes e events youhi re a car . You step fort h f romthe fo rmalities, key

in your hand to the p arki ng lot, and your vehi cl e let us say a Ford

Serr a or Chevrolet Chevet te awai ts you . It is dark and raining and

youhave notime or incli nat ion tolook for those s tat us marks such a s V

GLS etc etc . Youget in start the ( we s uppose s ilent) motor, engage

a gear, havingremembered whi ch s ide of the r oadtodrive on place you

foot onthe a ccellerat or, andset off . What happens ?

Well, in Germany you probably got the V8 turbo charged version -

result, your' e at the o ther en dof the p arkinglot befo re youknowit . In

the UK wth t he s tandard model, all goes roughl yaccordingtoyour past

experiences . In the US wth all the anti-pollutiongear, the thingmay

only barely move .

Wysuch a smle? Because our cigarettes canbeha ve s imlarl y!

One whi te rodis apparentlylike another, until it is lit . It i s only

then - when youput your f oot onthe a ccelerat or, figurat ivel yspeaking-

that things change . Is there a nopport unityfor us here

Let us gobacktothe whi te stick . Sure it' s like any other

whi te s tick . It ' s fi lledwth tobacco(youpresume), it ' s fi rm t heres

anendtoit of reasonabl e appearance andsome tobaccothere t oshowits

made of tobacco andits usuallygot a whi te fi lter endonthe other,

covered incorkor whi te t ipping

Myques tionis, why dont we use t he co nstruct ionor colour of

the c igaret te t otel l our consumer what toexpect . Myanal ogywth t he

hire-car was dependant, if you remember, on two things . One the motor


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was silent in operat ion and two you couldnt see the bad ges that told

youwhat per formance toexpec t . Our ci garet te is exactly similar . It

comes out of a package unlit (silent) an d once out, nothi ngrea p

differentiates it fromanother ci garette ( nobadges, though we dotry) .

Wve forgottentotell the user what toexpect . Sure, we

wote inbi gletters (or as bi gas the government toldus), some data on

del iveri es o f vari ous thi ngs . Once out of that pack our ci garet te is

not differentiatedfromanyother, andnosmoker offeredit unseenknow

what to expect . I co uldproduce for youtwocigaret tes o f visually

identical construct ion(unles s youuse a m cro scope) whi ch co uldbe o f

1mg and 20mg delivery!

So the fi nal qu estionI as kis, canwe give a consumer s ome

guara ntee t hat we the manufacturer, are o ff eri nghi msomethi ngthat he

wants, that s atisfi es hi s requirements, is credibl e and is unique to us?

Splittingthi s down Intosections, we can deal wth t hemas f ollow :

Wat does he wan t

He wants, in myy, estimation, a product that smokes like those he

was fam liar wth some years ago(natural ly as the years goby there

wll be l ess andless smokers who-remember- plaincigarettes of 35+mg) .

We can do this by assuring him through a good quality smoke, perhaps

better thanhe was usedto wth a red ucedtar :nlcotine rat io though not

overt lyso . W couple thi s vLth a ' aormal' cigaret te designthat does

not offendthr ough bei ng' too- unconventional , andwe positionthi s

product totake maxi mumadvantage of league t abl es , whi ch are s till

basically-t ar' dri ven


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Wat satisfi es his requiremen t

Wat seems tosatisfy smokers requirements is a device t hat

broadlyinline wth what it claims tobe . Thus, ultra-l owtar, though

indubi tabl ya cigaret te seems onlytobe a saleabl e propositiontoa

minority of customers, who perhaps anyway are a health risk conscious

group . Most recent mark et anal yses by tar g roups or del ivery level s

suggest that any' surge towards lower tar has faded andthat there is a

'backlash" toward 15mg type products . I s uggest that thi s area is wher e

smokers reallywant tobe t oday though t ime maybe a gai nst us mai ntai ning

thi s level- Andwe mayret urntomyoriginal remarks ondrugs andthei r

doses . For a s weet cupof tea we put intwosaccharin not one . For

a bad head ache o r han gover , we t ake t woas pirin not one . I s ugges t

that there i s a paral lel wth ci garet tes - we maysmoke a l owdel ivery

cig aret te - but intimes of tensionor al teredmoodwe want a s tronger

one . Wat hap pens? Ei ther we s moke one more intensivel y(remember ,

there i s nosingle dose fo r a cigaret te) - o r we s moke twoinrapid

succession . Adilemma ap pears - dowe des igna co mpensat abl e ci garet te -

andsel l one - o r the n on(or mnimal ly) co mpensat abl e cigaret te - t o

sell two? Giventhe unit cost, it is very probabl e that the s econd

optionis not viabl e - s owe have perhaps, todothe fi rs t .

Giventhes e considerations, one canpredict that i nanera of

val ue-f or-month, people wll want the "hi ghes t" del ivery for a unit price

(inmost places if not all, lowtar co sts the same as hi gh) . Wether

thi s "hig hest" delivery is tobe the hi ghest available ina market is

unlikel y- it is more l iabl e t obe a "medium" del ivery compensat abl e

product .


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SUMMARY

So- g ive themwhat they seemtowant tas te andval ue . And

always remember that, while King James I issued his famous -Counterblaste

toTobacco-, in1604 it is nicer fromour point of viewtoremember O scar

Wldes words inThe Pi ct ure of Dorian Gray" i n1891

"Acigaret te is the perf ect type of a perf ect pleasure .

It is exquisite andit leaves one unsatisfi ed

can one want" .

What mor e

Let us provide t he e xquisitness, andhope t hat they our consumers ,

continue t oremainunsatisfi ed . All we wouldwant then is a larg er b a g

tocarr ythe moneytothe ba nk

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