• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, January 3, 2018

You could be forgiven for having to read today's Campaign story about Philip Morris twice and then checking the date to be sure it's not an April Fool's prank.

What we have instead could well be a masterstroke in branding, driven by a clever realisation of facts.

Philip Morris, the company behind Marlboro, has decided it is time to quit the habit -- in the UK, at least. It has advised its customers do the same and has asked the Government for permission to put quitting advice on its packets. While arch rivals Imperial Tobacco and JTI are fighting the Government's amended plan to have plain packaging for cigarettes, Philip Morris is taking a very unexpected tack.

However, there is a little method in its apparent madness. The company is smaller in the UK than its rivals. Marlboro is the sixth-best-selling brand in Britain. The top five brands belong to Imperial and JTI subsidiary Gallaher. Also, the UK is quitting the cancer sticks. Just around one in seven smokes today, compared to one in two back in the '70s. 

That means there is a huge market for those trying to quit -- and let's face it -- it's the start of January, a time for resolutions. So, Philip Morris has timed its surprise about face to coincide with the biggest spike in the year of people attempting to lead healthier lives.

It just so happens that Philip Morris has the e-cigarette brands that could help here, and it is to these products it is almost certainly hoping to steer British quitters with today's apparent altruistic health message.

Put it this way. Why the UK? Why not the company's home market of the US? Could it just be that Marlboro is the leading brand in the US and sells more than the next eight leading brands combined? Could it be that it has chosen what appears to be a major market, in the UK -- but one where, as far as it is concerned, there is more opportunity in selling quitting devices than cigarettes themselves?

I remember a documentary a couple of years back that predicted the leading cigarette companies would increasingly target new markets, particularly in the Middle and Far East, as Western consumers took health advice and quit the habit. 

Interestingly, this now seems to open up a new market for the holding companies to sell quitting devices where the health message is getting through and they decide there is more profit to be had clearing up a problem they have caused rather than continuing to sell more tobacco products. 

It's even a little more clever than that. By launching this new strategy in the UK, Philip Morris is showing that it believes future profit is in quitting. Also, it is chipping away at the sales of the five brands who outsell Marlboro here.

What is being presented as an altruistic act is actually a clever plan to flip the business model in the UK in an attempt to hurt rivals at the expense of the country's sixth-best-selling cigarette brand.

A smart ploy that will become a truly altruistic act when the same announcement is made in the US. For now, it's a spin on a smart decision to focus on selling e-cigarettes rather than the real thing.