Mike Beirne takes a good look at the impact of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) on tobacco marketing over the years, and the outcome may be different than what you think. His piece starts with an
anecdote about Kool Mixx that suggests that, because of regulations and stipulations, marketing at Big Tobacco has become a hazardous occupation (if not an oxymoron), then goes on to show how that's
not the case at all. In fact, "regulation," writes Mike Beirne, has become the "mother of invention."
When Bob Elmer joined R.J. Reynolds as a marketing manager in 1995, he recalls, the
feeling was: "If you can sell tobacco and think of innovative ways to do it, you'll be able to sell anything." Since the MSA, in fact, marketing spending by major tobacco companies almost doubled,
from $6.7 billion to $13.1 billion in 2005, according to the latest report from the Federal Trade Commission.
Tobacco has moved away from traditional mass advertising to one-on-one
communication strategies so well that brands in other categories have been borrowing many of its tactics. It has also been at the forefront of influencer marketing or, more specifically, cultivating
bartenders and club owners to advocate its products. And event-based marketing is another critical component.
"Database is the new marketplace," says Janet Rubio, president of Engauge
Direct. "What's interesting to me about the tobacco industry and the alcohol marketers out there is their ability to market to people who barely identify themselves.... The [tobacco marketers'
database] is built less on how people describe themselves and more on how they behave; what they've done, and what actions they've taken.
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