Hannibal ante portas
Tobacco The dusty local brand Brunette is to become more urban and trendy with Swiss Original. MRG has revived the old elephant logo with a touch of absurdity.
Tobacco The dusty local brand Brunette is to become more urban and trendy with Swiss Original. MRG has revived the old elephant logo with a touch of absurdity.
Hardly any other product is as dependent on its brand identity as the interchangeable cigarette. Hardly any other industry even has its tactical communication measures meticulously analyzed by market research. Despite the proverbial brand loyalty - a typical smoker nowadays changes his life partner more often than his cigarette brand - even the smallest changes in positioning, concept or implementation can trigger strong reactions from the target audience. This is demonstrated by Camel in a negative case and Parisienne in a positive one. In recent years, the latter has consistently expanded its market share in the shadow of tobacco multinationals such as Philip Morris - particularly in the young and urban target group.
Original local brand Brunette, Philip Morris (PM) is launching an attack on competitor smokers. The bright American blend of the new Swiss Original is intended to bring younger customer segments back to the flavorful Maryland tobacco brand Brunette. "The 'Swiss Original' is a return to the original brand, as can also be seen with other products," says PM press spokesman Marc Fritsch. The only difference is that it should not come across as old-fashioned. In the case of Brunette Swiss Original, this means a two-dimensional, clear packaging design, only three colors and, as the central element of the advertising, the revived logo of the brand founded in 1924 - a stylized elephant.
This was positioned with ironic absurdity as a new Swiss original in the teaser poster campaign at the beginning of the year, pushing classic originals such as the Matterhorn and Holzchalet out of the picture. CD Michael Gerber: "We now want to continue this positioning in the commercial." It takes the mickey out of a clichéd Switzerland with the Matterhorn, alphorn music and a horde of Japanese tourists.
Because instead of snapping the most photographed landmark, tourists are attracted to the Brunette elephant. The mechanic of humorously questioning traditional values and thus making the alternative brand attractive will be retained in the long term, although the elephant will no longer play such a prominent role in future, explains Fritsch. The Basel-based MRG does not yet want to reveal anything about the next game variants. The only thing that seems clear is that a trendy identity is to be established for the former blue-collar brand Brunette with further non-conformist appearances, which were previously reserved for Parisienne.
If you take the voices of teens and twens in the trendy chat forums as an indicator of the brand's hipness, you can see that the elephant still has a long way to go. The support that Hannibal's pachyderm has been denied is likely to be a big hit with Philip Morris in the country.
of its international headquarters.
Strong stuff from MRG: In the Brunette ad, the clichéd Switzerland is taken for a ride.
Luca Aloisi
Hardly any other product is as dependent on its brand identity as the interchangeable cigarette. Hardly any other industry even has its tactical communication measures meticulously analyzed by market research. Despite the proverbial brand loyalty - a typical smoker nowadays changes his life partner more often than his cigarette brand - even the smallest changes in positioning, concept or implementation can trigger strong reactions from the target audience. This is demonstrated by Camel in a negative case and Parisienne in a positive one. In recent years, the latter has consistently expanded its market share in the shadow of tobacco multinationals such as Philip Morris - particularly in the young and urban target group.
Original local brand Brunette, Philip Morris (PM) is launching an attack on competitor smokers. The bright American blend of the new Swiss Original is intended to bring younger customer segments back to the flavorful Maryland tobacco brand Brunette. "The 'Swiss Original' is a return to the original brand, as can also be seen with other products," says PM press spokesman Marc Fritsch. The only difference is that it should not come across as old-fashioned. In the case of Brunette Swiss Original, this means a two-dimensional, clear packaging design, only three colors and, as the central element of the advertising, the revived logo of the brand founded in 1924 - a stylized elephant.
This was positioned with ironic absurdity as a new Swiss original in the teaser poster campaign at the beginning of the year, pushing classic originals such as the Matterhorn and Holzchalet out of the picture. CD Michael Gerber: "We now want to continue this positioning in the commercial." It takes the mickey out of a clichéd Switzerland with the Matterhorn, alphorn music and a horde of Japanese tourists.
Because instead of snapping the most photographed landmark, tourists are attracted to the Brunette elephant. The mechanic of humorously questioning traditional values and thus making the alternative brand attractive will be retained in the long term, although the elephant will no longer play such a prominent role in future, explains Fritsch. The Basel-based MRG does not yet want to reveal anything about the next game variants. The only thing that seems clear is that a trendy identity is to be established for the former blue-collar brand Brunette with further non-conformist appearances, which were previously reserved for Parisienne.
If you take the voices of teens and twens in the trendy chat forums as an indicator of the brand's hipness, you can see that the elephant still has a long way to go. The support that Hannibal's pachyderm has been denied is likely to be a big hit with Philip Morris in the country.
of its international headquarters.
Strong stuff from MRG: In the Brunette ad, the clichéd Switzerland is taken for a ride.
Luca Aloisi
