For the second year running,
RJR-Macdonald is using women celebrities to push its second-leading brand, Vantage
cigarettes.
The first Vantage Women of
Originality Awards were presented to four Canadian women on May 7, 1998. A second
round is set for June 1999.
The 1998 winners were:
singer-songwriter Jann Arden, fashion entertainer Jeanne Beker, figure skating
choreographer Sandra Bezic and comedian Mary Walsh.
In return for accepting these
awards, the award-winning women receive a profile in a major women's magazine, and a
donation of $5,000 to a woman's charity of their choice. Other benefits are not
disclosed.
The benefits to the tobacco
company are more obvious. This promotion is a way for Vantage to escape restrictions on
tobacco advertising, including restrictions on celebrity endorsements.
This year's advertisements are
accompanied by a response form, which asks readers for their opinions on what originality
means to them. It invites respondents to answer 'yes' or 'no' to statements like "I
have a way about me that is all my own," or "I think of myself as being a
creative person" and to mail the results to RJR's marketing division, along with
information about their age and income. -- Not surprisingly, names and addresses are also
collected.
The 1998 Vantage Women of Originality campaign was focused mainly
in Ontario.
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With a new launch and new
brands, RJR is re-profiling its Vantage cigarettes in the low-tar market for the second
time in five years
The Vantage brand family has
less than one half percentage share of the Canadian cigarette market, compared with RJR-'s
leading Export A family (11% market share) |
|
1994
Vantage Brands |
| Brand |
Sales (millions) |
Vantage King Size |
179.2 |
Vantage Lights King Size |
64.8 |
Vantage Menthol Lights King Size |
8.9 |
Vantage 100s
|
5.2 |
|
| 1995
Vantage Brands |
| Brand |
Sales (millions) |
Vantage King Size |
156 |
Vantage Lights King Size |
56.6 |
Vantage Menthol Lights King Size |
7.6 |
Vantage 100s
|
2.1 |
|
| 1996
Vantage Brands |
| Brand |
Sales (millions) |
Vantage King Size |
157 |
| Vantage Select
King Size |
4.6 |
Vantage Lights King Size |
62.3 |
| Vantage Ultra
light King Size |
4.5 |
Vantage Menthol Lights King Size |
8.9 |
Vantage 100s
|
1.3 |
|
| 1997
Vantage Brands |
| Brand |
Sales (millions) |
Vantage King Size |
127.3 |
Vantage Lights King Size |
56.5 |
| Vantage Ultra
light King Size |
3.7 |
Vantage Menthol Lights King Size
|
7.5 |
|
1998
Vantage Brands |
| Brand |
Sales (millions) |
Vantage King Size |
118.6 |
| Vantage Select
King Size |
4.3 |
Vantage Lights King Size |
50.3 |
| Vantage Ultra
light King Size |
7.34 |
Vantage Menthol Lights King Size
|
6.14 |
|
1999
Vantage Brands
Click here
to see the current Vantage packages.
|
| Brand |
Sales (millions) |
Vantage King Size |
n/a |
Vantage Lights King Size |
n/a |
Vantage Menthol Lights King Size |
n/a |
| Vantage Slims 100 |
n/a |
| Vantage Extra
Light |
n/a |
| Vantage Ultra Light
|
n/a |
|
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