JTI revamps premium product packaging

Japan Tobacco International has upgraded the packaging of some of its premium cigarette lines, with an emphasis on targeting the duty free market. And the company has also released an impressive set of results for the first nine months of the year. 

The company has unveiled a new look for its Winston, Camel, Glamour and Mild Seven lines, as well as Benson & Hedges in duty paid markets.

The new look for Winston appears this month, as part of the drive to make the brand the world’s top-selling cigarette. It is currently one of the fastest growing premium brands worldwide and is number two by volume.

The new design – with rounded corners and the iconic eagle – aims to “convey freedom” and reinforce the “premium quality, modernity and sophistication” of the brand, said JTI.

“The pack signals a new era of expansion for Winston,” said JTI Worldwide Duty Free Vice President Consumer & Trade Marketing Ming Lee Foo. “The famous blend remains the same, yet the pack strengthens the Winston proposition in the travel retail environment by exceeding smokers’ expectations. Winston is a leader, and the new packaging will make it the leading cigarette for adult smokers. Winston Super Slims was launched in travel retail early this year and is a huge success – proof of the brand’s potential.”

A worldwide roll-out of the new pack has begun, with France, Greece, Italy and Spain scheduled to sell the new look by year-end.

Among the key new offerings, JTI is also to launch Glamour Pinks and Menthol variants for its Super Slims line in early 2009. Glamour is the fastest growing 99mm Super Slims cigarette, said JTI, and aims to become the category leader for female adult smokers.

Super Slims was initially launched in 2005 in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, followed by Bulgaria a year later. Some 13 new markets came on stream in 2007, while this year it has debuted in Albania, Azerbaijan, Kyrgystan, Poland and Serbia as well as worldwide duty free.

“Glamour is a high performing brand that will further push performance in duty free,” said Ming Lee Foo. “Female adult smokers want to enjoy smooth-tasting and feminine cigarettes at a competitive price – and Glamour fulfils their requirements.”

Speaking to The Moodie Report in Cannes, JTI Acting Worldwide Duty Free General Manager David Francis said: “Travel retail is a key focus for our new packaging and brands. We will also complement them with new showcases for those brands. We want tobacco to match the standards of merchandising set by categories such as perfumes & cosmetics. The key to succeeding in tough times is to improve penetration and tobacco has a prime responsibility to engage with retailers to make that happen.”

JTI also outlined the next steps in the roll-out of its acclaimed Smoking Lounges programme. The company has revamped its lounges at Frankfurt Airport, and opens this month in partnership with Eurotrade at Munich Airport; and it will open at Moscow Vnukovo in the next couple of months, with further developments planned. 

Source: [TheMoodieReport.com, 6 November 2008 
Link:http://www.moodiereport.com/document.php?c_id=28&doc_id=19074

Obama expected to support FDA control of tobacco

With President Bush no longer a roadblock, health officials expect new powers to control tobacco, from cigarettes to the recently introduced smokeless products called snus.

President-elect Obama, a former smoker struggling to avoid relapse, is a sponsor of legislation giving the FDA authority to control, but not ban, tobacco and nicotine.

Long seen as the government's premier consumer protection agency, the FDA stumbled under Bush. Recurring drug and food safety lapses came against a backdrop of shrinking budgets and long periods without a permanent leader. In Congress, a senior Republican complained the FDA had gotten too cozy with industry.

Obama is being urged to move quickly to appoint an FDA commissioner. Already more than a half-dozen names are in circulation: outside critics such as Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen; insiders such as Susan Wood, a former director of the FDA's women's health office; and public health advocates such as Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health chief.

"An Obama administration would swing the pendulum back more to protection of public health," said William Hubbard, a retired FDA official who held top posts. "This bodes well for greater regulation in the food safety area, on imports, and on drug safety."

Under the tobacco proposal, the agency would be able to order changes in tobacco products to make them less toxic and addictive, but could not ban tobacco or nicotine. The bill passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support, but a veto threat from Bush kept it from getting out of Congress.

Aides to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., co-author of the tobacco bill, say there is strong interest in getting the legislation passed soon after the new Congress convenes in January. Obama is a co-sponsor.

Source: Associated Press, 7 Nov 2008
Link: [Story no longer online]

Duncan Bannatyne appointed first president of No Smoking Day

Entrepreneur, TV personality, and anti tobacco campaigner Duncan Bannatyne OBE has become the first President of the charity No Smoking Day. 

Bannatyne, the ex smoker who famously took on British American Tobacco at its AGM in April, will support the charity by encouraging businesses to support the campaign as well as acting as spokesperson for No Smoking Day.

No Smoking Day 2009 takes place on Wednesday 11 March and is the 26th annual campaign. Each year, more than one million smokers quit on the Day.

Bannatyne, who has a clause in his will disinheriting any of his children who take up smoking, said: “The campaign message is 'take the first step'. If, by supporting No Smoking Day, I can help one person to take a step towards quitting then I believe that my role as President will have been worthwhile.

”My views on smoking are well known. I feel that No Smoking Day is the perfect vehicle to push the smokefree message in a non judgemental way - I’m proud to be a supporter.”

John Beal MBE, Chair of the charity, commented: “We’re delighted to have Duncan as the charity’s first President. His passionate desire to reduce the harm caused by tobacco will, I’m sure, make him an outstanding advocate for our work.”

Following a review No Smoking Day the charity also announced the induction of two new Trustees: Tanya Buchanan and Professor Gerard Hastings.

Buchanan, who has worked in a number of health and education roles, is currently the Director of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) Wales.

Hastings, the first UK Professor of Social Marketing, currently lectures at Stirling University and the Open University. He provides regular guidance on tobacco issues to the Scottish, UK and European Parliaments and the World Health Organisation
 

Source: 24dash.com 6 November 2008
Link: http://www.24dash.com/news/Health/2008-11-06-Duncan-Bannatyne-appointed-first-president-of-No-Smoking-Day

U.N. headquarters targeted in new anti-smoking drive

The U.N. General Assembly has ordered Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to put an end to smoking at U.N. headquarters in New York, widely seen as a tobacco safe haven in an otherwise smoke-free metropolis.

The assembly told Ban to implement a ban on smoking and on the sale of tobacco products inside the building, Enrique Yeves, spokesman for General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, told reporters on Thursday.

He said the demand came in a nonbinding resolution passed unanimously by the 192 U.N. member states earlier this week.

"It is up to the secretariat now ... to decide what kind of realistic measures can be taken for this to be implemented," Yeves told reporters.

Word of the General Assembly's anti-smoking resolution had yet to reach all corners of the 40-story building.

In the U.N. Delegates Lounge, a cloud of cigarette smoke hovered over clusters of diplomats and U.N. staff puffing tobacco and sipping coffee.

Several of them told Reuters they had not heard of the resolution but added that they doubted Ban would succeed.

Although the United Nations is headquartered in New York, a statewide smoking ban does not apply to the Manhattan compound because it is considered international territory.  

Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan tried to ban smoking at the U.N. skyscraper in 2003. But his anti-smoking drive failed as many diplomats and U.N. staff simply ignored the "no smoking" signs that appeared throughout the building.

U.N. officials say that smoking in the 60-year-old skyscraper is discouraged but not officially banned. Other U.N. agencies in New York with offices outside the U.N. secretariat building have successfully banned smoking on their premises.

The top envoy from Britain, which co-sponsored the General Assembly resolution, welcomed the new anti-smoking drive.

"I think as part of our effort to modernize the U.N., it's important that the United Nations keeps up with the standards in the rest of the world," Ambassador John Sawers told Reuters.

"Smoking has been banned in the United Nations in Geneva," he said. "We look forward to doing the same here in New York."

Source: Reuters, 6 November 2008
Link:  http://tinyurl.com/63vefu