PM History/2 - Legacy Tobacco Documents Library

PM history/3
OVERALL PM SALES DROPPED IN BOTH '53 &'54, mkt share off to 8 .7Y6 as
Lorillard w/Kent shoots by it into 4th place=NEED TO TRY SOMETHING NEW, 30/
need £ arl riced new f ter . . .MeC mas gives Weissman the o
o£ evelovina the new eitT in Jan •5 -- a step e a urged upon jo ning
the co . e draws to ge er team from adv ., production & research, hired
Roper researcg ou}I'i-E to survey the mkt, massive questionioning in '53
& "The results of the thing were fabulous," t31e some 61% of resnondents
had tried filters but reiected them because of lac o taste or because
t ey were perceived as e££eminate & s ssyish, a key factor in era when
male smokers heavily outnumbered £emale, thus "THE MISSION WAS TO CREATE
STRONG FLAVOR, A MASCULINE LOOKING PACK, & A MACHO CAMPAIGN"#*'+'*#+''thus,
giving up the old Marlboro brand & seizing up the name, it h~~a~~d~ne~_ bg-
Come extinct//tests showed that Marlboro name was erfectl £ n-e ha
mascul e rin + residue of hi h ual t from via its premum
price , 32 . ., t so £ w t the B T -
S
ILT Winston as in Churchil , Kent though named for Lorillard
CEO , and B&W's Viceroy . . .New adv agency hired, acct exec on PM was
David Lyon, son oP PM's chairman, "a rustic, maverick genius" to Weissman
who didn't ever receive enough credit/BQS~S_MILHISER_~Ts_COMES NEN~~31
ADV MGR, m33 . . .hiring Frank Giannotto, NY industr3 .al designer, for "bold
masculine-type package," picked out present version from early candidates
though it had parallel lines & name wasn't capitalized, although type
had the distinctive "1" and "b" ascenders + pic o£ cig on front bet . name
& roof . . .MORE STRIKING= the hinged-lid or "flip-top" box, t34, not entirely
novel since ten-cig packs had •em & a German brand had the fullsized
pack//2uch internal opposition . Weis_sman recalled, old-fa~ :f- .~-.-- . .x-• a3
w -~-d- ~'i~--- de~} packa i e~m e _ B : Marlboro nee ?~ _if#'eren De --t
. ~ bein
1`atento the mkt tw types o£ filtersa cork-t pped flush £ilter +
w e- anded recessed filter . . . DENVER & DALLAS test-mkts/new tob . blend/
fabulous test results . . .Millhisers '•I was vious that the b
to go . .Dallas cork-tippe mo el d d better NEW ADV . AGENCY as old one
f~.3ed~during test-mkting, 35 . .•SEARCH FOR NEW AGENCY, 36, then better
known for its bravado than size of its acets, invented the "Green Giant"
for Minn Valley Canco in '35 . Kellogg's Tony (?) the Tiger & Lava soap,
but still only a few steps beyond bein small midwe y when
PM called -- u then a ar y a uggernaut i .tself just then, 37/
mutual apprehension is fruitful as desi of ack is refined : e ermint
stri es come off the roof, capit ized name . .. i is e ad o e
cres , feei ng 3.t woul tie the brand to smaller, urban sophisticate mkt,
~'oo much of an old thing "& I was aimin at „ 38/B1JSa J4s. .
Cullman & B ett wanted a e s+ Louis Cheskin of Co1orResearch Institute
who tested it, deta ls on the test .m3.8 as 80% oP subjects gave
it favorable rating : subconscious assn w eualitv & nreati~ei people will
never tell you they prefer a pac age because o£ the erest#'~~'*'~"M'~'**'~use . . .
vs . phallic symbol of the cig, acc . to Millhiser . . . thus, n.,~es softened
a fairl hara~h deai_~ , angularity of the design aimed at men but no one
wan~d a~3.enate-the female smoker + also a tie to the old Marlboro that
had a crest on it . . .MARLBORO DEBUT JANUARY ' r no ing h ser s def -
it on as a c desa men th t wom n "//four maj or elements
in first campa gn . "Filter, Flavor, F1ip-top Box" was three o£ them . . .
"the filter doesn't get bet . you & the flavor" + "this new Marlboro makes
it easy to change to a£ilter" + 4th element of I~ASCULINITY
. launehjns1 the Mar,lb2 ~Men/"Manly, con£ident, they were successes in their fields
ye$ no ab ove getting their hands dirty, the ads seemed to say, depicting
an array of cowboys, stevedores, golfers, librarians, bizmen, swim coaches,
tree-trimmers, hunters, sailors . . .most memorable . their PACES, 40s men
are middle-aged, not always clean-shaven, somet3mes spectacled, sometimes
bald, often casually dressed -- A CONTRIVED ORDINARINESS about them that
contrasted w/manicured features of av male model, . .the real idea was to
show i o e'~ : rroug
- ewn, craggy types, believable eo 1e vs
'grett~y-boy models . . .as much a contrast to the compet on n s sexual
pi~Ti to men as the 1208 cig had been in seeking women in '20s+'+#*#180
degree turn ., .//THE TATOO COMES NEXT after serious consideration by t3-ie ~
acct group to showing M .M . with h s finger broken & in a splint . . . idea ~
was to distinguish M,Ms from other he-men illustrations + not yr usual v
leggy pin-ups or "Mother" but m ressionistic likenesses s of miiitar~ ~
, suggesting these are I vets=the s=the older m e smo e & those ~
who might look up to him//ADV COPYs brief . strai~ht f_o_rward, mascu~3,ae. ~
& PURE VERNACULAR & distinct commercial cast ~ e copy, e> ., m 2 . . . ~
First print depicted cowboy, the second a guy in tuxedo w~tatoo//the ~ .,
legend surrounding that first cowboy ad, b42 ff ., group sitting around
Burnett•s office & trying to dredge up most universally accepted symbol
of masculinity in America . . .Weissman's memory of last ads produced by
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/fmw44c00/pdf