Page 255 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

224 Chapter Eight

We use the legendary new Marlboro cigarette brand development process as
a comprehensive example to illustrate a successful brand development.
Example 8.5: New Marlboro Cigarette Brand Development
This example is from Arnold (1992). The Marlboro cigarette brand is the best-
selling packaged cigarette in the world. However, as recently as the late 1950s,
it was an old, dying, tobacco brand in the United States. In 1954, after careful
analysis of the trends in the tobacco market, the management of Philip Morris
made a number of key decisions on the changes of the brand position:
To match the newly designed brand image, the product was totally redesigned. At
that time, 90 percent of U.S. smokers used unfiltered cigarettes. The company
realized that the coming trend would be filters, and this could also help to

Old Marlboro New Marlboro
Mild tar blend Stronger blend
Less flavor More flavor

Nonfilter Filter
White pack design Red and white design
Older image More modern image

Aimed at women Aimed at men
Product-based advertising Imagery advertising

modernize the image of the brand. To change the perception that the Marlboro
cigarette is a mild cigarette for women, the flavor of the cigarette was made
stronger and the filter was covered in tobacco brown paper, indicating strength
and flavor. To shape the new Marlboro brand identity, a new advertisement
agency, Leo Burnett, was contracted by Phillip Morris to develop a campaign to
relaunch the brand using male role models in tough, rugged jobs, in order to
project a new Marlboro brand personality. At the beginning, pilots, deep-sea
fishermen, cowboys, and engineers were tried. In 1963, market research indicated
that Marlboro needed a more clear-cut identity. The Marlboro Man, symbolized
by a cowboy, was established.

Campaign guidelines were laid down as follows:
• The cowboy must symbolize the type of man that other men would prefer to
be like and women would like to be with.
• He must be believable.