Camel № 9 cigarettes.

Next time, RJ Reynolds Tobacco asks smokers to walk a mile Camel, watch how many of them are in high heels. Camel № 9 cigarettes come in a package that is hot pink fuchsia and mint, green, teal, with the slogan "Light and luscious."


 Reynolds, wanting to increase sales of its fast-growing Camel brand among women, is a variety aimed at female smokers. The new version, Camel № 9, has a name that invokes feminine fragrance like Chanel № 19, as well as songs about romance, "Love Potion number 9."


But do not look for Joe Camel to join Old Joe Camel Camel packages, displays or posters. Rather, Camel № 9 signals intended purchasers subtle signals, as well as its color, bright-pink fuchsia and mint, green, teal, its slogan "Light and luscious" and the flowers that surround the packs in magazine ads.



For decades, Camel has been male-oriented cigarette, and only about 30 percent of Camel buyers are female. For comparison, the competitive brands like Marlboro and Newport, women comprise 40 percent to 50 percent of the customers. Nearly half of adult women smokers, so that the limited potential camel.


Wall Street analysts praise the introduction of Camel № 9, in regular and menthol taste, as one more step to RJ Reynolds, division of Reynolds American, the new marketing strategy. The aim is to focus on the biggest, most popular - and most profitable - brands, which include Kool, and Camel.


But critics denounce the new Camel yet another attempt to highlight women's smoking resin, the tactics they go back to the 1920s when American Tobacco urged, "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" to promote the happiness of cigarettes Strike.


"Sadly, this product is just more of the same," said Cheryl G. Healton, president and chief executive officer of the American Heritage Foundation in Washington. Foundation oversees the national antismoking "Truth" campaign aimed at young people, which is funded by from Reynolds American and other major cigarette marketers.


"More women die from lung cancer than breast cancer, by far," Ms. Healton said, but the tobacco companies still "want to increase their market share among women."


RJ Reynolds sells two brands, Capri and Misty, aimed at women. A tiny competitor, the Vector Group, sells Eve, and the main competitor of Reynolds, of Altria, which owns Philip Morris, the first category in 1968 with the brand name Virginia Slims.


Virginia Slims, pitched for decades, the campaign, which is held on the theme "You've come a long way, baby", is the largest brand in women.


The study, which began early last year found "female adult smokers mostly not Camel smokers," said Cressida Lozano, vice president of marketing for Camel brand at Reynolds American in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, because, they said, "they Didn 't feel Camel had a product for them. "


"What we have to give adult smokers a choice," Ms. Lozano said, "with the products that we believe it is more appealing than existing products." The introduction of Camel № 9 is a plan "to focus on products that are" wow , "" she added, "that add fun and excitement to the category."


Bonnie Herzog, an analyst at Citigroup, which follows the tobacco industry, described Reynolds American, as "very good for innovation" - the identification of changes in existing brands with new packages, flavors, styles and other twists on familiar proposals.


There is a risk of cannibalization, Ms. Herzog said that the so-called line extensions, for example, Camel № 9 could take shelf space - and sales - from almost 30 other varieties of Camel.


But "if you can steal from your competitor, Virginia Slims", she added, a new kind of "sense" and "can be quite successful."


One reason for Reynolds American to introduce the new cigarette as part of a family brand Camel, which refers to 1913, is the fact that many of the restrictions on marketing cigarettes make it more difficult for a whole new brand to break through. That is why Camel № 9 joined Camel lineup that includes newcomers like Camel most, Camel Turkish Gold, Kamel Special light and Camel 99s.


"We tested several different names among adult smokers," said Brian Stebbins, senior director of marketing at RJ Reynolds and Camel № 9 was "a lot of appeal for being premium and sophisticated."


"9" is meant to offer "dressed to the nines, putting on the best," Mr. Stebbins said, rather than a perfume or a song.


RJ Reynolds is working with its two longtime agencies to introduce Camel № 9, Agent 16 in New York and Gyro World in Philadelphia. The company did not disclose the cost of implementation, but estimates range from $ 25 million to $ 50 million.


Reynolds American will sponsor promotional events for the new Camel in large markets across the country and promote the brand in various other ways, like handing out packs at nightclubs, distribution centers and coupon ads in magazines, including Cosmopolitan, flaunt, Glamour, Vogue and W.


Ms. Healton at anti-smoking foundations said that she worries about advertising in Cosmopolitan and Glamour, because a large number of young readers. This means that the RJ Reynolds "looks at the initiation, appealing to young girls to their market share," she said, and hope that older smokers will switch to Camel № 9 from other brands.


In an effort to promote tobacco use among women is an old strategy. Documents from the archives of the tobacco companies, released in 1998, indicated that they studied female smoking habits through research projects with names like "Tomorrow, ladies," "Cosmo" and "mature women".


Several decades ago, sultry woman cooed, "Blow some my way" to a man smoking a cigarette in the magazine Chesterfield ads from the old Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. Ads for Chesterfield, Camel, Lucky Strike, Old Gold, Philip Morris and other brands of foundation featured female celebrities like Lucille Ball, Marlene Dietrich, Rise Stevens and Barbara Stanwyck.


Even Wilma Flintstone smoked, in animated advertising of cigarettes Winston, who appeared in "The Flintstones." The last cigarette commercial to be broadcast on U.S. television on January 1, 1971, was for Virginia Slims.


One of the most famous moments in marketing took place in 1929, when Edward L. Bernays, who is considered the father of public relations, alerted newspapers that women would be smoking in public places during the Easter parade on Fifth Avenue, to ensure "equality of the sexes . "He did not reveal he paid for" torches of freedom "efforts of American Tobacco, manufacturer of Lucky Strike, which sought to encourage women to smoke.