OPINION: Luton King Size?

We all know the value that a famous location can bring to a product – it’s one of the reasons that the names of places like Champagne and Stilton were so sought after by makers of similar products, giving rise to the legislation that only products from those locations can bear the name.

So why shouldn’t cigarettes try and piggyback on the cachet that certain places have?

This article explains how Camel has started printing the names of 10 ‘cool’ places across the USA on special packs of its cigarettes.

The names of ten places including Williamsburg, Seattle and Austin – all places that are renowned for their music, fashion and culture – feature on packs available now.

Protests are rife – as much about the flowery language used by the PR people promoting the move as they are about the hijacking of the names of well-loved and respected places to sell a product that many people dislike (if this blog serves one purpose I hope it’s that you understand some of the jargon I have to break down before writing about it in Retail Express!).

But what would you think if cigarette manufacturers in the UK were to adopt such measures? As a last hurrah before the shutters come down (if, indeed, they do…) could we see an equally ‘cool’ brand in the UK (or maybe Camel would use it as a bid to increase the overall distribution here) adopting this sort of display?

I can see customers clamouring to grab Shoreditch, Glastonbury or Manchester cigarettes, for example.

Maybe there’s an idea in here – it’s another embodiment of the ‘think global, act local’ motto.