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TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
trench marketing
Root, Root, Root for the Home Team
One longstanding, successful promotion that’s worked
well for The Pipe and Pint for the past six years is Cigar
Night at NewBridge Bank Park where the local Greensboro
Grasshoppers baseball team (the Single-A South Atlantic
League affiliate of the Florida Marlins) plays. “Once a
month we hold Cigar Night at the ballpark,” reports
Christopher. “Different companies come in to work with us
and sponsor each one, and it’s a huge success promotion-
wise with existing customers and potential ones. They
really enjoy it. For me it’s just additional work, but it pays
off in the long run as goodwill with whatever company is
sponsoring it.”
Customers generally enjoy a nice evening out and
take home a package of cigars. “It works for me in the
long run because over time your customers get to be
your friends, so it’s like going to a ballgame with 50
friends,” explains Christopher. “We have a good time,
and that relationship part of the business, especially
in this business, is critical. The rapport you can build
with people at this type of event is really important. You
don’t develop that by selling cigars from a catalog.”
Christopher used to do even more promotional events,
but now that his store has a base of loyal customers, he
finds he’s been able to relax his marketing efforts a little.
“I’m fortunate to not have to work as hard as I once did,
but I still like to do cigar events where companies come
in and we run a promotion for a day or a week on their
products,” he says. “I’ve eliminated smaller industry
standard promotions, and the ones [that] I [actually] do,
I will turn into big events. For instance, in November of
this year, the Garcias are coming. We’ll have a weekend
around their visit. On the Saturday of the event I’ll have
a catered picnic, the Garcias will sign autographs, and
we’ll have 750 people during the course of the day.”
Work with Your Customers and Reps
Christopher believes that the most important
customer is the one standing in front of you, so he
works hardest to promote products in the store. “It’s
