TOB_Magazine

[ 16 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MAY / JUNE | 18 ] What’s one big misconception people have regarding mar- keting and the premium cigar market? The premium cigar busi- ness is so different frommany other industries and products. We just don’t always follow traditional approaches. One of the big misconceptions is thinking that marketing in the premium cigar industry is a “cookie- cutter” approach. I feel that marketing premium cigars works best when we take a flexible approach and focus on the individuality of the various retail footprints around the country. What opportunities does the company see in the tobacconist, convenience store, discount and smoke shop channels? These channels are all very important, and we need to continue to be visible in all of these retail categories. Retail outlets are important because that is where adult cigar smokers can see, try new products and learn more about our brands. The Altadis U.S.A. brand portfolio has a wide range of cigars, offered at a variety of price points and formats, which provides opportu- nities across multiple retail categories. One of the keys to developing these channels is to offer unique incentives and create exciting reasons for the adult consumer to visit the store. How does your approach to marketing differ between try- ing to reaching out to retailers versus consumers? The strategy and approach is different, but both are aligned and related. Our job is to provide the trade and adult consumers with the best-quality cigars and excellent customer service. For the retailer, we also offer valuable incentives to help drive their business and increase their trade margins. The consum- er approach is aimed at creating demand with more pull strategies to get adult consumers to try our products and to retain them as loyal customers. With so many brands and products, how do you create dif- ferent promotions for retail partners and for adult consum- ers to ensure each gets the attention it needs? With quite a few brands in our portfolio, our approach is to first understand the unique selling proposition and brand positioning for each. We do this with close collaboration with the marketing team. We have adopted a channel strat- egy approach for many of our products and promotions, where we can influence the different channels and tiers of customers. I think one of the keys to promoting a brand is to have a clear understanding of the target audience and how you can best influence adult consumers to purchase and stay loyal to your brand. What innovative things are you doing with POS programs and promotions? We believe some of the digital assets we are developing are new and innovative, in terms of customer engagement and communica- tion. Specifically, our Chase the Ace digital golf game is built on creating customer engagement and driving traffic back to brick-and-mortar stores. Adult cigar enthusiasts can enter #romeocontest and earn “swings” by answering trivia questions or by sharing their Romeo moments on Ins- tagram. These swings can then be used for a chance to win coupons for Romeo y Julieta cigars that can be redeemed in participating tobacconists nationwide. Any retailers that are interested in adding their retail store should contact their Altadis U.S.A. sales representative. How do you use old-school marketing platforms like print with new ones like social media to advertise and push new products to retailers and adult consumers? We use various mediums to communicate with retailers and adult consumers. Print media remains an important channel for us. Addition- ally, we are working hard to create an integrated presence on digital and social media. We have recently launched our new trade application, Alta- dis Connect ( connectausa.com ), which is available to all our retail customers. This is an innovative order-entry platform that helps retailers purchase product more efficiently, as well as providing access to margin-enhancing promotions and flash sales. We urge those who haven’t accessed it yet to contact their Altadis U.S.A. representative to get hooked up. We are also excited about the upcoming launch of our new social engagement and couponing platform, “Romeo Chase the Ace.” Romeo Chase the Ace is a cool digital golf game with the goal of driving traffic to brick-and-mortar stores. This will be implemented first with a select group of cigar retailers nationwide. We have also recently rolled out new brand websites, updated montecristosocialclub.com and increased our presence on social media outlets—all to promote greater interaction with adult cigar enthusiasts. How do you measure the success or effectiveness of the dif- ferent trade programs you develop? We measure each program’s effectiveness and performance by using our business intelligence tools and IT resources. For our trade program, it is very important that we are continuously analyzing the performance, as we need to make sure our retail customers are maximizing their opportunities, and we are creating programs and incentives that are strong enough to support the market. Our sales team is also an excellent resource for feedback. Additionally, our retailer advisory board is a great program we have built over the last few years. It is a collective group of retailers from around the country with whom we share ideas, get feedback, and receive valuable advice on our various projects and plans. What one lesson learned would you pass along to others? I would say surrounding yourself with good people. So far in my career, I have been fortunate to work with some great people and have learned a lot. The team at Altadis is very experienced and great to work with. We certainly enjoy what we do. TB Oliver Hyams Continued