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IN THE FIELD
/
CHARLES AWAD
Charles Awad
, Davidoff’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer,
offers tips and advice on how to market appealing tobacco products
to new customers.
INTERV IEW BY BEN ST IMPSON AND ANTOINE REID
I look for
people who
are curious,
ask the right
questions and
who listen
to others.
[ T O B A C C O B U S I N E S S . C O M ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS
[ 9 ]
Marketing from
the
Outside
As Oettinger Davidoff AG’s senior vice president and
chief marketing officer, Charles Awad has the lofty task
of marketing and promoting the Davidoff cigar brand
across the world. Awad, who brought expertise mar-
keting non-tobacco products to the role, introduced a
unique perspective to the established cigar brand during
the six years he’s been overseeing the rejuvenation and
relaunch of the company’s core brands.
When Awad first came to Davidoff, he took the time
to get to know the habits of cigar consumers from across
the globe, to understand their needs and wishes as afi-
cionados. He spent a year reworking Davidoff’s brand
proposition and brand innovation, and understanding
the industry competition. In recent years, Awad’s influ-
ence has been seen in the redesign and relaunch of the
company’s core brand, Davidoff, as well as Camacho
and AVO. Awad reports that Davidoff has nearly dou-
bled in size since 2012, and he believes there is still room
for growth and progress.
Tobacco Business
recently interviewed Awad to discuss
Davidoff’s evolution, how the company relies on con-
sumers to shape its brands and his advice for other mar-
keters in the tobacco industry.
Tobacco Business
: How would you define
what makes a cigar premium?
Charles Awad:
First and foremost, a premium cigar is
pertinent to the people behind its development. It is the
work, dedication and the craft that goes into the cigar’s
creation at every level by these individuals that makes it
so. A Davidoff cigar is a reflection of the quality and the
attention to detail of the product. A team [that] utilizes
the expertise from the master blenders, such as Eladio
Diaz and Henke Kelner, among others, is integral but
also at the growing stage with our agronomists, Manuel
Peralta and [his] team.
The people involved in the process are experts, and
they are helping to make sure that the wrapper that is
used to finish the cigar has reached its absolute peak
condition. When you examine the blending process, you
have an outstanding blender with a palate that no one
else has. Eladio Diaz is a magician as he is looking at
these leaves and tries to compose an exciting and fulfill-
ing taste experience. At the end of the day, that’s what a
chef would do as he blends ingredients.
What has been the key to Davidoff’s growth
over the years?
The team is one of the most important success factors.
This includes the central team that basically does all the
development and innovation work and the local team, led
by Richard Krutick for the USA, who are there to carry
on this innovation and make it a success in their mar-
kets. These teams across the globe have stepped up to the
plate and done a great job engaging Davidoff’s appointed
merchants and tobacconists in different channels. They
have been key in translating the central developments
from our headquarters so that people understand what is
garnering support and appreciation for our brands.
Also, the media has been very helpful over the past few
years. Before I arrived, Davidoff was often viewed as just
an expensive cigar. People didn’t understand the compa-
ny’s great care and passion, knowledge of tradition and
devotion to its products. All of these stories that
Tobacco
Business
and other media are building about Davidoff
offer a bit more depth and insight to what is behind the
brand and what makes it so unique.
When you look for people to bring in to help
you market Davidoff and its brands, do you look
for them to have cigar industry experience?
Absolutely not. I’m not a heavy cigar smoker. I look for
people who are curious, ask the right questions and who
listen to others. Before my time, a cigar was blended for
a Davidoff panel of people working within the company.
They thought they knew what cigar aficionados wanted.
But contrarily, experience showed us that being an expert
aficionado and panelist offers a fairly one-sided approach
to aficionados across the globe. At the end, you have to
be in the shoes of what others want, not what
you
want.
We have moved to panels of smokers in Germany who
are Cuban, Dominican and Nicaraguan cigar enthusi-
asts, a U.S. panel and an internal panel. They are now
the ones calling the shots. My only reference is the con-