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Toraño to increase connectivity to the con-
sumer base. For Hoyo, the focus is on crafts-
manship and full-bodied flavors that comple-
ment the brand’s Honduran roots.
In the end it is all about brand equity. I don’t
really care about the awareness of the name
General Cigar. It’s not what ignites a consum-
er or retailer. What I care about is that people
know our brands. People don’t have to know
they all come from one company.
ON ENTERING
THE EVERYDAY MARKET…
You recently launched Cohiba Blue,
a more economical cigar than pre-
vious iterations in the franchise.
What was the thinking behind
developing an “everyday” cigar?
We decided to take a modern approach with
Cohiba, just as we have done with brands
like Macanudo and
Partagás
. Today, luxury is
not just about exclusivity anymore. It’s about
inclusivity. Just look at the luxury automobile
category and you’ll see where the paradigm
shift began. We took a page from that.
Where Cohiba had price points that made it
slightly out of reach for some cigar smokers—
we added Cohiba Blue to introduce the brand
to a bigger group of cigar smokers. By giving
greater access to the brand with a lower-priced
offering—while still remaining in the premi-
um priced segment—we increase the brand’s
relevance and connect more people with the
brand. This path will likely lead more cigar
smokers to upgrade to a higher-priced Cohiba
cigar in the future. This will ultimately deliv-
er dividends to the retailer. It all goes back
to delivering cigars that the retailer can get
behind and that can generate profits for them.
What is your approach to reaching
consumers who are continually bom-
barded with marketing messages?
The premium cigar business is built on rela-
tionships. This is true for retailers, and it is
equally true for consumers. In this category,
cigar smokers want personal connections to
the brands they smoke. When a consumer goes
into a cigar shop and is surrounded by a sea
of brands, people make the difference. So we
have recently made a significant investment by
putting more people on the street to talk about
our brands.
We assembled a group of people who
embody the spirit of our brands and now have
a team of seven brand ambassadors hitting
cigar shops and special events. Each ambas-
sador has a wide a range of experience in the
category, yet all share a common trait: a true
passion for our cigars. Rick Rodriguez was
handpicked by Edgar Cullman Sr. to study
under the legends of the business, including
Benji Menendez, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo,
Daniel Nuñez and Estello Padron. Yuri Guil-
len is the ambassador for La Gloria Cubana
and studied under the very same tobacco men.
He has been leading our cigar production for
nearly 20 years and now spends one week
every month at cigar shops across the country
to spread the gospel of the brand.
Jack Toraño was practically swaddled in
tobacco at birth and is our ambassador for
Toraño. Sean Williams built his own cigar
brand from scratch and has a serious passion
for cigars. He’s also a consumer of all things
luxury and is the perfect person to repre-
sent Cohiba. On Macanudo, we have Lau-
rel Tilley, a dedicated cigar smoker [and]
former cigar shop manager who can talk
about everything from tobacco to motorcy-
cles. Iris Hols is a refined lady who represents
Macanudo in Europe and hails from our lux-
ury Hajenius shop in Amsterdam. Rounding
out the team is Justin Andrews, who has built
his career in the cigar business and brings the
hip millennial factor to the Time Flies and
Diesel Grind brands.
We have taken the personal connection to
another level by [ramping] up our collabora-
tions with people who embody the ethos of
our brands. Partnerships with Ernesto Perez-
Carrillo for La Gloria Cubana [and] A.J.
Fernandez for Hoyo deepen the connection to
our brands, and Benji Menendez’s influence
on Rick Rodriguez was the catalyst for creat-
ing CAO’s Amazon Trilogy.
[ T O B A C C O B U S I N E S S . C O M ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS
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