A Change of Plans
The coronavirus has had a major impact on travel, preventing events both large and small from being held and also limiting the size of in-person crowds that are permitted. Cigar companies acted quickly, pulling their sales representatives from traveling and in many cases allowing their employees to work from home. With many consumers also forced to stay at home, companies moved quickly, focusing on how to engage with the industry digitally rather than in person.
“COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact, primarily in the realm of our consumer engagement plans with in-store events and experientials,” says Joseph Gro, Drew Estate’s digital marketing manager. “We cancelled our 2020 Barn Smokers. Consumers travel across the country for these events, and we acted out of extreme precaution. We have had to shift our focus to create intimate moments digitally.”
The shift to going digital has been the focus for many companies, including Alec Bradley Cigar Co. Because the company is headquartered in Florida, it had some additional time before the state issued its own stay-at-home order, and its team used this time to come up with creative strategies to keep business flowing through what it anticipated to be an extended period of disruption. The company had plans to introduce a new program for its brick-and-mortar retailers in March and was also going to begin a new advertising campaign. However, COVID-19 caused those plans to change, and the focus turned toward finding creative ways to help tobacconists and keep the Alec Bradley Cigar Co. brand top of mind among consumers.
“Keeping the faces of the company front and center on social media through virtual herfs, interviews and appearances has been our focus—not only the principles of the company but also the sales team,” says Jonathan Lipson, director of sales and marketing at Alec Bradley Cigar Co. “In this business, even though cigarmakers are the celebrities and everyone wants to engage, our sales team is comprised of brand ambassadors who are on the front lines daily as the face of Alec Bradley with their customers and local consumers.”
Companies of all sizes had to face the new challenges presented by the coronavirus, and many saw it as an opportunity to strengthen their marketing efforts. One of those companies was Tabacalera USA, which has a wide footprint in the cigar industry thanks to its various business units that include Altadis U.S.A., JR Cigars and Casa de Montecristo. Due to the different divisions and business models, the company has been able to compensate for declines in some areas of its business caused by COVID-19 with increased business in others. As the pandemic spread, the company first moved to protect its employees, trade customers and adult consumers, and it did so by turning to social media to engage with cigar enthusiasts around the world while also using the opportunity to build brand awareness.
“We see this situation as an opportunity to adapt to what the adult consumer is currently demanding,” says Javier Estades Saez, president and CEO of Tabacalera USA. “Consumers still demand great cigars with strong concepts from brands they trust. We continue to work hard to honor that trust and are enhancing our social media programs to provide more educational and pairing events.”
Davidoff, another manufacturer with a global presence, began seeing impacts on its business from the coronavirus this year, with effects felt by its global businesses in Asia and the duty-free segments. The gravity of the situation began to become clear in mid-March when restrictions, quarantines and closures began to sweep across the U.S. According to Lana Fraser, head of marketing at Davidoff of Geneva USA, the company worked closely with its global headquarters in Switzerland to revise its marketing plans for 2020 in order to make them more relevant and effective during the crisis.
“To best support our business partners and the collective well-being of the cigar community, the company decided to adapt our 2020 product innovation plan and focus current efforts toward digital engagement to provide our partners and customers with the finest cigar and ‘time beautifully filled’ experiences,” says Fraser.
With the closure of factories in Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, General Cigar Co. is another company that has had to alter its marketing plans for the year due to COVID-19. While it expects some delays in its innovation pipeline that could extend into 2021, the company formed a COVID-19 task force to respond to other external factors, including changes in the marketplace, supply chain issues and the potential impact on its employees. This task force was created in March and continues to meet on a weekly basis to plan for a post-pandemic world. Like other companies, General Cigar Co. turned to social media to engage with customers but also used its various accounts to monitor changes in consumer behavior so that it could adapt its marketing plans accordingly.
“Coronavirus is a major unpredicted event, and while the situation continues to evolve, barriers to face-to-face interactions are likely to remain an issue,” says Christopher Tarr, vice president of marketing at General Cigar Co. “While it’s a challenge to foresee how the wants, needs and purchasing decisions of consumers might change during a time of such uncertainty, we first listened to the voice of our consumers through social listening and feedback from various internal and external sources and gleaned insight to the needs and preferences of our consumers. We found, not surprisingly, that people were looking for hope and reassurance amid the pandemic. We also found that people were seeking the habits and comforts they had before the virus struck, with cigar smoking being one of them. Given that social networks have become even more valuable as tools for connectivity, and with online communities essentially becoming virtual meeting and entertainment spaces, we amped up our digital and social media engagement. Our investment in marketing has not changed—we have simply reordered our priorities to meet the ever-changing needs of consumers.”
