THE BILLION DOLLAR LESSON THAT YOU NEED TO LEARN FROM MARLBORO - Muskaan Kedia

 

We often believe that we are impervious to the subtle messages that we are bombarded with continuously. Isn’t it absolutely tempting to believe that we are people of our own making, that we make our choices because of our discernment rather than being brain-washed by certain narratives that play in the background of our lives tacitly without us even being able to pinpoint them for what they are? 

In this article, we take a look at the business acumen of Marlboro. How it went from having a mere 1%  market share in 1964 to now being the global cigarette market leader. In fact it’s growth has been so phenomenal that its marketshare alone is now greater than the combined market share of its next 10 competitors. Sounds exemplary, doesn’t it?

What would your conjecture be - how did they accomplish this seemingly impossible feat? What was their USPs. One thing seems for sure - their product must surely be different in some very significant way - isn’t it? Otherwise, why would they be able to grow so rapidly?

Well, in the traditional sense of business this is the most logical route of reasoning - the product must be highly differentiated. However, as counterintuitive as it is, the case with Marlboro has been the exact opposite. It’s cigarettes in itself are not the show stoppers for the company. So then what is it? What got it the customer base that it did?

The answer lies in the black swan event for the tobacco industry of 1944 and Marlboro’s response to it compared to that of its peers and in fact even the market leaders. 

On 11th January 1964, it was officially declared by the United States Government that cigarettes are cancerous. That single announcement impacted the health of an eight billion dollar industry at the time and the livelihoods of several thousand families. 

Consequently, several of the top manufacturers and sellers of cigarettes in the United States struggled to keep up with the wrath of the customers and the backlash that they received. There were certain companies that went as far as stating that in fact the report so published was wrong and that cigarettes were, “health sticks” - yes! As ridiculous and incredulous as it sounds to us today - that was the “reactive narrative” that most of the leaders fell back on.

This is where path breaking narratives and exploring opportunities beyond the apparent come in picture. Marlboro did not engage with the health repercussions of consuming cigarettes at all. It went on to craft its own story centered on the appeal of a “manly lifestyle” to its target audience.

They created ad campaigns which featured their cigarettes as a necessity to appear manly and strong. They made campaigns with cowboys and them living the ultimate american dream, which was obviously, in their ads - incomplete without the Marlboro cigarettes. And thus began the success story of the once unknown cigarette company - Marlboro.

They capitalized on the event that ate into the business of the established players and played on the most basic desire of the target audience - to become more resounding social figures and to be differentiated from the crowds. 

Once we realize and acknowledge the impact of appearances and how companies can woo us with that - we realize that these subtle narratives are playing all around us. It’s ingenious and yet something to be mindful of. As consumers - no matter what the most basic tenets of Economics prophesied - that we consumers are rational and all our decision making is rational, in actuality, no - we are not rational. We buy into narratives and it is quintessential to choose which narratives to buy into. Thus, acknowledging that these narratives exist become the first step of consumer liberation.