Trade Show and Media Opportunities for the Tobacco Industry in Asia

Source from:  Tobacco Asia  07/08/2013

The tobacco industry is in some ways hamstrung by its own success. Despite continuing to earn impressive profits in the face of ever-more restrictive markets it has for some time been struggling to respond effectively to the shrill and pervasive anti-smoking rhetoric that has been generated in part because of past errors of judgment and in part because cigarettes are widely understood to be harmful to a user's health.

Errors of judgment in that several decades ago the tobacco industry was caught out in its attempts to downplay the inherent dangers of smoking through the manipulation of scientific data and pilloried for employing advertising methods that portrayed smoking as glamorous and sexy. These strategies are now widely understood to have been a clumsy attempt to extinguish the fires anti-smoking advocates were attempting to ignite in the public's perception of "big tobacco" and to bolster the cigarettes' iconic image as a sophisticated lifestyle accessory - and unfortunately played right into the hands of the anti-smoking lobby. Once it was shown to be untrustworthy and guilty of spreading false information to bolster sales, the tobacco industry as a whole found itself on its back foot and has remained hamstrung since then.

As the backlash grew in potency and strength, politicians were co-opted into the fray, many afraid to be seen as associated with the "merchants of death" and eager to benefit from the growing tide of health-conscious voters. Soon, the doors to advertising and marketing opportunities were slammed shut across the world. Access to media was curtailed as editors and publishers, under pressure from the evermore powerful and well-funded anti-smoking lobby, supported by its opportunistic and equally well-financed bedfellow, the pharmaceutical industry, saw no financial advantage in lending a measured voice to a tobacco industry that was now no longer able to contribute advertising revenues. The threat of advertising boycotts by supporters of the anti-smoking lobby – such as the pharmaceutical industry – proved to be another potent incentive for the mainstream media not to allow the tobacco industry to respond to the mounting "evidence" proving that tobacco and the tobacco industry were out to undermine the health and vitality of the world's population or to participate in any realistic debates as to the validity of the "science" that was being rolled out to "prove" the claims being made, for example, on the "dangers" of second- and even third- hand smoke, the "benefits" of graphic health warnings, massive tax increases and, now, plain packaging.

After all, the tobacco industry was proved to be deceitful and manipulative in the 1970's, so why expect them to be any different now?

So as the pharmaceutical industry financed FCTC continues to dictate how to "solve" the tobacco "epidemic" to governments around the world and the anti-smoking lobby continues to stand in the way of the introduction of potentially safer tobacco products, such as snus, e-cigarettes and other non-pharmaceutical industry nicotine delivery alternatives, basic issues such as the rights of consumers – and legislators – everywhere to have access to truthful, balanced and accurate information and to potentially safer products and to make accurately informed choices is diluted and threatens to disappear altogether in the fug of pseudo-science, brand-bashing, hysterical rhetoric, cynical misinformation and just plain bad science that the anti-smoking advocates are generating on an ever-widening scale.

In short, the anti-smoking lobby is employing every questionable device and manipulative strategy that it accuses the tobacco industry of employing over 30 years ago. And then some!

A voice in the wilderness?

The tobacco industry is no leopard. It has neither spots to change, nor has it demonstrated any noticeable ability to attack its enemies with bursts of leopard-like speed and ferocity.

In fact, as all those reading these words will know, the tobacco industry is generally a completely different animal today than it was when the Marlboro Man celebrated the rescue of a lost calf with a satisfying smoke around the campfire on the grainy TV screens of yesteryear.

Today's tobacco industry values corporate and social responsibility as highly as or even higher than any other industry does. Its commitment to working on programs to prevent and curtail youth smoking, its efforts to lobby and trade ethically and fairly, its desire to work with all sectors of society to address the compelling issues raised by tobacco usage are all honorable and ethically motivated.

These include financial benefits (taxes earned) and drawbacks (health costs and the illicit trade); health concerns; safer alternatives and youth smoking prevention; tobacco farmers' rights and concerns and, not least, the rights of smokers and tobacco users to be effectively represented in any debates and the rights of brand owners to protect their commercial interests.

Unfortunately in most instances when these efforts become known publicly, vilification is heaped on them by the anti-smoking lobbyists who summarily dismiss them as stealth marketing strategies.

Underlying issues

Underlying any debate on smoking should be an understanding and awareness of the "human condition", the paradoxical drive that presses us to take up practices that we understand may not be good for us but that we enjoy and that can offer a measure or pleasure and satisfaction in an often otherwise humdrum existence. We can include eating fast food, pretty much any meat product or processed food, candies, sodas, alcoholic drinks, driving fast cars and motorbikes, sex, drugs, pornography, excessive internet use, listening to loud music and even exercising too hard as well as tobacco consumption in the long list of "evils" that men and women enjoy.

Many governments continue to adopt "nanny state" policies to police the human condition under the guise of "protecting" their citizens from harming themselves, and tobacco is widely seen to be the most pervasive and dangerous of them all, and the least able to defend itself, and therefore the most appealing target.

Prohibiting these desirable but potentially harmful activities is not going to work. As we should all have learned from the prohibition era in the 1920's in the USA, it simply drives the products underground and swells the coffers of criminal syndicates. As we all know, the current round of tobacco legislation sweeping the planet is doing just that, and the trend shows no sign of declining anytime soon. Over-taxing is similarly counter-productive: governments stand to lose revenues and criminals stand to gain market share at the expense of legitimate, tax-paying brand owners. These and other strategies adopted to combat the "evil" of tobacco are, as we all know, typically achieve questionable results and often simply backfire and boost illicit trade.

Silence is not an option

So should the tobacco industry simply keep quiet and allow itself to be done down by its enemies and detractors, and by pharmaceutical companies that seek to reap a windfall by supplying their dubious "nicotine cessation therapies" to smokers desperate to quite as the tide of intolerance and approbation threatens to engulf them?

Clearly, that is not an option, and of course the tobacco industry maintains a robust effort to protect its interests and those of its consumers, and rightly so. The issues it faces are daunting, however, and in particular it is supporting and endorsing the few remaining avenues though which it can reach out and flex its muscles that must surely be a priority for the industry.

Political lobbying is increasingly a necessarily defensive strategy, and has in recent instances, such as the Australian plain packaging regulations and the "sin tax" passed in the Philippines, to name just two, failed to secure a satisfactory outcome for the majority of targeted industry players.

Packaging in most cases these days is so polluted by graphic and text health warnings that it is increasingly ineffective at communicating positive messages about a brand or a company – and that's only if it can even be displayed. The inside of the packaging remains a viable avenue for innovative brand reinforcement, but to a large extent this really only amounts to preaching to the converted.

The internet is one arena where potential remains to deliver a more balanced view, to reach out to smokers and non-smokers alike with rebuttals and product information, but for many in the tobacco industry the risks of being accused of using the internet simply to advertise their products, particularly to minorities and children, is a persuasive argument against anything more than a general corporate presence with perhaps a brand portfolio included.
As we know, mainstream media advertising, and the editorial access that it supported, is no longer an option in most markets.

This pretty much leaves the tobacco trade press and trade shows as viable outlets for tobacco companies to support and to promote its interests. Publications such as Tobacco Asia, which are trade-ONLY magazines – meaning they are NOT available to under-age readers, are not on any newsstands and are delivered individually to industry members only. These trade publications are essentially the only media reporting on, about and for the tobacco industry, the only media allied with the tobacco industry there is, and really the only media that that publishes the industry's view in any depth.
There are only a handful of tobacco trade publications covering the industry, and only one of these has comprehensive coverage of the issues and a significant presence in Asia. Tobacco Asia carries the torch on behalf of the tobacco industry in the region.

OK, this is probably starting to appear to some as a blatant sales pitch for Tobacco Asia, but bear with us for a moment or two.

While it is read only by industry executives and professionals, the messages Tobacco Asia delivers resonate with its readers and help shape their strategies and cement understandings of and reactions to the issues facing everyone in the tobacco industry, from multi-national giants to small domestic manufacturers. We listen to all sides of the story, we deliver facts (and some opinions) and we highlight the tobacco industry's stand on issues ranging from taxation and packaging to PREPs and illicit trading. This information is, we believe, of great value, not only to industry executives keen to learn of new products and services available but also to arm lobbyists, CSR practitioners, legal advisors and corporate decision makers with definitive information on the issues affecting the entire industry and the opinions and strategies industry leaders have devised to face them.

So supporting a pro-active, effective trade press with regular advertising should really be a no-brainer for any tobacco product manufacturing company. It allows new products and brand variants to be announced and introduces and helps support existing sales and penetration of new markets.

Equally importantly, it also helps to ensure that the industry continues to have a vibrant, pro-active trade press addressing the vital issues and presenting the industry's thoughts and rebuttals that no other media will publish, and it engenders a unity that helps to ensure that, despite the intensely competitive nature of the cigarette industry, there is a sense of unity prevailing on the front lines of corporate engagement with the anti-smoking brigade.

While supporting the trade press with advertising certainly reaps dividends and helps to ensure the industry has an effective mouthpiece, exhibiting at a trade-only event such as Inter-tabac Dortmund or Inter-tabac ASIA and ProTobEx ASIA helps to win sales and develop an interest in and awareness of new products and brand variants as well as encouraging networking opportunities that can help develop robust policies and strategies to address the issues that affect all tobacco industry players.

These events are among a handful of truly effective face-to-face marketing mediums left to tobacco companies on the planet, where product sampling and marketing is not only allowed but actively encouraged. Supporting these events should also be a top priority for tobacco manufacturers large and small. The tobacco world already beats a path to the doors of Inter-tabac Dortmund, the world's largest tobacco exhibition. It should only be a matter of time before regional and international tobacco product manufacturers realize that Inter-tabac ASIA is a legitimate, logical and effective way forward when it comes to sustaining and growing tobacco product sales in existing regional markets and opening up new ones. And as Inter-tabac ASIA is paired with ProTobEx ASIA, the only regionally-based equipment, supplies, services, machinery, equipment and tobacco leaf exhibition I Asia, and event is the world's only fully vertically integrated, one-stop expo for all aspects of the tobacco industry. The venue and dates for the 2014 Inter-tabac Asia/ProTobEx event for the first quarter of 2014 will be announced soon and we look forward to seeing you all as exhibitors, or at least as visitors, at the show and to welcoming you as advertisers in Tobacco Asia if you are not already a customer. Enditem