[Intl-tobacco] South Africa: Tobacco firms light way underground (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Tobacco firms light  way underground
Source: Business Day, Tuesday, 10/3/00

TOBACCO companies are turning to guerrilla marketing as tough new
anti-smoking legislation forces them to go underground.

 The legislation, which came into effect on Friday but allows window
periods for compliance, puts an end to cigarette advertising and
sponsorship. Those falling foul of the law face fines of R200000.

 If the health department thinks the law will put an end to cigarette
marketing altogether, it is in for a surprise. Cigarette companies and
advertising agencies are looking for more inventive, legal ways to market,
which can broadly be defined as guerrilla marketing advertising through
unconventional means:

 Independent Tobacco Corporation is sponsoring online lifestyle magazine
Inhalex as it launches two new cigarette brands, Matrix and Rivas Park;

 British American Tobacco's (BAT's ) Lucky Strike brand has been bringing
out foreign music bands such as Violent Femmes for secret, exclusive
concerts;

 Alternative Johannesburg arts and clubbing venue Carfax in Newtown is
redesigning the branding for BAT's Gauloises, moving away from logos and
lettering.

 Guerrilla marketing has proved an effective way for new and marginal
businesses to distinguish themselves from competitors.

 Carfax's proprietor, Sasha Fabris, has been spray-painting its name, logo
and symbol on walls in and around Newtown.

 "I take a strong-looking guy with me," she says, "and the police just
drive past."

 In 1998, about a year after launching, Gauteng youth-orientated radio
station Yfm's stickers ended up on Johannesburg and Pretoria street signs,
some of them changing names from, for example, Baker Street to Bakery
Street. The station said the stickers were intended for fans' cars and it
was not responsible for putting them on street signs. Nevertheless, it
raised Yfm's profile considerably.

 The term guerrilla marketing has been around since the '80s, gaining
currency through a book by Jay Conrad Levinson, who advised small business
owners and entrepreneurs with little or no money for advertising to use
their energy and savvy.

 There are a number of cheeky ideas for guerrilla marketing on Levinson's
website. One comes from a Harley-Davidson store in the US, which
advertised a "cat shoot". This drew calls from the media and animal
welfare groups, which were told to come on the advertised day to find out
what was going on. The "cat" turned out to be a cartoon at which one could
shoot with a paint-ball gun.

 Another example comes from a company doing investigative work for law
firms.  The company put its business cards into law books in the local law
library for lawyers to find and assume other lawyers had left them behind.

 In SA, the tobacco industry and advertising agencies have been rethinking
strategies and making plans for a while, says James Robinson, creative
director of agency BLGK, which handles Benson & Hedges' account.

 He says the idea is to find ways "to advertise without advertising" in a
"dark market" adspeak for when the ban becomes effective, meaning that the
advertising lights will be turned off.

 Craig Ludwig, design firm Delapse's client services manager for Inhalex
and Matrix, believes the ban will produce some innovative marketing ideas.

 Tamsen de Beer, former Delapse producer for Inhalex and Matrix, says the
law is so broad it remains to be seen which guerrilla tactics will be
legal.

 Abrie du Plessis, BAT's legal and corporate affairs director, says his
company will comply with the law fully, and will focus on existing
consumer and trade relations.

 Robinson says there are many different theories on finding a different
platform for cigarette marketing. Some companies have considered websites
and playing with brand names and logos, such as BLGK's using only Benson &
Hedges' ampersand, and putting it into phrases such as "jazz & jive".

 In France cigarette brand names on Formula One cars have been replaced
with phrases beginning with the same letters and the same font.

 Robinson believes that finding loopholes in the law is not an option:
once exploited, loopholes will be closed.

 Others in the advertising industry suggest clever use of clubs and bars,
and even bar staff, as a medium for marketing.