New Smokeless Tobacco Products: Experiences of a Test Market State

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New Smokeless Tobacco Products Experiences of a
Test Market State

• Kylie Menagh, MPH
• Oregon Public Health Division
• kylie.a.menagh_at_state.or.us

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Today, well talk about

• Promotions/Sampling background
• Camel Snus
• Test-Marketing Messages
• Public Health Response
• Camel Dissolvables
• Test-Marketing Messages
• Public Health Response
• Whats Next?

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Tobacco Promotion in Oregon
A Lite history of tobacco promotions

• Since 1998 (at least) Marlboro Camel nights,
  rodeo sponsorship, racing team, Lorillard Hoop It
  Up
• 2006-7 Camel Snus test marketed
• 2007 Camel No. 9 promoted heavily
• 2009 Camel Orbs, Strips, Sticks test marketed

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Tobacco Sampling in Oregonnot including
in-store giveaways, or tax-stamped cigarette packs

• Since 1999, tobacco companies have given away
  4.12 millions worth of non-cigarette tobacco
  products

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So, Why Portland? Why Oregon?

• Portland is an urban population, known for being
  liberal, young, and edgy but we are also
  primarily a rural state

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Why Oregon?We have a best practices-based,
policy-focused, comprehensive tobacco control
program but program cuts have reduced local
capacity to monitor and respond
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Why test smokeless in Oregon?

• Smokeless tobacco use in Oregon is pretty
  similar to the rest of the country

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Why Oregon?

• Twice as many cigarettes sampled in OR than WA...
  we have half the population
• Washington state licenses and monitors tobacco
  sampling 70.155.050
• California has a robust monitoring system
• Portland seems to be the preferred test market on
  the West Coast

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Camel Snus

• Rhymes with Noose

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2006 Camel Snus comes to Portland, OR, Austin,
TX

• Snus is a moist snuff product that comes in
  small, teabag-like pouches.
• Steam-cured rather than fire-cured.
• Not fermented.
• Doesnt cause spitting.
• Primarily consumed in Norway and Sweden, until
  recently introduced to the US by RJR, PM, and
  Lorillard.

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Highly Visible in Stores

• Neon-lit, refrigerated displays on counter tops
• How To Brochures
• Storefront posters
• Sandwich board signs on sidewalks
• Signs on telephone poles

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In-store Brochures Messages?
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Direct Mail Messages

• Coupons
• Collectible tins
• Reframing smokeless tobacco for new audiences
  not dip
• Get the pleasure, avoid the smoke
• Package has been redesigned to look more like a
  cell phone, less like a can of chew

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Alternative Weekly Newspaper Inserts Ads

• The Abridged Guide to Snusing
• At least 3 different editions
• Pleasure for Wherever
• Positioned as urbane, adventurous, and convenient
  to use in the infinite list of places and
  circumstances where it is appropriate to Snus
  (and it is illegal to smoke)

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How to Snus Messages?
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Where to Snus Messages?
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Alternative Weekly Newspaper Ads Messages?
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Online
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Response Media Advocacy

• Key Messages
• Targeting kids
• Marketed as something discreet
• Appeals to kids
• Undermines quitting intentions due to smokefree
  workplaces
• Addictive and harmful
• Not a healthy alternative
• Not a cessation product

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Response Media Advocacy

• "I see it as a young adult marketing strategy,
  and we have a lot of hip young adults in this
  city," Cushing said. And "if it appeals to a
  22-year-old, I think you can assume it will
  appeal to a 16-year-old. Because what do
  16-year-olds want to be? Twenty-two.
• The Tobacco-Free Coalition of Oregon's Tabithia
  Engle was blunter. "Nicotine is an extremely
  addictive drug," she said. "The tobacco industry
  is in Oregon trying to hook our kids.
• The Oregonian. Snus No smoke, no spit, but many
  worry about kids. Sunday, January 07, 2007

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Response monitoring

• BRFSS
• Coordinated with national partners (Lois Biener,
  Bob Anderson) to support their research
• Focus groups
• Monitoring marketing messages

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Now what??

• And then in 2007

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Camel No. 9
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Camel No. 9
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And what now?!

• 2009

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Wall Street Journal. Sept. 14, 2008Reynolds
moves to be on top when smoke clears Dissolvable
tobacco offered as smoking bans proliferate
critics say it looks like candy

• R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is introducing three
  dissolvable smokeless products in its latest bid
  to make its tobacco more accessible within a
  society that's clamping down on smoking.

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2009 Camel Dissolvables

• 2009 Camel Orbs, Strips, Sticks
• Tested in Portland, OR Columbus, OH
  Indianapolis, IN
• What are they?
• Finely milled tobacco held together with
  food-grade binders

• http//goodhealth.freeservers.com/Camel_Orbs_compa
  red_with_Tic_Tacs.jpg

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Any familiar messages here?
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Dissolvables Alternative Weekly Newspaper
inserts with coupons
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Online
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And, of course, at a store near you
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Response Media Advocacy

• The tobacco industry is gearing up to trump
  anti-smoking legislation by peddling new
  dissolvable nicotine products -- still addictive
  and risky like cigarettes, but without the
  smoke.

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Response Local Media Advocacy

• Medford, OR
• "The increase of smokeless tobacco use here among
  teens is significant and alarming and
  dissolvable tobacco is just as addictive as
  smoking," said Stevenson.
• Also described health effects
• TV coverage http//kdrv.com/news/local/118051

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Response Public Policy

• Assisted Sen. Merkeleys office
• http//merkley.senate.gov/issues/issue/?idF07D93F
  E-8476-4B33-A33F-FB73B801C519
• In response to a drop in the number of
  cigarette smokers and new laws limiting smoking
  in public, Big Tobacco has resorted to outrageous
  tactics to hook a new generation of our children
  on tobacco.
• Same key messages

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Oregon Legislative Efforts

• HB 2358 Non-cigarette Tobacco Sampling Ban
• Providing free tobacco samples is a deliberate
  method for recruiting new and younger tobacco
  users, who often become addicted to tobacco for
  life.
• This bill was meant to help prevent Oregon youth
  from starting to use tobacco products, preventing
  future tobacco-related deaths and health care
  costs.
• Passed the House with a vote of 49 to 11 but died
  in committee in the Senate

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What WILL they think up next???

• Will we see an increase in smokeless use?
• Will new populations initiate smokeless?
• Will we see dual usage?
• Will we see reductions in tobacco cessation?
• Public Health will be there
• monitoring, educating, advocating