WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is adding nine more major markets to its test of its Camel Snus product. "In our test, we're seeing and coming to the conclusion that Camel Snus is a viable product offering for adult tobacco consumers," RJR spokesperson David Howard told CSP Daily News.
Thus, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company is now expanding its product test to include Miami; New York City; Atlanta; Washington, D.C./Baltimore; Chicago; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Seattle; San Francisco/Oakland; and Los Angeles.
These markets add to the previous seven markets targeted [image-nocss] by the test. They include original test markets Austin, Texas, and Portland, Ore., along with Raleigh, N.C., Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; and Orlando, Fla., which were added this past July.
"This may have been a little longer than your normal new-product introduction, but, purposefully, we were very deliberate in what we did, primarily because it is a new and different type of tobacco product," Howard said. "So we wanted to take the time to make sure consumers and retail customers had a good understanding of it."
To do that, the company has undertaken several marketing efforts, primarily through point-of-sale advertising, but also through other methods.
"In the metropolitan areas where the product is available, we're communicating with them through direct mail and through consumer interaction at age-restricted venues like bars and nightclubs," he said. "In the Dallas/Fort Worth market, we had some print ads that included a coupon for a free tin of snus. We've also done some promotions where, if you come [into a store] and buy a pack of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. cigarettes, you receive a free tin of snus."
The smokeless and spitless tobacco was first introduced in 2006.
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