Camel Case Study: Camel in the USA

by

Renata Engelova

Contents

1. Prologue 3

2. How the story of Camel started 3

3. U.S. Cigarette Market Overview 4

4. Camel Ads and Campaigns 5
4.1 Start-Up 6
4.2 Pleasure helps your Disposition 7
4.3 They are not for everybody 8
4.4 Joe Cool Camel Campaign 9
4.5 The New Era - What Are You Looking For; Mighty Tasty 11

5. Camel Today 12

6. Additions 15

7. Literacy 19

1. Prologue

My part of "Hausarbeit" is concerning the Camel cigarettes in its native country, the USA. The situation there was rather different than in Germany and I found it interesting to look closer at this point. Nevertheless, curiosity is also the fact, that the American Camel has since two years different owner than in the rest of the world. On the next sites I tried to analyse the American tobacco market (to get an impression how Camel "fits" there); to have a close look at the ad campaigns in various decades from the twenties till today. Additionally I prepared also the material of the U.S. Camel producer: the firm′s history, opinions, philosophy and marketing strategy, so that one can get a complex view of the whole problematic.

Camel is an authentic original and a brand that keeps up with the times. Introduced in 1913 as R.J.Reynolds Tobacco′s first major cigarette brand and the American first nationally marketed cigarette, Camel is today one of the few cigarette brands that can celebrate many different decades of popularity. Camel′s combination of a classic nature and contemporary flair reinforce the brand′s unique position as a flavourful cigarette with a rich heritage, colourful personality and irreverent sense of humour.

Camel′s marketplace positioning and personality have enabled the brand to continue to perform well in an intensely competitive marketplace. Overall, Camel is the fourth-largest brand in the United States.

2. How the story of Camel started?

In 1874 the tobacco factory R.J. Reynolds Tobacco was founded in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. Its first product appeared on the market in 1913 an it was the CAMEL - the first American industrially produced cigarette. Camel - containing a blend of several different types of tobacco, a blend that would come to be called "the American blend". - was created personally by the company founder Richard Joshua Reynolds. It was the idea of Mr. Reynolds to name the cigarette "Camel", so that it sounds exotic like Turkey, the country from where the tobacco leaves are coming. For the title design of the package was pictured the circus camel named Old Joe. But it is today unknown, who placed the pyramids to the background of the picture. The logo of Camel was prepared by the Richmond Lithographic Factory. The new designed brand Camel was expected to become the most favourite package in the cigarette history.

In 1931 Camel was the first cigarette brand packed in a moisture-proof, sealed cellophane outer wrap to preserve freshness. During the World War II the Camel cigarettes were brought by the American soldiers to Europe.

In 1958 the producer decided to innovate the design of the package and to move the pyramids away from the title picture. This decision was highly rejected by the Camel smokers. After this step the brand design of the Camel has never been tried to be changed anymore and has remained same for 88 years. Only the new product lines later became partly different design, but the major motive of the camel, palms and pyramids remained unchanged.

This is the very interesting and important moment from the design and marketing aspect. Usually the firms are making innovations to refresh the market with the new ideas, which hopefully should bring higher turnover. Camel didn′t make this step and despite remained one of the main and the most stable components of the American cigarette market.
In the next decades Camel expanded its product line and brought to the market in 1969 Camel Filters, in 1979 it was Camel Mild, in 1983 Camel Light and in 1985 Camel Filters 100. All these products joined the corporate design of the former Camel and became the important part of the cigarette market.

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