Why Marlboro' Ice blast cigarette sells so well? 🚬
Welcome to the 84th edition of the GrowthX Newsletter. Every Tuesday & Thursday I write a piece on startups & business growth. Today’s piece is going to 94,400+ operators & leaders from startups like Google, Stripe, Swiggy, Razorpay, CRED & more
2015 : Marlboro gave away free samples of Ice Blast 🧊
2022: Ice blast has changed the cigarette industry 💰
Here's how Marlboro Ice blast sells so well ⬇️
Quick context 🗓
Back in 2015, Marlboro used to do extensive sampling of it's then newer variant of the cigarette "Ice blast". I wondered at first on why it's doing so?
Fast forward to 2022 ✨
Go to a pan shop, and ask them what are the top 3 cigarette variants sold in last few years. They will most probably mention the Ice Blast variant to you.
Cigarette is addictive 🚬
Once you are into it, it’s hard to go back. But, the whole space is highly controlled by different government policies especially on how the product is marketed.
Here are the lessons to be learned from Ice blast ⬇️
First, it focused on product innovation.
Ice blast inside a cigarette was novelty when it launched. Thinking about a differentiation in the product on flavour especially with cigarette, that challenged the school of thought that cigarette is a commodity product.
Second, it understood the adoption behaviour.
Every product trial needs to solve for adoption. Once the product gets the user a "feel good" state, it solves for repeat purchase behaviour.
Third, the premium wrapper with pricing.
Ice burst for most brands is sold at atleast 2X the normal pricing. That's crazy if you think about it. The product experience with ice blast is huge delta over conventional cigarette.
The lesson to be learned 💡
Are you in a commodity business? What are some of the changes in product that you could do to change the user behaviour & dictate pricing. Most of those changes would come from thinking differently about your product & solving for user adoption like anything.
That's all for now ✨
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P.S. In no way this post promotes tobacco consumption. Please refrain from this addiction. We only want to take the business learnings from it. I personally have never ever touched a cigarette for consumption.
I feel the "why" is not articulated well. What is so special in "Ice Blast" (assuming it is menthol flavor) that other cigarettes do not have. What did Marlboro innovate here?