RJR launched Premier cigarettes as a healthier alternative that produced less smoke but consumers did not like the unusual taste and difficulty of smoking them. RJR then spent $200 million developing Eclipse, a smokeless cigarette introduced in 1996. Eclipse produced little sidestream smoke and was tested successfully in multiple markets but ultimately failed to gain widespread consumer acceptance due to complaints about the unusual taste and difficulty of use. RJR then licensed the Eclipse technology internationally under different brand names but with limited success overall.

1. RJR’S Eclipse
Rising from Premier Ashes

2. Group Members
Aliza
Mehmood
Hafiz Wajid
Ali
Hira
Farooq
Gohar
Shaheen
Madiha Ali
Maryam
Bashir

3. Premier Cigarette

4. A cigarette that would satisfy smokers without
threatening their health or irritating others around
them.

5. Target
market
Sophisticated
Upscale
Urban
Educated
Older(over-25)smokers

6. Premier Composition
• Complex product to make and to use.

7. Product

8. Price
• Due to complexity and development cost RJR
priced it about 25 to 30 cents more per pack
(about 25%)than other name brand cigarettes.

9. Place
•
•
•
•
•
The company introduced the brand in
Phoenix and Tucson
Arizona
St.louis
Missouri

10. Promotion
RJR launched an expensive campaign.
Premier ads contain lots of copy and “just the
facts”.
They used the Tag line ,”The Cleaner Smoke”.
Encouraged smokers to try Premier for one
week.
Sales promotions offered two or more packs for
the price of one.

11. Tag Line

12. Premier Qualities
Cigarette did not burn like a traditional
cigarette.
Cigarette did not emit any “side-stream” smoke.
Packages carried instruction booklets that
described the cigarette and explained how to
light it properly.

13. Premium’s Failure
Smokers didn’t buy it.
They did not like the taste.
They disliked the difficulty they had in lighting
and smoking the Cigarettes.
Rather than sticking with premier for a week,
smokers decided quickly against the brand.
After only 5 months consumers complaints that
it smelled like burning lettuce and smoldering
tennis shoes.

14. Eclipse

15. Eclipse
• Despite premier’s costly failure , continued to
pursue its dream.
• They spent $200 million on research and
development to produce a better smokeless
cigarette.
• As secondhand smoke became a issue so in 1995
Company announced to introduce a new version
called “Eclipse”.

16. Target Market
Adult smokers(over 35)
People who want to enjoy smoking but
who’d rather not smell like a smoker.
People who didn’t want to expose friends
and relatives to secondhand smoke.

17. Target Share
• It would capture a 2% share of nations 46
million smokers.
• RJR’s top brand Camel had just a 5% share.
• Virginia Slims , a strong Philip Morris brand had
a 2.4% share.

18. Eclipse Composition

19. Eclipse Qualities
• Cigarette does not burn down.
• The tobacco taste simply goes away once the hot
air has burn down its work.
• The smoker inhales and exhales smoke, but
upon exhaling smoke quickly disappears.
• It produces little side steam smoke.

20. First Test Market Result
Reynolds tested the cigarette in 20 states
involving 12,000 smokers.
It claimed that Eclipse scored well with smokers
and their non smoking friends.80% of both
groups say that it was a breakthrough.
Many smokers said that taste was as good as
regular cigarettes.
Smokers said that it was reasonable trade off
because it was about 90% less secondhand
smoke than standard cigarettes.

21. Cont..
In mid -1996 Eclipse entered in the
Chattanooga,tennesse where the smokers were
under societal pressure because of secondhand
smoke.
The company mailed smokers a 15-minute video
in which a female smoker told the Eclipse’s
advantages.
Reynolds offered a free carton of Eclipse to the
discovery group of 50-100 people.

22. Eclipse

23. Price
• RJR Eclipse 10% per pack above the price of
Premium brands.

24. Promotion
• Eclipse spends about $110,000 on measured
media in Chattanooga.
• Ads showed a steaming teakettle with the copy
“imagine a cigarette that smells like this”.
• Later the ad copy contained lines such as “The
smoke disappears .Your girlfriend doesn't.”

25. Second Test market
• In mid-1997 , Reynaldo's added a test market in
Lincoln , Nebraska.

26. Price
• RJR priced Eclipse comparably to other
premium brands.

27. Place
• RJR limited distribution to about half of the
tobacco sellers in Lincoln because the product
required explanation.

28. Promotion
Newspaper ad showed a lone smoker
at a table of friends with the taglines:
“Smoke that disappears .Taste that
doesn’t.”
“Less secondhand smoke .More
firsthand pleasure.”

29. Cont...
Billboards encouraged consumers:
“ Enjoy smoking without smelling like smoke”.
“Smoke on your couch, not on your porch”.
“Smell like your cologne .Not your Cigarettes.

30. Results
• In 1998 RJR announced that Cigarette do not
meet expectations.
• Some Consumers liked Eclipse flavor and others
panned taste .
• Consumers complained that it was so difficult to
light the Cigarette.

31. International Market
• RJR tested the brand in Germany with the name
HI-Q .
• RJR licensed the technology in Japan and
Sweden to the Reduced-smoke cigarette tobacco
companies .
• In Japan the cigarettes were called “Airs”.
• In Sweden the cigarettes were called “Inside”.