BENSON & HEDGES

BBA(HON
S)
6th A

2016
 CONTENT
Introduction.
History
Origin
Market..
Market Positioning.
In Popular Culture .
Sport Sponsorship.
Production
Advertising..
Role of Celebrities
Packaging.
Scope
Downfall Time
Suggestions
 INTRODUCTION
Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by either Philip Morris
International, British American Tobacco, or Japan Tobacco, depending on region. In the
UK, they are registered in Old Bond Street in London, and are manufactured in
Lisnafillan, Ballymena, Northern Ireland. They are predominantly made from Virginia
tobacco In some countries where Philip Morris does not hold the Benson & Hedges
trademark, such as the Philippines, a variant of the North American Benson & Hedges
cigarette brand is sold under the "Philip Morris" brand using similar packaging.
 HISTORY

Benson & hedges is a UK based company which produces a range of cigarettes.

They have been running since 1873.
It began when Richard Benson and William hedges set up a tobacco store at 13
Old Bond Street in London.
Richard and William wanted their products to be a luxury and affordable brand
for their customers. They sold their cigarettes in gold tins as 'The Prince of Wales
Mixture'
In 1883 The Prince of Wales relieved a parcel of Egyptian tobacco. He
immediately asked Benson and hedges to create bespoke cigarette based of the
Egyptian blend. The result was ' Cairo Trademark'
From then on Benson and Hedges and constantly been coming up with more and
more exciting new ideas to make them stand out from other competitors.

ORIGIN

Benson and Hedges, who started their tobacco business in London, England,
began to expand overseas with the opening of a branch in New York City in
1899. Their factory was established at 32, West 18th Street, and they also had a
retail location near the corner of 5th Avenue and 39th Street from 1906 to 1950.
During this period, Benson and Hedges specialized in making premium cigarettes
using various blends of tobacco from around the world. A particularly unique
creation of theirs from this period was Parliament cigarettes, a brand which
featured a recessed filter mouthpiece, which is still made today.
In 1928, the parent company sold their American subsidiary to a group of
American interests (among whom included Hitt, Farwell & Company, and the
Murray Hill Trust Company). The next major change came in 1954, when Benson
and Hedges U.S.A. was bought by and merged with Philip Morris. Philip Morris
has kept the Benson and Hedges name alive over the succeeding years; it is
credited with starting the 100 millimeter cigarette craze when Benson and
Hedges 100's were introduced with a unique ad campaign in 1966 ("Oh, the
disadvantages of the new Benson and Hedges").
 MARKET
The cigarettes are available in Gold or Silver forms, and in some countries also as
Red, Green (Menthol), Blue, White and Black. Japan Tobacco also
manufactures Hamlet cigars.

UK MARKET
In the late 1970s, the company's products were advertised in a series of
posters and cinema films which featured the gold pack in various surreal
juxtapositions and transformations, devoid of words and people. In 2001,
brand packaging was changed from Special Filter to Gold, and a Silver
version was introduced, with reduced tar content and 0.1 mg less nicotine,
at a slightly cheaper price. In 2008, a 14 cigarette pack was launched,
alongside existing 10 and 20 packs. In July 2009, a Gold and Silver
versions of rolling tobacco were launched. As of June 2011, the company's
UK brands were Gold, Silver, White and Gold Super kings, and rolling
tobacco. Discontinued former brands in the UK have included: Sovereign,
Gold Bond, Virginia Red, Virginia Blue, and Black.
In October 2012, a "Dual" (dual-flavor) cigarette was introduced, with a
user-pop able menthol capsule inside the filter. If the capsule is burst, the
cigarette flavor is altered from plain to mentholated tobacco.

OVERSEAS MARKETS
In the 1930s, Benson & Hedges (Overseas) Ltd was established by
Abraham Wix to handle overseas trade. This branch was acquired
by British American Tobacco in 1956. Today, British American Tobacco
markets Benson & Hedges throughout Asia and the Pacific, including
Australia and New Zealand, but with the exception of Taiwan and
the Philippines. The Canadian branch of Benson and Hedges is owned by
Philip Morris International. In Australia, the company's cigarettes are
available in the following variations: Classic, Rich, Smooth, Subtle, Fine
and Ultimate, in the standard Australian plain packaging for cigarettes. In
Canada, a popular brand is "Belmonts", manufactured by B&H in Quebec
City. The United States version of the cigarette, acquired by Philip
Morris in 1954, is credited with starting the 1960s 100 mm craze. In 1967,
the fledgling and soon to be famous advertising agency of Wells, Rich,
Greene introduced the longer cigarette with a Clio award winning
 advertising campaign (Benson & Hedges 100, Television/Cinema, Best,
1967) based on the "disadvantages" of the Benson & Hedges 100s. In the
United States, several varieties of Benson & Hedges are available,
including:
Beson & Hedges Menthol Box
Benson & Hedges Multifilter Kings Soft
Benson & Hedges 100's - Soft, Box
Benson & Hedges 100's Menthol - Soft, Box
Benson & Hedges 100's DeLuxe Box
Benson & Hedges 100's DeLuxe Menthol Box
Benson & Hedges 100's Luxury - Soft, Box
Benson & Hedges 100's Luxury Menthol - Soft, Box
Benson & Hedges Kings Box

MARKET POSITIONING

Benson and Hedges have a specific position in the market for last century

In international market benson and hedges is at 4th leading selling brand

It the 3rd most expensive brand of the world

In pakistan benson and hedges is at 3 most selling smoking brand. It came after
Marlboro and Goldleaf respectively.

In international market the leading brand is marlboro ,cammel , wills gold flake

due to its leading position in the international it has to take decisions that has to
cover the whole international market.
 IN POPULAR CULTURE
Oasis members Noel and Liam Gallagher smoked Benson and Hedges during the 1990s,
with Noel naming his two cats "Benson" and "Hedges". Oasis released a collection of
their singles up until their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? The singles
were sold in a special box shaped and colored like Benson & Hedges cigarette packets.
British indie band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine referenced the brand in the
song "England", from their 1992 album 1992 The Love Album, with the lyrics: "I've
been GBH'd and ABH'd for a packet of B&H."
In the film Mike Bassett: England Manager, Bassett (played by Ricky Tomlinson) writes
down his squad for a match against Belgium on a packet of Benson and Hedges; his PA
unwittingly includes two players with the surnames Benson and Hedges to the squad.
A major character in David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest, Avril Incandeza, smokes
Benson and Hedges.
Twins in New Zealand were named "Benson" and "Hedges" after the brand and were
cited by a New Zealand judge amongst a list of inappropriate children's names,
alongside names like "Fish and Chips", and "Black child" or "nigger".
"Benson Hedges" is the second track on the album Aim and Ignite from the New York
power pop band Fun.
Benson Hedges is the name of the wedding planner played by Peter Dinklage in
the Michael Showalter film The Baxter.[10]
The brand was President Sukarno of Indonesia's choice of cigarette.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana smoked Benson & Hedges Ultra Light Menthols as well as
Winston Lights 100s.
Ian Curtis of the influential post-punk band Joy Division was an avid smoker of Benson
& Hedges, and there are many photographs of him smoking his favorite brand.
In 2013 The Welsh Language Drama People of the valley Change Sponsor in 2013
Because Replaced Mevius (previously Mild Seven).
Sport Sponsorships
Australia
Throughout the 1980s the company was a major sponsor of
international cricket, with naming rights for most of the international
tournaments including the World Series Cup and the World Championship
of Cricket. Benson & Hedges also sponsored Tony Longhurst's team in
the 1980s and early 1990s in Australian Touring Car racing. All
sponsorships ceased when 1996 federal government legislation
banned tobacco advertising at sporting events.
Canada
The company sponsored fireworks competitions
in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia,
until tobacco advertising laws passed by the Government of Canada came
into force in 2000.
Malaysia
Benson & Hedges sponsored the movie B&H Golden Dreams (next B&H
Gold & Dreams) and B&H Golden Dreams Extreme on TV3 in the 1990s.
United States
Benson & Hedges sponsored a touring ice show, "Benson & Hedges on
Ice," in the late 1980s. Debi Thomas made her professional debut with
that show.
Damon Hill driving for Jordan Grand Prix at the 1999 British Grand Prix.
Notice the alternative livery used
Global
From 1996 to 2005, the company was the primary sponsor of the Jordan
Grand Prix team. When racing in countries with bans on tobacco
advertising (such as Great Britain, France and later Germany), the team
used alternative liveries (such as "Bitten & Hisses" or "Buzzin & Hornets"
to bypass the bans on cigarette advertising while still promoting their
product.
 PRODUCTION
Benson and Hedges get their tobacco from South America, Europe and
Africa.
Because their tobacco seed are so small they are first sown in polystyrene
beds.
7 weeks after that the seeding are transplanted into the field by hands and
by machines. It then takes 5 months for the germination process.
There are different levels on the plant leaves that have a variation of
nicotine and sugars in them.
These are picked and cured and packed so that later in the factory they can
be mixed by B&H standards.
After harvesting the tobacco is then cured. The curing process can take 4-7
days. Curing has to be constantly monitored and controlled. Heat and
Humidity are used to remove the moisture from the leaf.
The Drying process is next to get the orange color of tobacco
Before exported, Virgin tobacco is threshed to separate the leaves from the
stem. This leaves small piece of tobacco suitable for production.

PRODUCTION LINE EXTENSTIONS

B&H Silver

B&H Soft

B&H Hard

B&H Royal

B&H Mint

B&H Gold
SECTOR AND COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Japan Tobacco Inc.
Market Value and Forecast
Market Share
Market Distribution
Competitors - British American Tobacco PLC, Imperial Tobacco
Group PLC, Philip Morris International Inc., Reynolds American
Inc.

MULTI-CHANNEL RETAILING
Benson and Hedges do use multi-channel retailing however it isnt a
main focus in their strategy and there is still room for a lot of
improvement to be made.
Benson and Hedges do have an online website. However
before anyone can fully access the website it asks for
personal details. There is also a capuche in the form to
confirm that the user accessing the account is real.
On their website there is only information about the product,
things such as the history and the production of the
cigarettes.
There is nowhere on the website where the user can
physically order the product from. This could be an area of
improvement for Benson and Hedges
People can use shopping retailer sites such as Tesco and
Adsa on order the cigarettes online.
 ADVERTISING

PHILIP MORRIS U.S.A. is seeking to reverse the flagging fortunes of Benson & Hedges,
its second-largest-selling cigarette behind Marlboro, with an ambitious, even audacious,
effort to switch smokers to a shorter version of the 100-millimeter brand.

The company is introducing Benson & Hedges Special Kings, a cigarette that like about
75 percent of those sold in America will come in the standard 85-millimeter length. An
extensive and expensive advertising and promotion campaign is about to begin in New
York and will then proceed nationwide.

Benson & Hedges pioneered the 100-millimeter cigarette in 1966 -- remember ads
poking fun at the "disadvantages" of longer cigarettes like catching them in elevator
doors? And it remains first among such products, with annual retail sales around $1.4
billion, having outlasted ridiculous rivals like Liggett & Myers's "silly millimeter longer"
brand, Chesterfield 101.

Yet in recent years, Benson & Hedges market share has sagged; it fell 11.1 percent in
1991 from 1990, to eighth place, or 3.2 percent of the estimated $45 billion cigarette
market, from seventh place, or 3.6 percent.

To bring out Benson & Hedges Special Kings, Philip Morris will spend so lavishly on a
campaign by Leo Burnett U.S.A. that between now and the end of the year the brand will
become the nation's second-most-advertised cigarette after Marlboro. In magazines
alone, print advertisements, replete with the brand's longtime luxury imagery -- "In
short, America's premium cigarette" is the punny pitch -- will run from one to seven
times in 58 publications ranging from Genre, for gay men, to Playboy, for straight men,
to Esquire, for men who would rather read Norman Mailer than think about sex.

For competitive reasons Philip Morris declined to discuss the budget, but estimates
ranged from $20 million to $25 million -- or roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of
what the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company spent all of last year to advertise Camel
cigarettes.

The budget is that huge for a reason. Even a crafty marketer like Philip Morris -- which
has sold brands like Virginia Slims to smokers who did not even know they wanted these
cigarettes until they started buying them -- will find itself sorely tested as it confronts
one of marketing's most challenging tasks: to persuade consumers to transfer their
ingrained loyalties to a different, albeit related, product.

For instance, Tab, the Coca-Cola Company's initial foray in the diet market, never
managed to capitalize on the affection that consumers felt for Coca-Cola. Only in 1982,
when Diet Coke came out, did the soft-drink giant's diet sales soar.

And though the Miller Brewing Company built Miller Lite into the No. 1 light beer, it
paid a high price, suffering staggering volume losses for its flagship brand, Miller High
Life.

Still, Philip Morris must make the attempt, said David E. R. Dangoor, senior vice
president of marketing at Philip Morris U.S.A., in a frank discussion of his strategies at
the corporate headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

In the 100-millimeter market segment, he said, Benson & Hedges "is fighting a no-win
game."

The reason, he said, was that many smokers buy 100-millimeter cigarettes to save
money -- more cigarettes for the same price as 85-millimeter smokes. So the availability
of lower-priced brands like Doral, Montclair and Sterling in 100-millimeter lengths has
weakened Benson & Hedges.

"The segment where Benson & Hedges is competing is the very segment so susceptible
to low-price cigarettes," Mr. Dangoor said.

"It is the price-conscious, older person, most likely female, who buys value cigarettes,"
he added, using the marketing term for lower-priced brands, "and 100's are the ultimate
value."

"No matter how brilliant youre advertising," he continued, "you will not sell Benson &
Hedges in a segment where people can buy other 100's at half the price."

Emanuel Goldman, the tobacco industry analyst at Paine Webber in San Francisco,
expressed surprise at Mr. Dangoor's remarks.

"That's a really, really interesting point," he said. "Nobody has come up with that."
In that case, he added, "it makes sense to put Benson & Hedges in the 85-millimeter
segment," even if Philip Morris executives "don't really know if it'll work until they put it
in the marketplace."

Mr. Dangoor said that in pondering how to revive Benson & Hedges, Philip Morris never
considered revamping ads for the 100-millimeter version, which carry the theme "For
people who like to smoke," even though it had moved the brand's account to Burnett
from Wells Rich Greene BDDP in New York.

"You can't change advertising on an existing brand," he asserted. "It's stupidity."

That is particularly true for a brand with declining market share, he said, adding,
"Changing campaigns, you go deeper and deeper down the hole."

Rather, he continued, the rationale at Philip Morris and Burnett was that "if you want to
change your message, put it on something new."

So the brand's new 85-millimeter version, in regular and menthol flavors and full- and
low-tar styles, will carry the Benson & Hedges banner, as it were. The 100-millimeter
version will get what Jim Oates, chairman of Leo Burnett U.S.A. in Chicago, called
"some intermittent" advertising, bolstered by promotions like mail-in offers for a
"Signature Collection" of merchandise.

Nonetheless, he added, "don't get the feeling we're abandoning the 100's. We want to
stabilize the 100's as much as possible, and build incremental volume through
introducing the brand into the new segment."

That made sense to John McMillan, a tobacco and food analyst at Prudential Securities
in New York.

"Line extensions have been a way of life in the tobacco industry," he said, using the
marketing term for what the 85-millimeter progeny is to its 100-millimeter parent.
 ROLE OF CELEBIRITIES

Michael Jackson was the key celebrity that was ever shown in Benson Hedges
commercials.
Other celebrities are George Cole 1971
Cyprus with peter seller 1972
Spike Milligan in 1973
These were celebrities that play an important role in promotion and expansion of
B&H sales and increase its popularity among the common people after the
removal if royals Tag.

PACKAGING

It introduce it cigarettes as a pack of 10 cigarettes

Its packaging was lavishing and showing the standard of elite class.
At the beginning its hold the tag of royal stamp and latter it was removed and tag of
British tobacco company
And in late 1960s tag line of Smoking kills was also written on it .

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

Following are the major success factors

Quality
143 years of experience
Unmatchable taste and texture
Trust
Loyalty
 SCOPE

It has a bright future and if we look at the increasing no customers of Benson and hedges
People are moving towards hard flavor of cigarettes and Benson have a most hard flavor
Its taste attracting people to it words
Now a days brand is a attractive issue so people who running or moving towards brands
and standard so it is well known brand
So it have a bitter scope in next few years

DOWNFALL TIME

From 1885 to 1887 that was a downfall time of B&H because Richard Benson died in
1885 and William Hedge left the business was new to the business that as a hard era for
him but latter he settle down and made the B&H the leading brand of British America
In 1973 as the promotion of smoking brand was banned in world and Japan Tobacco
Company sued B&H for the high percentage of nicotine then the normal average
percentage and was cursed as the main smoking brand the cause cancer.
During this era sale of B&H decreased to 10% of its annual sale and late 1970s B&H
regain its market position by launching much lighter product and make it acceptable by
the international health organization
 SUGGESTIONS

Benson & Hedges should provide its whole information to its customers because
customer should know what they are purchasing.
They should increase the availability of their product at all possible positions and
locations.
Benson & Hedges should improve their design of packaging Because they havent
modified there design for last few years.