Philip Morris’ Deal to Get in Driver’s Seat : To Obtain Auto Race Sponsorship, Tobacco Firm Agrees to Advise Kids Not to Smoke
When Joyce Julius watches sporting events on TV, she rarely pays attention to the action. Instead, she gauges which sponsors have purchased unconventional ad space smack in the eye of the camera--such as logos atop stadium scoreboards or names slapped on race cars.
Next summer, when the first Marlboro Grand Prix of New York roars through the streets of Manhattan, Julius wonders if network TV cameras will pick up billboards that display this unusual message: Philip Morris Doesn’t Want Kids To Smoke.
Last week, New York told Philip Morris that it could sponsor the Marlboro Grand Prix, an Indy-style race that in 1993 will send cars whizzing through the city’s downtown. Before approving the event, city officials insisted that besides the 3,700 billboards Philip Morris plans to rent to promote its Marlboro brand, it must purchase 1,100 billboards that warn children that smoking is no good for them.
If these billboards have Marlboro or Philip Morris logos on them, “that may be the only thing the cameras pick up,” said Julius, whose Ann Arbor firm, Joyce Julius & Associates, compiles sports marketing research and analysis for many companies.
In 1971, the federal government banned all tobacco advertising from television and radio. That made “back-door” advertising the only way for tobacco makers to reach TV viewers. Huge TV audiences watch the car races and tennis matches that they sponsor. Last year, Philip Morris found its way in the back door with TV ads that promoted the Bill of Rights.
Philip Morris won’t reveal what it expects to spend to sponsor and promote the Marlboro Grand Prix. Sports marketers estimate up to $10 million.
Executives at Philip Morris say the anti-smoking billboard ads for the Marlboro Grand Prix have yet to be designed. They are expected to be similar to ads the company has been running in souvenir programs sold at other sporting events it sponsors--such as the Virginia Slims tennis tournament. Those ads feature smiling teens pictured above the headline: Philip Morris Doesn’t Want Kids To Smoke.
At issue is more than advertising. Tobacco companies, which have embraced sports marketing, are concerned about losing one of their best selling tools. Last year, they spent an estimated $134 million to promote sporting events--twice the amount spent just six years ago, according to the Chicago-based International Events Group.
With their presence at baseball games, tennis matches and auto races, tobacco companies not only reach their most likely customers, but they also boost their credibility and familiarity with consumers--particularly youngsters, sports marketing experts say.
“If I’m a 13-year-old kid who’s just thinking about smoking, I will pick whatever is the most familiar brand,” said John O’Shaughnessy, a Columbia University professor.
Perhaps most important, sports marketing allows tobacco companies to get their logos on national television--something they are not allowed to do by purchasing commercial time.
In last year’s NASCAR/Winston Cup racing series, Winston received the equivalent of $15.5 million in TV commercial time, Julius estimated. While cigarette maker R. J. Reynolds is banned from buying TV spots for its Winston brand, it can post its name on cars and signs at the events. During TV coverage of the Winston Cup races, cameras showed the Winston logo--on cars or signs--for over 11 hours. And announcers mentioned the Winston name 2,180 times.
To protect this marketing haven--which has recently come under congressional review--the two biggest tobacco companies, Philip Morris and R. J. Reynolds, have begun to run ads that tell kids to lay off cigarettes. Reynolds has a campaign with headlines that warn: “Smoking Should Not Be a Part of Growing Up.”
But the tobacco giants may be setting an ad precedent that will be hard to shake.
If tobacco sponsors are forced to warn children about smoking’s dangers at New York’s Grand Prix, what about at other sporting events?
While Toyota is the title sponsor of the upcoming Grand Prix of Long Beach, Marlboro is one of the event’s 30 other sponsors. In fact, this April, Marlboro will also run an ad in the Long Beach race’s souvenir program that warns children not to smoke.
Marlboro will place similar ads in programs sold at the New York race. And it has even vowed to hand out anti-smoking literature to children in New York City grammar schools.
“I’ve been in the sports marketing business for 20 years,” said Max Muhleman, president of Muhleman Marketing Inc. of Charlotte, N.C. “And whether Philip Morris’ actions are voluntary or leveraged, I can tell you I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
But one anti-smoking group insists that the Philip Morris campaign is disingenuous. “Trusting Philip Morris to educate our children about the dangers of cigarettes,” said Joseph W. Cherner, president of Manhattan-based SmokeFree Educational Services, “is like trusting the Ku Klux Klan to educate young people about racial harmony.”
Briefly
The Los Angeles agency Fotouhi Alonso has won the advertising business of Reedley, Calif.-based Gerawan Farming, a big grower and shipper of fruits. . . . Santa Monica-based AXCIS Pocket Information Network has selected Irvine-based Wakeman & deForrest as its agency of record. . . . The Venice agency Chiat/Day/Mojo will be hiring as a result of the $4-million ad account it won last week from Carlsbad, Calif.-based Upper Deck basketball cards. . . . Two of San Diego’s largest agencies, Franklin & Associates and ADC Stoorza, have merged to form Franklin Stoorza. . . . The Los Angeles agency Italia & Associates has been renamed Italia/Gal with the addition of Ken Gal, former general manager of Tracy-Locke/LA, as chief executive. . . . Davis & Grimaldi Advertising of Los Angeles has helped produce public service radio spots for Magic Johnson’s upcoming book, “What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS.”. . . Disney Adventures Magazine will publish a Halloween issue with advertisements in 3-D.
Tobacco Companies Turn to Sports Forbidden to advertise on TV or radio, the tobacco firms have increasingly turned to sponorships of high-profile sporting events. Here is how America’s six largest cigarette makers and three largest smokeless tobacco firms have increased their spending on these kind of events. Amount spent on sports marketing (in millions) 1984: $63 ‘85: 70 ‘86: 78 ‘87: 87 ‘88: 96 ‘89: 115 ‘90: 125 ‘91: 134 Source: IEG Sponsorship Report, Chicago
