Godfrey Phillips To Reposition Four Square

Cigarette maker Godfrey Phillips India has decided that one of the four red squares of its flagship brand, 'Four Square', will vanish in its latest advertisements. In a move to reposition it as a brand which is "smooth and meant for the intelligent", the four squares will appear with tapered corners with "the man with a smooth edge".

The four squares have for long been a symbol of "live life kingsize" for the tough guy. They had a 'strong-brand-for-the-tough-man' image.

"But the brand has lost much of its charms during the past decade primarily because of the active marketing of leading brands Wills and Gold Flake by ITC. Ask any smoker today about Four Square, he will probably tell you it is a strong cigarette, while actually it is not. It is, instead, as good as any of its competitors," an executive with the company said.

Godfrey Phillips India is a joint venture between the KK Modi group and world's largest cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris of the US.

"We thought there is a need to reposition the brand. We hired advertising firm Rediffusion-DY&R to design the new campaign. Dentsu of Japan, the world's fourth largest advertising agency and one of the promoters of Rediffusion-DY&R, was asked to design the new cigarette kiosks for our brands. Several of these stylish kiosks will be seen in the top cities of the country soon," the executive said.

The Modis have also signed up a new technology agreement with Phillip Morris, as the old one expired on September 30, 2000. The new pact focuses on upgrading the quality.

Godfrey Phillips, which used to be a dominant player in the domestic cigarette industry more than a decade ago, now wants to regain much of the market share it has lost to ITC, the official said.

The company expects the filter cigarette segment to grow up to 95 per cent of the cigarette industry compared with the present 65 per cent.

At the same time, the average tar yields in filter cigarettes are expected to trend downwards towards the range of 6-11 mg compared with the existing average of 12-17 mg for filter cigarettes.

The company executive said 50 per cent of the cigarette industry was expected to maintain tar yeilds below 10 mg by 2008.

"We target a 12 per cent share of the lower tar yield segment over seven years. This will make us competitive against imported products. We would also tap the international market with our brands," the sources said.