Limited Edition premium vices come to Japanese cigarettes

Written by: Michael Keferl on October 11, 2007 at 5:34 am | In 02 Marketing & Ad Trends |

Taxes are an interesting thing. Like most restrictions on free trade, they end up encouraging creative ways to innovate while complying. The large beer tax in Japan gave way to Happoshu, a cheap substitute that creatively skirted the law by not technically being “beer”. In response, high-priced beer brands decided to innovate and go the premium route, and have been extremely successful doing so.

Tobacco is no different. As taxes increased in the last year by about twenty cents, many people are deciding (to their credit) to quit or cut down. Now tobacco companies are going the premium route that beer has taken, creating better blends, sharper packaging, and premium-quality giveaways.

Seven Stars has taken the popular side-slide box from the Alphabet series of cigarettes, and put out a limited-edition package that looks quite nice compared to their usual bland fare.

Peace, another typically bland brand, has gone all-out and created a popular premium blend that stands in stark contrast to the standard Peace. Including a stylish booklet and lighter, the Peace Infinity aim to stand out by being longer and modifying the filter with textured paper and an interesting “aft filter” that looks cool, but may not actually do anything. Who knows. The Infinities go for ¥350 a pack compared to ¥300 for regular Japanese smokes.

The Parliament Platinum premium tobacco’s highlight is the flashy box, quality cut, and (most of all) the cool lighter that comes with each box. These are ¥500 per package, which makes them the most expensive we’ve seen so far. However, they’re constantly sold out when we look around, and seem to be quite popular (I have no data on this).

The point isn’t that these are “cool” or that they’re necessarily better (stay away kids!), but that more restrictions lead to innovations in many ways. While not made available in mass quantities, these offerings also boost the core brands and give them a modern edge, just as Suntory Premium Malts has done for the standard (and not so delicious) Suntory beer.