![]() Among the Lucky themes: ''Luckies Use Only Center Leaves -The Center Leaves Give You the Mildest Smoke '' ''With Men Who Know Tobacco Best, It's Luckies 2 to 1.'' Since the tobacco was refined by a cooking process, sales experts hit upon the idea of touting it as ''It's toasted.'' The notion became a famous Lucky slogan, and billboards boasting a toasting fork dotted the country's highways. Lucky Strike was introduced in 1916, borrowing its name from a tobacco brand first used in 1871. To the surprise of the company, a remarkable 98 percent of smokers 35 and older knew the name and an even more amazing 97 percent of the younger set recognized it. The first thing the company did almost two years ago was to determine if people remembered Lucky. Indeed, a key reason why American Tobacco, a unit of American Brands, thinks the new Lucky will be a hit is because the name still rings a lot of bells. ''It's one of the few new brands that have taken off in a while,'' said John Schiro, division general manager of ARA Services, a Binghampton vendor. John Maxwell, an analyst with Lehman Brothers, reckons that viability in the frenzied cigarette industry, congested with some 200 brands, seems to begin at half a percent, which roughly translates into manufacturer revenues of $65 million. Hays, the new brand has captured more than half a percent of the market in many cities and a full percent in some. ''We want to know that what we're doing is working,'' explained Thomas Hays, executive vice president of American Tobacco, which also makes Pall Mall, Carlton and Tareyton brands.Īccording to Mr. When it recently wended its way to New York and Detroit, its penetration had only reached 40 percent of the country. The cigarette was first tested in Binghamton, N.Y., and Spokane, Wash., last November. Lucky, however, has been striking at a cautious pace. Billboards are steadily cropping up across the nation heralding the rebirth: ''Lucky Strikes Again.'' ![]() In the world of consumer marketing, however, it is believed that a good name ought never die, and so the American Tobacco Company, which makes Lucky Strike, is betting what it calls ''big bucks'' that it can bring the magic back with a new low-tar filtered rendition. Strangled by filter products, the cigarette that in 1931 controlled 39 percent of the market now clings tenuously to a dwindling eight-tenths of 1 percent. A chart of its market share over the last three decades would show a line heading straight down. ''Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco.''īy now, Lucky Strike has sold more than a trillion ''sticks,'' but like an aging movie star whose best roles are only memories, the brand faded from the limelight decades ago. Who can forget its sponsorship of ''Your Hit Parade,'' or that catchy string of letters - L.S./M.F.T. ![]() ![]() For people now in their 20's and 30's, this was often the brand their fathers and mothers smoked. With great hoopla, it made the big move over ''The Hump,'' as its nemesis, Camel, was known, during the 1930's. It was the best-selling cigarette in America. ![]()
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