1. Ronson: British Connection How to find an appealing and effective positioning on a price-oriented market 1/5/11 www.idealisti.eu 1 Case study

2. 1/5/11 www.idealisti.eu 2 Co-creating Ronson positioning with the local consumers Challenge Cigarette market is undergoing constant change, mainly due to the changing legislation and tax regulation which both are very restrictive towards tobacco industry. It is limited not only by marketing communication restrictions but also by price issues. These issues gave rise to the massive “economy” segment which today is vital for creating market share and sales volume. Premium brands remain relatively stable, however, the mid-price players have a much harder time justifying their price premium against cheaper brands. This is changing the economy segment from within: for consumers, price is no more the single sufficient distinctive feature of brands in this segment; they demand more sophisticated brand propositions, formerly reserved for the upper segment. Ronson is one of the economy brands from JTI. Its brand DNA clearly define it as “British”. JTI wanted to see just to what extent is this proposition attractive and differentiating for the consumers. What does the “Britisheness” and London mean for the local consumers? Does the new positioning have the potential to extend current target group? How can the consumers use the self-expressive benefits of the brand identity? Continued on the next page >

3. 1/5/11 www.idealisti.eu 3 Solution We designed the project as a combination of exploratory and creative approaches done in collaboration with consumers themselves. At first it was vital to understand what “Britishness” meant in the minds of local consumers. For this, we used semantic analysis of news sources and pop-culture texts where we wanted to learn in just what contexts and collocations the idea of Britishness lives. Next, the consumers involved in the research/creative group panel had to come up with online collages expressing these nuances of Britishness visually (through Glogster). Last but not least, creative workshops with consumers were held where final positioning concepts were crafted. Also, the representations of “Britishness” from the early stage of the research where discussed in the groups. The Result The research delivered a comprehensive map of perceived Britishness in the minds of the Czech cigarette smokers. It identified three levels /clusters of associations “Britishness” doesn’t mean British Queen and flag only in consumers’ minds. It has many more cultural meanings on a deeper level. Continued on the next page >

4. 1/5/11 www.idealisti.eu 4 that were the most salient: British symbols, British values, and British “feelings”. These were further elaborated into communication concepts and a process was designed to transform the Ronson brand into a more culturally relevant symbol of Britishness. The result was not only a new positioning but also a detailed roadmap for the development of a communication strategy. Also, we delivered specific creative guidelines for internal and external treatment of the brand. About Idealisti Today's ideas will become tomorrow's world Not only we (still) have ideals but also we believe that most of what we experience today and what makes up our world has been here yesterday in a form of an idea. We believe in the transformative power of thoughts (in the form of brands, for example), in their power to move also very material and sometimes heavy things like pianos, buildings, cars, jars of face care lotions or even people. We help create and steer brands – ideas which have the ability to animate organizations, infuse consumption with meaning and bring about good things to life. We always do it in dialogue with those in charge of brands (which is just about anyone who has ever heard of the brand) and with the notion that all the ideas-brands will have to compete for their existence in the free arena.