New Njoy film short.

[Racehorse]

As predicted, vaping is going to be a multi-billion dollar industry. Geoff comes out of Saachi & Saachi, one of largest American global communications and advertising agency network with 140 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff.

They were hired to fix the "image problem" that ecigarettes has.

They did the "walmart as underdog" ad with the tennis balls and puppies, you know, Walmart isn't Goliath, it's actually David ...the point was to forge different emotional ties with shoppers so that they'd see Walmart in a different light.

These people are marketing strategists. No different than political strategists. Hired guns.

As an example, I worked in a telecom company that was filled with ex WorldCom CEOs. Retreads, so to speak. The new company wasn't Worldcom. yeah right. I won't tell the rest of the story.

The name of the game is reinventing yourself, and hiring strategists to do it is a common thing.

So, NJOY isn't BT. err.......Right? (Roy Anise, NJOY’s executive VP of Sales, came directly from Philip Morris, who's parent is Altria. He worked in Big Tobacco for 24 years. )

Sure, it's good for vaping----I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just commenting on the *process* that I see. I just don't hear heavenly music and see flowers and puppies, like the NJOY commercial wanted me to. (and I doubt I will open my wallet because of it)/.

I'm sorry, I am a tough customer, I am not easily manipulated. I've spent a lifetime watching marketers trying to make PURELY EMOTIONAL connections to win the marketplace....to re-frame and re-invent.

BTW, the guy interviewed, he vapes.....since February. Or at least, on camera.

I expect the vaping industry to continue on it's "too cool for you" trajectory, with Mr. Vuleta continuing to attend Rolling Stones concerts brandishing his newly found e-cig, etc.

Who was that guy who did this for the tobacco industry....oh yea, the Marlboro Man.


What I did find interesting is that they have attracted investment from Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder. Maybe we could ask Mr. Theil if he has any pull with allowing Paypal purchases for ecigs........since several vape vendors have almost been put out of business by not being allowed to take payments that way. I know they tried to shut down REO and not sure what happened with all that.

Yes, BT and Paypal, our "friends".

Hey, if its good for vaping, I'm all for it. This is why I never bought into the paranoia that vaping would be banished from the earth, not when I saw how much $$$ was pouring in. Big global companies don't invest in stuff that is going to "go away" shortly.

It's just hard to know who, and what to believe anymore.


One thing I do know for sure........all of these people will be billionaires by the end of the decade, whether they really believe in "vaping" or not.

 

[stevegmu]

The commercial was Apple-esque. Is that the same firm who does the Apple commercials?

 

[Racehorse]

I'm just being semi humorous...... you know, the whole idea of Oscar night swag bags overflowing with ecigs, and vendors posing with celebritries---I remember the MBA *Dream Teams* of start-ups during the boom of the 1990s.... except now they have additional degrees in psychology and philosophy, and a sophistication that makes those earlier teams look like soggy breakfast cereal.

Gone are the days when an entrepreneur can create an operating system in their gargage,.....now you need mega marketing teams, forecasters, integration specialists, financial planners, mobile communications marketers, etc. to insert you into the global marketplace. Without high-level strategizing, you just remain the guy with the idea who never makes it out of your parent's basement, or a small player in a cottage industry.

A lot has changed in 20 years.

Is that the same firm who does the Apple commercials?

I dunno. This is pretty slick........
Private Lives: Geoff Vuleta | Felix Magazine

did Steve Jobs pose against these backgrounds? No....Mostly just black or blue backgrounds with the apple logo somewhere. . Can't piccture somebody like Sheueling Chang of Sun Microsystems etc. being all that into that particular kind of glamour. they are geeks, mathematicians, engineers, etc.

No, not Apple, but Farenheit 212 had these among their clients (where Vuleta was before NJOY)
Pfizer
The Carlyle Group
P&G
Goldman Sachs
Capital One
Citi Financial Services
Bain Capital
CharlesSchwab
ViaComm
Time-Warner
GE Capital
Gannet

This is the kind of space we are talking about. It will be regulated and taxed and be turned over to corporations. Because that is the only way the future of ecigs can survive, given what it has to overcome.

That is not enitrely the FDA's fault. This is how big global corporations play in the world today.....many are on the list above. There is no getting around that,.....(unless you naively thought that "Dolly's Vapes" over in missouri somewhere was going to be able to get ecigs into the global marketplace to stay.)

This is why I never understood the paranoia about vaping going away. There is way too much $$ to be made. People who have Goldman Sachs investment bankers on speed dial.

I said 2 years ago that the larger part of the industry would be run by the Big Boys, who will do the "heavy lifting".....(as they already have) and small vendors and mod makers would be relagated to cottage industries (not really different than they are now...but they would never be able to launch this into the Big Space......it takes deep pockets to do that, and deal with regulatory agencies, attorneys, lobby groups, etc. ).

The problem is that movers and shakers have been watching vaping not being able to get out of that small space, and it's going to take the big operations to bring it to market, to rethink and reformulate a whole gloabal consumer consciousness and changing people's perceptions in a space that hasn't traditionally been friendly to something that "looks like smoking".


You need the "Money & Magic" guys.........and this is them.

 

[Nate760]

Gone are the days when an entrepreneur can create an operating system in their gargage,.....now you need mega marketing teams, forecasters, integration specialists, financial planners, mobile communications marketers, etc. to insert you into the global marketplace. Without high-level strategizing, you just remain the guy with the idea who never makes it out of your parent's basement, or a small player in a cottage industry.

This is a great and insightful point. Innovation has become commoditized, which in the end just stifles innovation.

 

[Kent C]

This is a great and insightful point. Innovation has become commoditized, which in the end just stifles innovation.

One would have to get EPA permits to make something in a garage. Might as well just go to the basement and play video games

 

[Nate760]

One would have to get EPA permits to make something in a garage.

Then you have to hire a lawyer to sue the EPA when they deny your permit, and he has to hire an investigator and two expert witnesses.

 

[Racehorse]

One would have to get EPA permits to make something in a garage.

Innovation has become commoditized, which in the end just stifles innovation.

I think everyone wants to find a boogeyman, and based on their politics, it will be a different boogeyman.

Some say that commoditization is inevitable like death and taxes. Everything ends up a toaster. And it sorta does. But society changes, other innovations are happening; somebody markets a thicker bread, and now we need a toaster with larger slots.

There is always room for further innovation, because there is always desire for a better mousetrap.

The problem is more that competing in a global marketplace, things happen at the speed of light, esp. if it's any kind of innovative technology that has the possibility to affect a lot of people. You have to be in position when the opportunity strikes, and then, after some market saturation, a certain amount of commoditization is going to happen. That is the point at which companies start competing on price.

Ecigs were never going to remain in the hands of a small group of hobbyists. Those whose job it is to spot trends are always looking for investments, and few except big corporations have the resources, $$, and investment portfolios to get products out to "the world", as well as deal with laws, regulations and other requirements.

We live in the global marketplace. Look at the past clients of the marketing people NJOY hired. This is the playing field.

That expression “what got you here, won’t get you there" is true.

I just thought the video was interesting because like we've seen w/ Walmart, once something is a commodity, customers fixate on price . If you want to price over that, you have to present a compelling "storyline" (free-trade coffee, gluten free bread, Starbucks can your coffee 50 different ways).

the video clip was getting into that "storyline", so to speak, I thought?

Not good or bad. Just marketing. As you can tell I am not the person marketers make a lot of headway with. That's all.

 

[bigdancehawk]

I wish the parcel distribution technician would hurry up and deliver my vape mail....

Edit: one time I was interviewing for an estimating job, and the guy asked if I had any experience with "value engineering" (a stupid, meaningless appellation that people in my line of work often tack onto their job title to make it sound more sophisticated). I replied "If by 'value engineering' you mean doing correct estimates and not wasting money, yes, I know how to do that."

Does value engineering involve peeling the onion, thinking outside the box, giving 110%, and optimizing your price point?

 

[NorthOfAtlanta]

Does value engineering involve peeling the onion, thinking outside the box, giving 110%, and optimizing your price point?

When I learned that it was called sales.

 

[Uma]

The beginning of the commercial was, to me, very cheesy. I hope they cut it. The artists collection, to me, was applaud able, & I find it strange that the first part has not been discussed, yet the artists have been attacked. IMO, Njoy did a fantastic job of setting the record straight, that flavors and the free market are for adults, not kids. Like a fine wine, opera, museum, or French cuisine.

 

[Nate760]

Does value engineering involve peeling the onion, thinking outside the box, giving 110%, and optimizing your price point?

Yes, and it's also a multifaceted strategy designed to help us compete in the emerging global marketplace.

 

[Racehorse]

TThe artists collection, to me, was applaud able, & I find it strange that the first part has not been discussed, yet the artists have been attacked.

I QUOTED some of the things said in the ad, and thought they were a little over the top.

If that is "attacking" (I thought it was giving an opinion).

I'll give you this: it is sure an improvement over the raunchy video they had with Courtney Love slinging the "F" word.

That was truly an embarassment for many females who vape, who really don't identify with an ex-stripper/erotic dancer and ex-H user, who talks like a sailor. That does not represent female vapers.

 

[smacuser]

That was when they were still misguided.

Then again, Geoff did give the one finger salute to BT in the interview.

Perhaps, this punk rock attitude lends itself to the idea of disruptive technology.

 

[Nate760]

I'll give you this: it is sure an improvement over the raunchy video they had with Courtney Love slinging the "F" word.

If there's one thing I'll miss about that video, it's hearing the ANTZ try to argue that a Courtney Love endorsement constitutes "marketing to children." Because there's nothing the kiddies love more than a 50 year old washed-up former minor rock star.

 

[DC2]

This is easily the most fascinating video I have seen in my entire vaping lifetime, for a number of complex reasons.
What to make of it I'm not yet sure, as I'm still digesting it.

But I think it is a very good sign, and one that I certainly was not expecting.

 

[Bill Godshall]

SmokeyJoe wrote about NJOY

I applaud them for their change in perspective, and am very glad they're firmly in our camp now. Very glad indeed.

Except that NJOY submitted comments to the FDA endorsing most of FDA's proposed deeming regulation, which would ban >99% of all e-cig products (including all PVs and e-liquids) and that would give the e-cig industry to Big Tobacco (and perhaps NJOY).

While I'm pleased that NJOY is now marketing PVs and flavored e-liquids (something I've been urging the Weiss brothers to do since 2010), they wouldn't have endorsed the FDA deeming regulation if they truly desired to obsolete cigarettes.

 

[smacuser]

 

[stevegmu]

NJOY certainly isn't against re-fillables... I think some just lump them in with BT...

 

[DC2]

While I'm pleased that NJOY is now marketing PVs and flavored e-liquids (something I've been urging the Weiss brothers to do since 2010), they wouldn't have endorsed the FDA deeming regulation if they truly desired to obsolete cigarettes.

The Phil Busardo interview linked previously is well worth watching, but this is the one question that unfortunately he did not ask.

 

[Nate760]

NJOY certainly isn't against re-fillables...

Up until about six months ago, they most certainly were.

I think some just lump them in with BT...

They got lumped in with BT because they were sending their lawyers all over the country to argue in favor of bans on all open-system vapor products, just like BT does. When you act like BT, and pursue the same goals as BT using the same strategies as BT, you get lumped in with BT. The fact that they've now chosen to do a complete 180, while a welcome surprise, does not absolve them of criticism for their prior actions, which were deplorable.