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Discover which cigarette brands were on top from the 70’s to today.

The cigarette industry has seen some crazy changes in the last 50 years. From the advertising golden age in the 1970s to the super regulated industry of today, cigarette brands have battled hard for market share.

Some brands have faded into obscurity and gone extinct. Others have adapted to survive. And a few lucky ones have even thrived and gotten stronger.

But here’s the thing: cigarette brands have an evolution that most people never knew happened.

What you’ll discover:

• The Golden Age of Cigarette Brand Competition
• Which Cigarette Brands No Longer Exist?
• How the Marketing Wars Changed Brand Evolution
• The Rise of Discount Cigarettes and How They Fell
• Which Cigarette Brands Thrive in the Modern Market?

The Golden Age of Cigarette Brand Competition

Cigarette brands were everywhere in the 1970s and 1980s.

TV commercials like Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man were the norm. Marketing budgets were massive and the level of competition was intense. The big brands like Marlboro, Camel, Winston, and Salem were household names.

But here’s what most people don’t know…

The competition wasn’t just about ads. It was about building long-term brand loyalty that would last decades. If a company could get a new smoker hooked on their brand early, they’d have a loyal customer for life.

During this period, tobacco companies also created dozens of sub-brands and line extensions. Marlboro Lights, Camel Lights, Winston Lights – they all launched in an effort to corner the “health conscious” segment of smokers.

The strategy worked. By the 1990s, just a handful of major brands dominated the market.

Which Cigarette Brands No Longer Exist?

Get ready to be shocked…

Dozens of famous cigarette brands that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s have completely vanished from the face of the earth. Brands that millions of people smoked everyday are now long gone.

Some of the biggest casualties include:

• Belair – A menthol brand discontinued by R.J. Reynolds in the early 2000s
• Raleigh – Known for its coupon program and even brand-themed vehicles, faded away by 2000
• Viceroy – A once-popular mid-market brand that disappeared from most U.S. shelves
• Carlton – The “ultra-light” brand that couldn’t keep up with changing regulations

What happened to all of them?

Most simply disappeared as a result of mergers and acquisitions. When big tobacco companies bought up competitors, they would keep the most profitable brands and axe the rest. Newport gained 17.6% market share from 2014 to 2019 while these older brands were quietly slipping into obscurity.

It’s brutal business. Companies realized that it was more cost effective to pour resources into 3-4 ultra-profitable mega-brands rather than support dozens of smaller ones.

How the Marketing Wars Changed Brand Evolution

The cigarette marketing wars of the 1980s and 1990s were next level.

Every brand needed its own personality. Marlboro was the rugged cowboy. Newport was the cool, no-nonsense menthol brand. Camel was smooth, laid back, and sophisticated.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

These insane marketing battles actually drove brands to innovate and differentiate themselves. Brands created longer cigarettes, different filters, new flavors, and launched foreign blends in a mad dash to stand out.

Brands like Canadian cigarettes and other international brands also played a role in this evolution. These brands often introduced different tobacco blends and manufacturing processes that influenced the trajectory of American cigarette brands.

The competition became so heated that some brands spent more money on marketing than they made in profits. It was all a game of building brand equity that would last for future generations of smokers.

The Rise of Discount Cigarettes and How They Fell

Something unexpected happened in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Cigarette taxes started to climb and premium brands like Marlboro became extremely expensive. Savvy companies saw a huge opportunity and new discount cigarette brands popped up left and right.

The discount revolution included:

• Basic
• GPC
• Doral
• Pyramid

These brands all promised to deliver similar quality at a much lower price. For a time, it looked like they might totally dominate the cigarette market.

But then something unexpected happened…

Discount brands started bleeding market share and people aren’t exactly sure why. Older, mainly white smokers with lower incomes switched to discounts and are aging out of the market. The discount brands didn’t have younger smokers to replace them so they began to die.

Premium cigarette brands fought back with their own value offerings. Pall Mall completely repositioned itself as a “premium discount” brand. This gave Pall Mall a massive growth spike.

Which Cigarette Brands Thrive in the Modern Market?

So which cigarette brands have survived all of these decades of changes?

The winners might surprise you.

Marlboro still rules supreme with around 39% market share despite massive taxes and regulations. It has proven that premium positioning and iconic branding can survive almost anything.

Newport is now the undisputed number two. Its growth in menthol has been nothing short of impressive.

But here are the real surprise winners:

• American Spirit has found a niche as the “natural” cigarette brand and seen 97% growth
• Winston staged an unlikely comeback with 16% growth
• Pall Mall is back to stable after repositioning as a “premium discount”

These brands are all defying the odds by adapting to changing consumer demands instead of fighting them.

The Impact of Regulation on Brand Evolution

Government regulation ended the golden age of cigarette brands.

The Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 put an end to most cigarette advertising. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.

Suddenly, cigarette brands were not allowed to:

• Advertise on TV or radio
• Sponsor major sporting events
• Use descriptors like “light” or “mild”
• Target young people in their marketing

This forced an industry-wide rethink in how cigarette brands would operate. Big marketing budgets were moved to point-of-sale displays and adult-only promotions.

Some brands couldn’t adapt to the new regulatory environment. Other brands thrived and consolidated their market share.

Wrapping It All Up

Cigarette brands have had a rich and complex evolution over the last decades.

The main lessons are clear:

• Strong branding beats everything else
• Adaptation is more important than innovation
• Regulation can make or break entire brands
• Consumer loyalty is powerful but not permanent

From the aggressive marketing wars of the 1980s to today’s heavily regulated environment, only the strongest brands have made it. The cigarette brand landscape has completely changed from 30 years ago and most of the brands your parents smoked no longer exist.

The bottom line? The cigarette industry shows us that even established brands can disappear in the blink of an eye if they don’t evolve with the times.