For a long time none could tell something special about the town of Winston, which, in fact, gave the name of this tobacco brand. It is located in North Carolina, not far from Salem (not the one where in the XVII century, 19 witches were burned – this town is in Massachusetts).
A big step in the history of the world, it made only when in 1875 Richard Joshua Reynolds, the father-founder of RJR, opened the first tobacco factory there. Initially, as everywhere, one could see that the basis of the product range was made up of chewing tobacco that was so adored by Americans and so not clear to the rest of the world.
However, very soon the list of products was expanded due to pipe tobacco and cigarettes.
Reynolds Tobacco Empire began its victorious march across the United States.
PR managers and marketers of R.J.R Tobacco Company were always marked by an aggressive manner and cynical creative approach. Battling with their main competitor Philip Morris Company, they were able to create a good basis for promotion of a radically new brand of cigarettes.
America was fed up with strong tobacco and almost similar and unchanged taste, hidden under various names. There was needed a qualitative leap for the successful promotion. Winston cigarettes occupied the empty niche.
According to mmarketing legend new cigarettes appeared thanks to one of the directors of R.J.R Tobacco Company -Edward Darra. Supposedly resting in Switzerland, he was faced with gaining popularity of cigarettes with filter in Europe. “I Tried – I liked”.
Inspired by new trends, he returned to the States and convened a panel of experts of R.J.R. They thought over this aspect. They smoked. Again, they thought it over and decided that the new feature should appeal to American consumers.
The main thing is to do so smokers did not lose the opportunity to enjoy the strength and taste of cigarettes because of the usage of the filter.
Along with the new filter in cigarettes there was applied the special tobacco mixture, quickly known as “the American Bag”.
The main difference of these cigarettes in comparison to the rest became the addition of tobacco variety called “Burley” in its composition. Besides, tobacco was not just dried, and processed in heat in a special way to produce light caramel flavor (in the language of tobacco professionals this process is referred to as toasting).
As a result of all these innovations there appeared new cigarettes, and it was decided to name them after the city that became the cradle of the company. That was how American smokers encountered Winston cigarettes. It was 1954.
So already in 1956 these cigarettes were declared most successful brand of tobacco. It is not surprising, because there were sold 31 billion pieces within that year.
But manufacturers were not yet ready to rest on their laurels. Promotional images, making betting on demand for family comfort, and new types of products, such as Winston 100 mm, helped to lift sales.
Today, Winston cigarettes have long gone beyond the domestic US market and are one of the best selling brands.
However, the company that gave this brand to smokers, no longer exists. Its assets joined the omnipresent Japanese Japan Tobacco Inc. But it was not a disaster for the brand itself.
Moreover, Winston cigarettes continue to develop. Thus, the new “easy” direction of Super Slims was launched in 2007. And in 2008 Winston Premier cigarettes started to “attack” tobacco premier class.