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West (cigarette)

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West (cigarette)

West is a German brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by the British tobacco corporation Imperial Brands.

West was introduced to the German market in 1981 and initially were only available in specialised tobacco shops. The launch of the new brand was accompanied by a dynamic advertising campaign under the slogan "Let's go West!". Thanks to a successful pricing policy and positioning quality at a reasonable price, a year later the brand became one of the leading in Germany. Since approximately 1987 West became available in supermarkets and cigarette vending machines. West is the second-strongest cigarette brand in Germany.

In 1986, a new "Test the West!" advertising campaign was launched; the simplicity and originality of the new marketing strategies have been cited as key factors behind the uptick in brand recognition that was soon to follow. The campaign employed a strategy of placing paid promoters inside pubs, bars, restaurants and discotheques from which brand interest could be driven directly; in particular, by encouraging young people to engage in blindfolded product comparisons between West cigarettes and their current cigarette brand of choice.

In 1989, West Lights were introduced. The expansion of the range and the high demand for West cigarettes made it possible in two years to begin sales in Central and Eastern Europe.

In July 1995, it was reported that West was one of the most popular brands in the former German Democratic Republic, with the cigarette maker Philip Morris International declaring the total market share of international brands to have risen by almost 10% (to 39%) during the preceding 5-year span; the survey, conducted by Philip Morris Marktforschung, also showed that the former GDR brands had collectively endured losses of around 8% during the same timeframe. Nevertheless, with a total market share of 28.6%, in 1995 f6 remained the most popular cigarette smoked in the former GDR.

In Poland, West became widely available in the mid-1990s, the brand was advertised by actor Bogusław Linda in 1996.

In Russia, sales of West began in 1997, initially the cigarettes were available in two versions (Full Flavor and Lights) with a classic filter. The appearance of the new brand was accompanied by the advertising campaigns "The taste of now" and "The power of now", which started a year earlier in Europe.

In 1999, to promote the brand, the company used the provocative advertising campaign "USE", which is the continuation of "Test the West!". The images used to popularize the brand had also become bolder. On the advertising posters, West's characters turn out to be in intriguing and unconventional situations: for example, a girl confesses and smokes together with a priest in a confession. The slogan of the campaign is "Equality for All". According to its results, West brand reached 11% of the share of the cigarette market in Germany.

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