Formula for success

Bulgartabac – Victory
Formula for success

May-July 2009

The context
Victory is the best-selling tobacco brand of the biggest state-owned tobacco company in Bulgaria. Its market shares have been steadily decreasing for more than a year, because of the following two reasons: 1) the price increase of Bulgarian tobacco brands, which makes them almost equal to the international brands such as Marlboro, Viceroy and Parliament; 2) aggressive advertising campaigns from competitive tobacco brands in Bulgaria.

The challenge
We had to keep Victory’s current market share and give its loyal customers another good reason to buy Victory. We did this by observing the strict legal requirements for cigarette advertising in Bulgaria.

The solution
Considering that Victory is a typical male brand with more than 80% male customers, we decided to connect the brand to a typical male sport – Formula 1.
The first prize was a trip to Budapest including a visit to a Formula 1 qualification and competition.

After the end of the promotion we gave away:
o 400 suitcases
o 400 travelling bags
o 400 small bags
o 25 big awards – a visit to a Formula 1 qualification and competition.

The post-campaign analysis showed high levels of Bulgartabac customers’ satisfaction.