CASE STUDY:
Forget your opinion of cigarettes and cigarette smoking. You may feel uncomfortable about marketing a product that, if your efforts are successful, can addict its buyers and ultimately seriously harm their health. For this case, you are not being asked to condone the marketing of cigarettes. Instead, try to view the plight of Marlboro as a marketing problem to see what you can learn.
Philip Morris Companies Inc. makes Marlboro cigarettes, the world’s most successful brand (with 21 percent of the U.S. market). The company also markets a host of other consumer products in the United States, including Kraft cheeses, Sealtest ice cream, Post Raisin Bran, Sanka, Lender’s bagels, and Parkay margarine. Internationally, it offers such food products as Gevalia coffee and Toblerone chocolate. In addition, Philip Morris owns the Miller Brewing Company and interests in Molson Breweries and Oscar Mayer.
With so many products under its roof, Philip Morris commands attention from the

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