Marketing in the News

After looking around the web for an article that interested me I stumbled upon a BMJ journal about juuls (https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2018/05/31/tobaccocontrol-2018-054382). The article about juuls definitely got my attention immediately because people around my age is the main market for juul.

Pretty much the article explained the juul is really good at targeting youth and young adults. The slick design and cool flavors are really appealing to the younger generation. When juul first came out publications said the product is the "iPhone of ecigs". Their main advertising also comes from Instagram, twitter, you tube, and other social media. Although juuls are suppose to be for adults that are trying to quit cigarettes, the main market has been for first time users of nicotine products. The juul's value proposition purposes that after using their product you will be less addicted and needy towards nicotine products. The effect of juul actually makes the younger generation more tempted to use nicotine products and can actually lead to buying new types of vapes and nicotine products. When juul launched their product they specifically aimed for convenience stores rather than actual smoke shops, to target teenagers. They will also have posters outside of convenience shops glamorizing their new product and how it will only be in limited stock. I remember when it first came out they were selling the juul kit for only $25. The thing with that is they were selling the pods for the juuls for $20 and kids would need to buy new pods every week. Juul did a good job by getting the initial product out there then using the second part of their product to keep customers coming back to buy more.

There has been minor speed bumps for Juul though, some states recently raised the age to 21 to buy nicotine products. Many teenagers were the main market for juul and that made it really hard for their underage buyers to obtain the product. Even though there was a drop in sales, teenagers still needed and wanted juul pods. To get the product out to underage customers people would buy juul in bulk and distribute it out to underage customers for a higher price.

To prove groups wrong that say juul markets to underage people, juul changed the names of their flavors to to not seem as appealing/cool to teenagers. There has been reports that juul knew that their campaign would appeal to the younger generation, but the specifically said that it wasn't their intentions. I don't fault juul for their campaign because they wouldn't be successful with just customers that are trying to quit smoking. They found an untapped market and they were the first ones to capitalize on it.

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