winston_blueFor a long time the town of Winston, that, in fact, gave the name of this tobacco brand did not attract so much attention. It is located in North Carolina, not far from Salem (but it was the town where in the XVII century 19 witches were burned – this town was in Massachusetts).

A big contribution into the world history was made only in 1875 when Richard Joshua Reynolds, the father-founder of RJR, opened the first tobacco factory here.

Initially, as everywhere, chewing tobacco was the basis of the assortment, so beloved by Americans and so not clear to the rest of the world. However, very soon the list of products was expanded by 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 always stuck to an aggressive manner and cynical creativeness when creating certain aspects of the market capture.

While fighting with its main competitor company Philip Morris, they were able to create a good basis for promoting a radically new brand of cigarettes. America was fed up with strong tobacco and almost the same taste, hidden under various names.

A qualitative impulse was vital for the successful promotion. Winston cigarettes occupied the empty niche.

As per marketing 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 the cigarettes with filter, which gained popularity in Europe.

He tried and liked them. Inspired by new trends, he returned to the States and convened a panel of experts of R.J.R. They thought it over, smoked. Again, they thought it over and decided that the new feature should appeal to American consumers.

The main thing is to do it in such a way because of the filter, smokers did not lose the opportunity to enjoy the strength and taste of cigarettes.

Along with the new filter in cigarettes, there was applied the special tobacco mixture, that quickly became known as “the American Bag”. The main difference from the rest thereof was the presence of tobacco variety “Burley” in its composition.

Today, Winston cigarettes have long gone out the domestic US market and are one of the best selling brands. However, the company that gave smokers this brand, no longer exists.

Its assets joined the omnipresent Japanese Japan Tobacco Inc. But it was not a disaster for the brand itself.