Hasta La Gadget!

We recently reported on the brand omake trend now commonplace amongst Japanese fashion magazines. This is when you received an extra free incentive with your purchase, but to the extent that the purchase of the original product becomes merely the “little bit extra” and the motivation for the consumers is the high profile freebie (i.e. you feel like you are getting a brand item cheap). Now, here’s another example in the tobacco industry.

Virginia Slims, the definitive ladies’ brand, has launched a collaboration with Cecil McBee. With your purchase of VS Rose cigarettes you get a typically ornate and “fabulous” lighter in a pink furry case. Other packs include pouches in different colors. When you consider that a two-pack is only 640 yen ($7), it’s quite a bargain for fans of the brand.

Virginia Slims have also been collaborating with fashion brand Sly for a omake campaign, offering with the Duo cigarette range lighters in the shape of Sly lipstick in seven different colors. What’s more, buying a two-pack gives you a bag or a pouch (three types), and a five-pack rewards you with a fold-up umbrella. Clearly they are catering to completionist fans here and seeking return customers eager to collect more of this unique set. There’s even a QR code to along with the campaign.

These products, though promoted as unique and collectible (e.g. by limiting their sale period), are actually available at convenience stores across Japan (sometimes exclusively to just one chain, such as Seven Eleven). But could bringing these high-profile brands into outlets at the bottom of the market pyramid have the knock-on effect of reducing their luxury image? It’s clearly a fine line that these brands have to tread when they agree to collaborate with tobacco companies.

The tobacco industry is one of the most proactive and innovative users of these brand omake campaigns. We reported on Lark and Virginia Slims again co-branding in the past. Less brand omake and more just an unusual example of collaboration was the Marlboro and Georgia Coffee campaign we blogged about last year.