Distinctly Montana Magazine

103 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m W HEN CIGARETTE ADS WERE BANNED FROM TV AND RADIO IN 1971, Philip Morris, makers of Marlboro, faced a marketing dilemma. The ban had effectively cut off their primary way of reaching large swaths of the Ameri- can public. Though ads would continue in print media like mag- azines, newspapers—and those ubiquitous, oversized billboards that graced highways from Boston to Miles City—it seemed the writing was already on the wall. Further restrictions came in 1999, when the advertising ban included public transit, paid product placement, even advertising at concert venues and sponsorships of sporting events like NASCAR. As cigarettes became harder to advertise, tobacco companies needed to find other ways to reach new customers and to reward their most loyal ones. Anyone around in the 1990s knew some- body—a neighbor, a coworker, an uncle—who collected "miles" (the bar codes) from packs of Marlboro cigarettes. In this era of branded cowboy merch, the "miles" could get you everything from hoodies to leather backpacks, camp stoves to tents, and if you were patient enough (or a dedicated enough smoker) even something called a Fuji folding bike, though at 2,200 "miles" that comes out to nearly 500 packs of cigarettes. Marlboro "miles" and the accompanying Sears catalog of mer- chandising was only a stopgap for Philip Morris' more ambitious plan. After Marlboro Man was forcibly retired in 1999, a 45-year campaign widely considered the most successful in advertising history, what Philip Morris wanted most was a way to reconnect directly with consumers. Their radio and TV ads depicting Marl- boro's version of the mythologized American West had already been banned for a generation. Now, with even billboards a thing of the past, Marlboro Country and the Marlboro Man seemed destined to become forgotten. But if Marlboro Country couldn't be brought to their custom- ers, what if Philip Morris brought their customers to Marlboro Country? by CAB TRAN • illustrations by ROBERT RATH

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