Focus On Tobacco & Accessories: 15 February

Focus On: Tobacco and Accessories by Ronan Hegarty

Download feature synopsis PDF here

Publishing: 15 February

Advertising deadline: 4 February

Submissions deadline: 28 January

The Story

This year will be a crucial one for tobacco. From May, the sale of menthol cigarettes and rolling tobacco will be banned in a bid to deter young people from taking up smoking. The ban will undoubtedly come as a blow to the £11bn cigarette and near £3bn roll-your-own industries. But in the lead-up to the legislation, manufacturers have been busy planning their strategies. So what are they doing to overcome this hurdle? Just how much of an impact will it have? And what plans do manufacturers have for the future?

Key themes:

Regulation: How is the industry responding to ever-tighter regulation?

Innovation: The ban on menthol will undoubtedly make innovation more difficult. So what other avenues are manufacturers pursuing?

Cigarettes: How are the cigarette brands performing? And what are they doing to encourage purchase of cigarettes over cheaper roll your own options?

Roll your own: The category continues to benefit from being cheaper than cigarettes. Who is winning here?

Accessories: What are the latest developments in tobacco accessories?

Nielsen data: The 10 fastest-growing brands and 10 fastest-falling brands of the past year.