Nico Fleet Revs Up for Quitters

If potential quitters won't come to NicoDerm, NicoDerm will go to them. After all, 16 million smokers try to quit every year. Despite the fact that only 8% succeed, they want to; they really want to. And SmithKline Beecham, marketer of Nicorette gum and NicoDermCQ smoking cessation patches, is banking on that, using a fleet of high-powered vehicles to get the "stop smoking" message across to would-be ex-smokers in what they call NicoTour '99. Starting in March and running through September, SmithKline has been skywriting above air shows with a number of 1940s SNJ-2 Navy fighter planes called the NicoDerm CQ-Nicorette Skytypers, and racing cars in the CART FedEx Championship Series and the International Hot Rod Association Series, supporting the image messages with three NicoVans deployed to festivals air shows and car races to offer advice and free "coping kits." Let the quitting begin.

Marketer: SmithKline Beecham, Pittsburgh

Agencies: Alliance Marketing Group, Fairfield, Conn. (Marketing services); Hauser/Bragg Communications, Chicago (public relations)

Key Players: SmithKline: Steve Kapur, director of smoking cessation; Steve Burton, category director; Mary Fredlane, Nicoderm CQ brand manager; Ed Lara; Nicorette brand manager

COPYRIGHT 1999 BPI Communications, Inc.
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