Problem/Objective: Tobacco companies, like many businesses, have used brand loyalty/continuity programs to add extra value to their products, reward consumer behavior, and provide incentives for continued use of their brand. Within the past year, many existing programs such as Marlboro Miles and Camel Cash have been phased out and others have taken on new forms. This presentation will review the purposes and advantages offered by such programs to cigarette brands and provide an overview of these programs.

Methods: Results will be presented from a content analysis of over 65 tobacco brand loyalty catalogs spanning 16 years (from 1991 to 2007) from the Trinkets and Trash collection.

Results: Results presented will include the range and type of items offered for redemption and how they conform to individual brand images. In addition, the presentation will illustrate changes observed over time within these programs, from catalogs of items branded with cigarette names and/or logos found in the pre-MSA loyalty programs to items of the post-MSA years, to the more current movement of such programs to the Internet. This presentation will also provide examples of current offshoots of traditional brand loyalty programs found on the Internet, such as the Camel Casino program, which allowed web users to redeem brand loyalty items with “chips” earned by playing online games and through other marketing channels.

Conclusions: These program variations may be transitional or experimental programs in preparation for the next generation of programs aimed at building customer loyalty. Thus, ongoing surveillance of this strategy is necessary.