Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, December 8, 1997
Kansas City clubs strike deals with big tobacco
Cigarette makers aim at bar crowd
By Aaron Knopf
Special to the Konsan
The night is early, and a crowd is just beginning to form inside the dimly lit confines of the Hurricane, a popular club in the Westport. Stan Henry, general manager, sits at a table near the bar as a band begins to play its first song of the evening. Henry can bring many bands to the Hurricane thanks to tobacco company R. J. Reynolds.
The Hurricane signed a deal this year with R. J. Reynolds to sell only Winston cigarettes behind the bar and to display Winston signs in the club. In return, Winston sponsors several live music shows and promotions at the club each year. Winston also gives the Hurricane a better cut from sales of Winston cigarettes than the club gets from sales of products in its cigarette machine. The Hurricane can sell competing products in the machine.
Henry described the relation ship with Winston as positive.
"It's a win-win situation for us," he said.
There is nothing illegal about the Hurricane's relationship with Winston.
Henry said rival tobacco company Philip Morris and its Marlboro brand also had targeted the Hurricane. Henry even went to Los Angeles as part of a Marlboro marketing think tank. But R. J. Reynolds eventually came to the club with a better financial offer, he said.
He is frank about why these tobacco companies targeted the Hurricane.
"We're their target market: young, outgoing people," he said. "People usually smoke when
they drink, and everyone's over 21.'
R. J. Reynolds recently reformulated Winston cigarettes and kicked off a new marketing campaign aimed at people in their 20s.
"If you want a real good example of marketing from an older demographic to a newer one, I can't think of a better example than the Winston campaign," said Tim Swanson, a stock market analyst at A, G. Edwards and Sons. Inc.
"We're a smoker's bar, so we offer a full line of cigars and cigarettes."
Steve Torre sales manager, harry's bar and tables
In the new ads, young smokers extol the virtues of new Winston's "100 percent pure" cigarettes. A "No Bull" tag line added to all the ads pushes Winston's image as straightforward and honest with smokers.
Richard Polly, a professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver who follows trends in cigarette advertising, said Winston's packaging had been redesigned to promote a positive message about smoking Winston cigarettes. Rather than displaying the full brand name on the pack, all that is shown is the word "Win."
R. J. Reynolds has been making deals with clubs in large, urban markets for the past year, usually through its Red Kamel brand of cigarettes.
comment on R. J. Reynolds' marketing practices.
R. J. Reynolds and the marketing firm it employs would not discuss marketing cigarettes in clubs. Liz Williams in KBA Marketing's Chicago office declined
Carole Crosslin, a public relations representative at R.J. Reynolds, also declined comment.
Other clubs in Westport have marketing agreements with tobacco companies. Bars in the area heavily promote Philip Morris' Marlboro brand. Marlboro places an advertisement in the "Pitch Weekly" newspaper that promotes 24 clubs and restaurants in Kansas City, five of which are in Westport.
One of those clubs is Stanford and Sons restaurant, which features neon Marlboro signs, Marlboro ashtrays, Marlboro cocktail napkins and Marlboro napkin holders. Stanford and Sons general manager Larry Nichols, who smokes Marlboro Light cigarettes, said the club did not have an exclusivity contract with Marlboro.
"We don't even have to carry their product," Nichols said.
Westport bars and restaurants are signing sponsorship deals with major tobacco companies, bringing many bands to the Kansas City area. The Hurricane, a club in Westport, signed a deal with R.J. Reynolds tobacco company to sell only Winston cigarettes behind the bar. Photo Illustration by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
However, the club displays Marlboro signs, uses Marlboro-embossed products and lets Marlboro conduct promotional giveaways of Marlboro products such as duffel bags a few times a year in the club, he said. This is in exchange for Marlboro's sponsorship of events at the club.
Across the street at Harry's bar and Tables, the Marlboro presence is less noticeable, although Marlboro advertises in this bar as well. Steve Torre, the bar's sales manager, said the bar received some ashtrays from Marlboro but nothing else.
"What they want you to do is put up the signs and use the napkins for as long as the contract runs," Torre said.
He said Harry's did not like to advertise one particular product.
"We're a smoker's bar, so we offer a full line of cigars and cigarettes." Torre said.
However, Harry's is such a trendy place — so popular that it does not hang a storefront sign — that even a limited association is enough for Marlboro. Harry's gets free advertising in "Pitch Weekly" in return from Marlboro.
Despite the promotional deals in Kansas City, tobacco companies have not targeted Lawrence clubs. Dannie Thompson, owner of Bleachers, said that no one had approached him about a marketing deal. Dean Ayoob, manager of the Wagon Wheel Cafe, 507 W. 14th St., said a Marlboro representative had questioned recently him about sales in the bar's cigarette-vending machine.
Managers of the Granada and the Bottleneck said tobacco marketers had not approached them.
Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St., said Kool cigarettes had conducted a giveaway in the bar last spring but that it had been an isolated event.
Page Tullos, manager of the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., said four people had come to the club once and claimed they were from one of the cigarette companies.
The Granada sells several cigarette brands in its vending machine and at the bar. Tullos said the Granada would consider a deal with one brand if they received something for the bar.
"They said they were investigating clubs for giveaways," Tullos said.
"If it's going to make Granada a better place for our customers, it might be worth participating," she said.
Doug Schulte, manager of the
Recruiters jump starting sorority that folded in 1992
By Sarah McWilliams smcwilliams@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Efforts to restart a KU chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority are generating interest, a sorority member at Kansas State University said.
Stacy Yeager, a senior at K-State, started recruiting at the beginning of this semester. She said the chapter may start next semester at the University of Kansas.
Yeager said since the beginning of this semester, she had identified two prospective members for the sorority. Yeager also is considering coming to the University as a graduate student next year.
Chris Simkulet, Port Crane, N.Y., junior, attended one of the informational meetings Yeager presented at the University this semester. She said she liked the sisterhood in the sorority and was considering joining the organization next semester.
"At the same time you could be a sister, you could be yourself," she said.
The KU chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho, a historically Black sorority, became inactive in 1992 when all of its members graduated.
Yeager said she thought the new chapter could contribute to sorority life at the University.
In order to restart the chapter, the sorority needs either one current member to transfer from another university or five new members, Yeager said.
Yeager and fellow member Kelli Moore, a junior at K-State, are recruiting at campuses across Kansas. The two want to start chapters at Baker University, Emporia State University and Fort Hays State University.
Moore said she wanted to spread the word about the sorority because it had contributed to her education.
"I've made a lot of friends, it's helped me with my grades and with making goals for myself," Moore said.
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