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Mevius: New name and branding for one of the world’s leading brands |
Japan Tobacco has announced that Mild Seven, one of JT Group’s Global Flagship Brands (GFB), will have a new brand name, Mevius, and a new pack design.
Backed by investment to strengthen brand equity and a greater presence around the world, the company wants Mevius to become the number one global premium brand.
Mild Seven has been the best selling brand in Japan since 1978, a year after it was launched. The company plans to roll out the new name and design across Japan, introducing the globally unified design in November 2012 while retaining the Mild Seven name, followed by the launch of the Mevius brand name in February 2013.
Internationally, Mild Seven enjoys consumer popularity in markets including Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia and Russia. In markets where the new package design has been introduced, the design is already popular, said JT.
The company plans geographic expansion after completing introductions of the new brand in existing international markets over the next 12 months.
Mitsuomi Koizumi, President and Chief Executive Officer of JT, said: “The JT Group targets sustainable profit growth in the mid to long term, based on the “˜4S’ management principle of satisfying and fulfilling our responsibilities towards consumers, shareholders, employees and wider society.”
“Tobacco is our core business and profit growth engine. By prioritizing investment in this business for quality top line growth and stronger business sustainability, we are targeting our tobacco business to grow EBITDA by mid to high single digits per year over the medium to long term. To achieve this, we plan to further strengthen the equity of our brands by focusing on our core brands, grow or maintain share in existing key markets, broaden the geographical base and develop emerging product categories.”
“Against this backdrop, Mevius is moving forward with a new name across the world, a unified global design and an expanded product portfolio in order to command a greater international presence by enhancing brand equity, aiming to become the number one global premium brand.”
Mevius, the new brand name, retains the “˜M’ and “˜S’ from Mild Seven, which aims to signify a sense of evolution in the brand. The new design retains Mild Seven’s icon and blue colour, and the packaging aims to reflect its premium positioning.
