Philip Morris’ Marlboro Brand Architecture

In 2008 Philip Morris International overhauled their international Marlboro brand by launching a new brand architecture which categorised the different types of Marlboro cigarettes on offer. The architecture is comprised of 3 strands of Marlboro: Flavour, Gold and Fresh.
The new architecture was designed to address different adult consumer preferences, whilst all 3 strands sharing the personality and promise of confidence of Marlboro.¹ Flavour refers to variants that can all be considered within the branch of traditional Marlboro red cigarettes, Gold refers to cigarettes that are ‘smoother’ in taste (the products that used to be labelled with the word lights), and Fresh refers to menthol cigarettes and new capsule technology cigarettes where the taste of a standard cigarette can be alter to menthol by pressing the capsule.
To illustrate the new brand architecture, the following images are from Philip Morris International’s 2009 Annual Report. Their annual reports from 2008 to the present day are available to view on their website.

Marlboro red new brand architecture PMI annual report 2009

Marlboro gold new brand architecture PMI annual report 2009)

Marlboro fresh new brand architecture PMI annual report 2009