392. THE CIGARETTE BRANDS OF FORTUNE TOBACCO CORP., 1989

OMNIBUS PRODUCT ADS OF FORTUNE TOBACCO, 1989

Established in 1965, Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC) was founded by tai-pans Lucio Tan,  Benito Tan Kee Hiong, Atty. Florencio N. Santos, and Mariano Tanenglian. The company introduced the most successful local cigarette brands in the Philippines, including the Fortune, Champion and Hope menthol brands. Prior to the creation of PMFTC, it held the largest domestic tobacco business in the Philippines.

HOPE, THE LARGEST LUXURY CIGARETTE IN THE COUNTRY, 1987

CHAMPION MENTHOLS, 1971

By the start of the new 1970s decade, Fortune Tobacco Corporation was riding the wave of success courtesy of its banner brands that would also come to include More, Winston, Salem and Boss.

WINSTON, 1979 AD

CAMEL, 1984 AD

Other flanker and price brands were also produced to cover all smoking segments of the country, and the 1980s were a period of robust growth for the FTC’s product portfolio. 

BOSS MENTHOL CIGARETTES, 1971

MORE MENTHOL 100'S, 1979AD

In 1995, Philip Morris Philippines, Inc. (PMPI) was established to handle all sales and marketing for Marlboro and Philip Morris brands. Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc. (PMPMI) was established in 2002 to manage aspects of the Philippine business, including manufacturing operations.

In Feb. 2010, PMI and Fortune Tobacco Corporation (FTC) signed an agreement to unite their respective business activities by transferring some assets and liabilities of both companies to form a new company named "PMFTC, Inc.", headed by Lucio Tan. PMFTC enjoys a 70.5-percent market share of the local tobacco market in 2019.

107. A Light of Hope: HOPE CIGARETTES, 1979

In the mid 1970s, Fortune Tobacco Corporation of Lucio Tan, ruled the Philippine cigarette market led by brands like More, Westpoint, Camel, Salem, Champion and HOPE INTERNATIONAL LUXURY CIGARETTES, sold as mentholated sticks. The company was founded in 1966, with a decrepit plant made of GI sheets and scrap lumber in Marikina, equipped with second hand machines. It would grow to become one of the five largest privately-held cigarette manufacturers in the world.

The success of their brands were largely due to their massive tri-media advertising and promotions, which was handled by their agency, J. Romero and Associates. There was a deliberate decision to give the Fortune cigarette line an imported image, and in fact, most of the brands in their early advertising, featured Caucasian talents.

HOPE CIGARETTES were advertised on the basis of their “mentholated freshness”. The TVCs showed foreign talents engaged in such exhilarating Western leisure like sky-diving, sky wake-boarding and speed boat racing to drive home the “freshness” story. Sure enough, HOPE CIGARETTES became the largest luxury cigarette in the country.

But what made even HOPE CIGARETTES more popular was a jingle that had a genuine American feel courtesy of the singer who sounded like Karen Carpenter—then one of the leading voices of the airwaves.

“There’s a light of HOPE…when you light a HOPE…there’s a light of HOPE for you…”, went the jingle, sang soulfully by the singer—Claire de la Fuente, then 21, who was assigned by composer George Canseco to sing the jingle. It accompanied a TVC which aired in late 1979, that featured paragliders soaring on yonder blue skies.

WATCH HOPE CIGARETTE TVC here:

The song took HOPE CIGARETTES to an all-time high in terms of awareness and popularity, but it also catapulted the singer to fame. As the campaign evolved, the jingle was rearranged, and, in subsequent versions, popular lines from the lyrics (“there’s a light of hope) as well as the melody would be integrated in future incarnations of the jingle.

In 2010, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. and Fortune Tobacco created a new corporation called Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC). HOPE CIGARETTES would continue to be a prized part of the product portfolio in the next decades. HOPE would have a period of highs and lows—the recent blow was the implementation of the reformed sin tax in January 2013 that jacked up its prices. But, for a well-known and well-loved brand,  always “there’s a light of hope” for its future!

SOURCES:

Fortune Tobacco Corp. http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Fortune_Tobacco_Corporation

Claire dela Fuente Photo: http://www.liveartistproduction.com/images/claire%201.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_de_la_Fuente

Hope Cigarette box photo: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fGxZqkPFQZg/hqdefault.jpg

Hope Luxury Cigarettes TV Commercial 1980 (Digitally Restored and Remastered Version, by Lian Las Pinas, published 14April 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43niYGJaE68