Benson & Hedges History and Expansion

Richard Benson and William Hedges founded Benson & Hedges cigarettes in 1873 at 12 Old Bond Street in London, introducing an innovative approach by packaging tobacco in tin cans rather than selling it by weight to ensure product freshness. In 1885, Alfred Paget, Hedges' son, joined the company following Richard Benson's passing, coinciding with Benson's departure from the business.

The company received a Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales in 1878, but this recognition was discontinued in 1999. Throughout the 1900s, Benson & Hedges Ltd. expanded to the United States and Canada, positioning its cigarettes as premium products made from diverse tobacco blends sourced globally.

Starting in 1928, the company heightened its emphasis on cigarettes and introduced a new brand, Parliaments, offering various flavors. The American branch gained independence in 1928 and was later acquired by Philip Morris in 1958. Philip Morris, a prominent figure in the tobacco industry with brands such as Marlboro and Virginia Slims, substantially elevated Benson & Hedges' popularity through a package redesign by Landor.
Benson & Hedges History and Expansion

History of Marlboro cigarettes

The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London Factory. Philip Morris, British tobacconist opened a New York subsidiary in 1902 to sell many of its cigarette brands.

The mark "Marlboro" was registered in the US in 1908 although no cigarette was marketed under this name until 1923. In 1924 Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand as a woman's cigarette.

They were first marketed as "America's luxury cigarette" and were mainly sold in hotels and resorts. Marlboro becomes a cigarette brand for men in 1954. Advertising for the brand claimed that Marlboro was as "Mild as May", and that, smokers need never feel "oversmoked" with a Marlboro.

During the 1950s Reader's Digest magazine published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung cancer. Philip Morris, and the other cigarette companies took notice and each began to market filtered cigarettes. The new Marlboro with a filtered end was launched in 1955. The

new Marlboro came wrapped in a revolutionary new package: the now famous flip-top box . It was bold, masculine and eye catching with its red and white stripe design.

Marlboro has been the world's No. 1 cigarette brand since 1972. Altria holds the rights to the Marlboro brand in the U.S., while Philip Morris International handles the brand overseas. In 2008, Philip Morris International (PMI) launched a new global brand architecture for Marlboro, which involved establishing three Marlboro brand families known as Red, Gold and Fresh.
History of Marlboro cigarettes

The history of Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International became a free-standing publicly traded company in March 2008, following a spin-off from Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris USA.

In 1847 England Philip Morris Esq, a tobacconist and importer of fine cigars, opened a shop in London’ Bond Street selling hand-rolled Turkish cigarettes.

England Philip Morris began making his own cigarettes in 1854. Old Bond Street soon became the center of the retail tobacco trade.

In 1881, Leopold Morris, son of Phillip, join Joseph Grunebaum, Ltd. This partnership dissolved in 1885 and the company became known as Philip Morris & Co., Ltd.

The company was taken over by William Curtis Thomson and his family in 1894. Since 1872 Gustav Eckmeyer acts as sole agent for Philip Morris in the US importing and selling English-made cigarettes.

In 1902, Philip Morris & Co., Ltd. is incorporated in New York.

In 1908, Marlboro is established and registered as trademark. By 1972, Marlboro becomes the world’s number one selling cigarettes. In 1919, a new company is incorporated in Virginia under the name Philip Morris & Co. Ltd., Inc. and starts to manufacture cigarettes in its factory in Richmond by the end of the next decade.

In 1924 the company introduced Marlboro as a women’s cigarette as “mild as May.” By 1985, Philip Morris Companies Inc. becomes a holding company and acquires General Foods. Other acquisitions in the food sector follow over the next decade, including Kraft Foods and Jacobs Suchard.

In 1987 Philip Morris International is incorporated as an operating company of Philip Morris Companies Inc.

By 2003, Philip Morris Companies Inc. is renamed Altria Group, Inc., and remains the parent company of Kraft Foods Inc., Philip Morris International, Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris Capital Corporation.
The history of Philip Morris International

History of Dunhill cigarettes

Alfred Dunhill opened a tobacconist’s shop in St James’s in 1907, which had the atmosphere of a gentlemen’s club and offered all kinds of tobacco and smokers’ requisites.

By the 1920s he had shops in New York, Toronto and Paris.

By the mid-1960s, Dunhill stores could be found in 100 countries, including Hong Kong and Japan. He started machine-rolling cigarettes and introduced his own brand of Dunhill cigarettes.

The first Dunhill cigarette came out in 1908, and was, less than glamorously, called the Absorbal.

It was designed to counter any perceived health risk from cigarettes and had a world first a cotton wool filter-tip. It slogan was the ‘hygienic Cigarette.
History of Dunhill cigarettes