He laid the foundation of the cigarette empire: Who is Philip Morris?

Philip Morris, who was born in London in 1835 as the son of a German family that immigrated to England, was never in the USA during his life. Morris started selling his own cigarettes in London in 1854. 

By Jane Dickens Published on 27 Eylül 2023 : 23:37.
He laid the foundation of the cigarette empire: Who is Philip Morris?

After his death in 1873, his wife Margaret and brother Leopold took over the management of the company.

It wasn't until 1919 that the company's shares were purchased by American partners, its logo was changed, and production was moved from London to the American state of Virginia. The Marlboro brand appeared in 1924 and over time became the most important brand of the company.

The precursor of Marlboro was released in 1887 under the name Marlborough.

After Philip Morris' death, his brothers Leopold and Widow took over the shop. Taking things further, these brothers opened a tobacco factory on London's Great Marlborough Street. The company, known as Philip Moris Inc, named the cigarette brand they produced 'Marlboro'. The rapidly growing brand opened its first shop in New York in 1902 to increase its sales. However, the Marlboro brand was registered in the United States in 1908. Although the Marlboro brand was registered in America, cigarettes under this name were not sold until 1923.

Philip Morris (1835–1873) was a British tobacconist and cigarette importer whose name was later used for Philip Morris & Co. Ltd. established in New York City in 1902. In 1847, Philip Morris's family opened a tobacco shop on Bond Street in London, where he sold loose tobacco and pre-rolled cigarettes. By 1854, he had started making his own cigarettes. In 1870, Morris began to produce Philip Morris Cambridge and Philip Morris Oxford Blues (later called Oxford Ovals and Philip Morris Blues). Morris died in 1873 from cancer while his widow Margaret and son, Leopold Morris, carried on his cigarette trade.

The brand, which started selling products under different names and according to different target audience segmentation in America, launched a product that was sold only in hotels and hostels for the first time in 1924 under the name of 'America's luxury cigarette'. In 1930, the company announced that it had produced a new cigarette for women with the slogan 'Light as May' because the proportion of women in the product's target audience was low. The slogan was taken from the name of the street in London where the Philip Morris factory is located. These cigarette advertisements, made in the 1930s, were primarily based on how feminine-filtered cigarettes were, in order to appeal to the mass market. For this purpose, there was a red band around the filter to hide lipstick smudges and it was called 'Beauty Tips to Hide Lipstick from Your Lips'. In this way, Philip Moris managed to increase his audience with different marketing techniques.