From Big Tobacco to Beyond Tobacco

Ex-Philip Morris Strategist Appointed CEO of Taat - Seite 3

In 2017, Coscarella joined Philip Morris in its Toronto office to lead a commercialization team for its RRP portfolio. In this capacity at Philip Morris, Coscarella rapidly ascended the ranks and began advising the senior executive team on innovative strategies for navigating the route into the Canadian market for the RRP category, which is one of Philip Morris’ fastest-growing categories globally. His leadership and execution led to the launch of numerous successful initiatives that collectively yielded a fivefold increase in leads and purchases for RRP. Between these initiatives and a new business unit created by Coscarella dedicated to the commercialization of RRP in Canada’s challenging regulatory environment, Mr. Coscarella played a significant role in revolutionizing how RRP is marketed in Canada.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0690a593-2440-4a2e ...

The history of the Philip Morris global tobacco conglomerate dates back to 1847, when its founder opened a tobacco shop in London, England. Over time, Philip Morris expanded into numerous markets internationally. As of 2020 it is the world’s largest tobacco company with USD $79.82 billion annual revenue (2018¹) and the largest or second-largest market share position in several of more than 180 total markets served by Philip Morris. Well-known cigarette brands of Philip Morris include Marlboro (the #1 cigarette brand since 1972), L&M (4th best-selling cigarette outside of U.S. and China), Chesterfield, and its eponymous Philip Morris brand of cigarettes. Alongside competitors Altria, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, and Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris is one of the five tobacco firms that comprise what is known as “Big Tobacco.”

In the Company’s June 29, 2020 press release, it detailed the results of its first phase of retail market testing in which test versions of Beyond Tobacco cigarettes were sold in more than 50 retail stores in Nevada and California. The sentiments of users consistently reflected the impression that the experience of smoking a Beyond Tobacco cigarette was comparable to that of a traditional cigarette with no significant experiential differences. During this research phase, more than 75% of participating retailers re-ordered Beyond Tobacco after their initial inventory sold out. The Company later announced that an intensive series of focus groups conducted by Nevada’s largest consumer product testing firm will be conducted to obtain further insights prior to the planned launch of Beyond Tobacco. Additionally, in its July 20, 2020 press release the Company unveiled live-action footage of a full-scale test production run of Beyond Tobacco in its cigarette production facility. This test run confirmed initial production capacity estimations of one million sticks per day which, on an annualized basis, equates to 0.168% of the total amount of individual cigarettes sold domestically in 2018 according to data from the Federal Trade Commission². With very few hurdles preceding the official launch of Beyond Tobacco, the Company believes the induction of Mr. Coscarella as its CEO is a timely development that can potentially maximize the performance of the anticipated product launch.