Turning a challenger into a #1 CPG brand in a highly regulated category

Grizzly Smokeless, a Reynolds American Inc. brand, was long the number-two player behind Copenhagen—one of the oldest and most established tobacco brands in the U.S., founded in 1822. To drive continued growth, Grizzly needed to build a bold, authentic brand voice—not just compete on price.

Enter Grizzly – Tellin’ It Like It Is, a campaign built to resonate with the brand’s no-nonsense customer base. At its core were hundreds of pub-specific print ads placed nationally in major men’s magazines including Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Field & Stream, and Car & Driver. The campaign was fully integrated, with ongoing support from direct mail, email, point-of-sale, social, experiential marketing, and a variety of contests and promotions.

The results were category-defining. Just two years in, the campaign helped Grizzly surpass Copenhagen to become the top-selling smokeless tobacco brand in the U.S. Annual sales jumped by more than 26%, reaching $783 million with a 31.4% market share and 434 million units sold—more than the total U.S. sales of Big Macs or boxes of Cheerios.

roles: copywriting, creative direction; developed with Archer-Memphis

YouTube Commercial

UPDATED PACKAGING

During my time as Associate Creative Director on Grizzly, we updated the traditional paper tins into metal packaging. Partnering with an international CGI production studio, our team also created new imagery in a 3-D, brushed-metal format, including logo, typeface, flavor headline, and embossed ellipse logo with unique lighting and shading. This imagery has been utilized throughout Grizzly media, including print, digital, motion graphics, and video.