Gold Flake is a well-known cigarette brand in India and Pakistan. It is sold in various varieties, including Gold Flake Kings (84mm), Gold Flake Lights, Gold Flake Filter (filter tipped) and Gold Flake (plain). It is a well-positioned brand in India. This brand is owned, manufactured and marketed by ITC Limited, the leading cigarette maker in India.
Goldflake was neither a brand nor a process of manufacturing cigarettes. The word "goldflake" refers to cigarettes made using 'bright rich golden tobacco'. Brands other than wills gold flake are Bacons' Gold Flake, Hignett's Golden Flaked Honey Dew, Salmon and Gulckstein's Gold Flake. One pack of 10 cigarettes cost accordingly: Gold Flake (plain, filter, regular size) Rs.28, Gold Flake Kings, Lights MRP is Rs.40. Packs of 20 can cost up to Rs.80.
Other popular cigarette brands owned by ITC are Wills & Scissors. Gold Flake is ITC's middle level brand in terms of price. The single largest brand in the country in value terms is Wills navy cut which was launched in July 1963.
The cigarette market in India has 4 players: ITC, a British American Tobacco (BAT) affiliate, the largest cigarette manufacturer with 66% of the market share, Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), a Phillip Morris affiliate, and Vazir Sultan Tobacco (VST), a BAT affiliate, each with 13% of the total market share, and Golden Tobacco Company (GTC) with 8% of the market share. There are lots of popular brands in the Indian market. They are divided into 3 segments which are super premium, premium, and bingo segments. Few of the brands in these categories are:- Super premium - Wills Insignia Premium- Wills Classic / Milds Wills Navy Cut, Wills Silk Cut, Gold Flake/Lights, four square Bingo – Bristol, Red and White
Goldflake is widely sold brand in India and is marketed in three varieties. Goldflake Filter King Size (84mm) Goldflake kings is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in India in above 80 mm category, but lags behind wills navy cut across categories. It has a mild flavour . A pack of 10 costs about INR 40. Goldflake Filter King Size Lights (84mm) Goldflake lights are milder than goldflake and contains comparatively less nicotine. Goldflake Filter (small) Goldflake Filter (small) has the strongest flavour amongst the three brands. It also contains considerably larger amounts of tar and nicotine. A pack of 10 costs about 28 Indian rupees. Goldflake Plain (filterless) The very original Goldflake is simply known as Gold Plain or Plain in southern markets. It is the strongest of all.
ITC launched the brand Gold Flake in India in the seventies. The source of the positioning of Gold Flake can be traced back to its early days. In the seventies, India was a country of the genteel rich. People aspired to be honourable and Genteel. The lifestyle of the upper class was what the customers aspired for.
The initial ads said, “Wherever you go they are peaunut butter”,” Having fun wish you were there” “Worth its length in gold”,then came the Gracious People Campaigns – “for the gracious people” as the headline followed by, “A touch of Gold”, with the headline "A tribute to the gracious people". Gold Flake had been traditionally positioned as a premium cigarette. It targeted adult, male SEC A category smokers. It was meant to be a cigarette for the elite and the rich – the gracious people of India. It did not differentiate itself specifically from other brands. The brand was compared with Gold for the quality and purity of experience. Advertising emphasised this comparison to gold. The statement – “For the gracious people” – summed the core of the brand.
The gracious people as defined by the brand were the premium class they were successful, elegant, and responsible, and had a sense of purpose. The consumer was bounded in the Indian ethos and roots. He was perceived to be unapproachable and sociable only in his high class.
The brand was still positioned as a premium cigarette. However, the target consumer had changed. Gold Flake now targeted the adult as well as the youth smokers. It extended beyond the SEC A category to the SEC B as well. The product did not boast any USP. It still differentiated itself on the purity and quality of its experience. The comparison with gold stayed, but the target audience the brand was reaching out to, was supposedly larger. The brand stood for a celebratory attitude. “Celebrate the feeling” was the new message. This was simply an extension of the previous message “For the gracious people”
