KBA is a lifestyle trend firm that specializes in customers who are less susceptible to traditional advertisements. Interaction with these hip, young sales people increases sales and pushes the personal marketing strategy. And the reps help build our relationship with bars. Personal selling is the most expensive form of advertising sales, said Rick Roth, an advertising professor at the University of Kentucky. Yet the tobacco makers have done their homework.
Research shows that bar patrons tend to look to their bartenders as trendsetters.
In the young adult group peer influence is very strong and when they are presented with an attractive, outgoing, nice personality, it creates a positive outlook for the brand. The alcohol industry has employed the same tactic for years in an attempt to promote their brand in a feel-good atmosphere. Tobacco critics say bar marketing is more of the same kinds of advertising that the tobacco settlement sought to end. Dave Myers, director of the American Cancer Society's Hamilton County unit, said the society will continue to support legislation that limits cigarette ads. The three tobacco makers declined to say how much they spend on their bar marketing programs.