Big T Moves Further Into the Indie Sector
British American Tobacco subsidiary announces ‘link up’ with Chinese device manufacturer Innokin
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by Dave Cross
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VIP has had a chequered history so far. In 2014 when they tried to encourage smokers to “Switch to the great taste of VIP.” The advert was initially restricted to air after the 9pm watershed, but following a large number of complaints it was banned until after 11pm. Then, following cuts to the more suggestive sections, it was found to still be in contravention of three sections of the advertising code and banned altogether.
VIP Banned Ad
The advert worked in one respect, it pushed it onto Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corporation’s radar (now ECIG) and the co-founders of VIP trousered a nice £30-million.
It was considered to be the leading cigalike brand in the UK but things were going badly wrong. By 2017 it was seriously underperforming and found itself unable to meet a £2.5 million tax demand. The company entered administration and found itself loaded with an additional £85 million of accounting debt.
Things are now moving on and the company has become a focal point for BAT’s drive into the independent sector. Dan O'Neill, ECIG's CEO, announced: “As the UK's largest retailer of premium electronic cigarettes, VIP is pleased to be working with Innokin and to announce the launch of the Innokin TC100 for VIP. The launch of this product exemplifies our commitment to providing our consumers with a range of premium electronic nicotine devices.”
This isn’t the first time Big Tobacco has ‘partnered’ or bought out an independent firm. In 2013, Hon Lik (regarded as the father of the electronic cigarette) sold his global patent portfolio to Imperial Tobacco.
The list of brands owned by Big T companies:
Altria & Phillip Morris International
- IQOS
- MarkTen
- Solaris
- Vivid
- Nicocig
- Green Smoke
- Mesh
- Steem
British American Tobacco
- Glo
- Vype
- Vuse
- VIP
- 10 Motives
- Chic
- Vapestick
- ECOVape
- RIZe e-liquid
Imperial Tobacco
- Blu E-Cigs
- MyBlu
- Dragonite
- Nerudia e-liquid and nicotine
- Cosmic Fog
Japan Tobacco International
- Logic
- E-lites
- Ploom Model2 (Previously owned by Ploom Inc, who went on to form Juul Labs)
Huabao International Holdings
- V2 Cigs
- V2Pro
- OCB vap
- Vapour2 UK
- Vapor Couture
- Ace High
- Ranch Hand
- Bull Smoke Flavors
Standard Diversified Inc.
- VaporShark
- Zig Zag
- Vapor Beast
Last year, Totally Wicked commented: “Ownership of vaping businesses is currently (and likely for the far foreseeable future) to be very marginal in the overall commercial viability of these companies, but it has become essential that every tobacco company owns and operates vaping businesses. This allows them illegitimate influence on a sector’s future, and that influence can only be in direct conflict with the best interests of vapers and smokers across the globe.”
Traditionally, vaping advocates have been quick to highlight that the independent sector dominates the overall global market. It is clear that Big Tobacco doesn’t intend to rest in the poor quality cigalike sector, especially as it is being annihilated by Juul Labs. More ‘partnerships’ will definitely be forthcoming and the electronic cigarette market is set for changes.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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