Nicotine is having a big moment—actually a few of them. And they’re far from Marlboro Country.
Today traditional smokers are most likely to be higher amongst rural, LGBTQ communities or those with disabilities, depression or anxiety.
Note: high school girls are more likely to have used a nicotine or tobacco product (14.1%) than boys (11.2) in the last 30 days. So it’ll be interesting to see where all these formats are in a few years.
Let’s break the alternatives down:
Zynning - the Pouch
Zyn is a little white nicotine pouch you hold in your mouth, between your upper lip and gums (the upperdeck in Zynfluencer speak).
Pouches like Zyn deliver more nicotine than a cigarette but releases more slowly than vaping. Like vaping, pouches come in flavors like coffee and mint. Technically, it’s not tobacco, it’s “nicotine salt.” And it’s blowing up.
Try our handy starter pack!
The Latest Productivity Hack
Whereas chewing tobacco conjures dive bars and baseball dugouts, Zyn is now a common productivity tool on Wall Street, Silicon Valley and college campuses. According to Peter Thiel, nicotine is “a really good nootropic that raises your IQ 10 points.” Andrew Huberman’s mentioned its cognitive-boosting abilities, too.
The media is taking notice:
Power Packed for an Anxious Age
With its mint-like packaging, vapey flavors and names, these nicotine pouches—alongside gum, lozenges and more—are sold as a way to chill, focus and feel better. In fact, “&Chill” “&Focus” are some pouch product names in the UK.
The vibe evokes upscale edibles, fresh breath and more self-care than rebellion.
This concept started in Sweden, where “snus” has long been a cultural thing. The pretty blonde woman aesthetic seems to be a selling point, especially to the Far Righty young guys that first jumped on the trend in the US.
from Vox, before the girls got in
Unlike the brown drippy Skoal bandits of my youth, these packs are white, clean looking and look like pieces of gum. They are billed as discrete and easy to use at work or at school—and they are becoming a whole vibe.
Zyn Girlies started on the more conservative side of the sociopolitical sphere:
Zyn influencer who’s also in active military service
The Bass Pro Shop look is also around for the female Zynner.
But it’s quickly mainstreaming past the red state aesthetic and into other female spaces.
Office chair, get it?
Take this field report from the newsletter After School by Casey Lewis. She spotted a trendy Zyn lover at a wine bar:
Sat next to a Gen Zer who was reading this while sipping on biodynamic white wine and…. popping Zyn after Zyn. I looked closer; her tiny on-trend crossbody bag was full of Zyn pouches.
Alive with Profits
Zyn is the runway leader of one of the hottest selling categories.
Originally fueled by Tiktok, it quietly exploded amongst young people, growing 300x from 2016 market entry to 2023. Growth isn’t stopping: 33% CAGR is predicted into 2030.
From late December 2023 to mid January 2024, Zyn sales jumped 87%.
Philip Morris execs must be breathing a sigh of relief (no pun intended).
“Your Nicotine Routine”
While the PR spin is often that these products offer a safer alternative to vaping (cigarettes are barely on the radar), these product lines typically offer an array of delivery methods.
Studies show most users use multiple types, not just pouches OR gum.
This makes every nicotine format a “Yes and” which is great for these companies, as you can use these products all day and anywhere. No running out for a smoke break. No social stigma. Mom and Dad, your coach, your boss, your church youth group leader will not know.
Which of course, just amps up the addiction.
In fact, a study shows those who use Zyn et al don’t use less tobacco - they use it alongside vaping or other methods.
Here, competitor Lucy is talking gum and distraction:
Let’s talk LUCY
I need to say it: this brand and the name are interesting.
Lucy may be female-targeted, but the site features male testimonials front and center.
Are young male users turned off by this branding? Is this an appeal to the more non-binary Gen Z or to queer folk, which have traditionally been targeted by tobacco companies?
It’s hard to tell.
We live in an era with water being called Liquid Death and nicotine is being sold in cute girl packaging. What a world!
Vaping is the New Enemy
Cigarettes are not a young people thing. So vaping is a target of many of these brands. Zyn, gum, toothpicks—even cigarettes, occasioally—are touted as better alternatives to vaping.
It’s not all pouches. What was “most iconic accessory at the #grammys?” Blip, a nicotine toothpick. Doja Cat was spotted chewing on one for most of the evening—last year vaping apparently had her out of the audience most of the night.
Blip is positioned as a “Smoking Cessation Company.” It’s female founded and the branding is pretty genius.
The origin story is that on set, model/artist/influencer Princess Gollum was talking about wanting to quit vaping. She joined forces with founder and ex-beauty editor Julie Schott of Starface and Julie (an online emergency contraceptives company) and Blip was soon born. It’s got a whole array of formats, but the toothpicks are arguably the most interesting.
“We wanted to turn NRTs (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) into a brand whose logo [a user would] rock on a T-shirt, because we believe, ultimately, that’s how problems get solved.”
As someone who loves a good brand rallying cry, I can’t argue with this one.
Unlike the other brands who claim better-for-you but do nothing, Blip has a whole stop-smoking support system built into the brand and partnered with a physician. The google line is “Blip Quit Smoking & Vaping”
Weirdly, toothpicks are having a whole trend moment. Blip’s gives you a flavor hit, a nicotine hit and it has cool branding.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m being stared at, but truthfully, when am I not? I’ve heard that toothpicks aren’t very ladylike, which makes me like them even more.”
“A toothpick couldn’t be a more perfect accessory to sum up where we are at this moment.
It’s so small but sharp, minimal yet loud, and fun to fixate on while making a statement. I love seeing a modern woman in a full face beat, waiting for her car to pull up with a toothpick in her mouth and no cigarette to put out.”
The vibe is very futuristic rave of the 90s (to my eyes, anyway).
I find it weird they haven’t come up with a better term than lozenge
Vape But Not Vape
When I read about Philip Morris’s new flagship heated tobacco device IQOS, I assumed it was either a writer being snarky or an AI written post trying to avoid a Tiktok ban on the word “cigarette” or “vape".
Nope - A heated tobacco device will soon be a thing. It’s billed as both a safer alternative to vaping and more affordable than cigarettes. It is a “heat not burn” product that’s positioned as an upscale cig/vape alternative.
IQOS looks like a luxury compact from the 90s, which with today’s “preppy” resurgence should be very on trend. Clearly, women are the target.
Already launched in Europe, the women’s wellness/productivity vibe connection is pretty obvious.
Hot Cigs
Don’t count cigarettes out yet. Hestia cigarettes are billed as American Farmer Grown Naked Wild Tobacco.
red bands from @hestiatobacco
the traditional red band, via James Wojick forTeen Vogue
Launched by The Millennial Marlboro Man, this brand has an aesthetic that’s very Imogene & Willie, Kinfolk, Joshua Tree. In other words, very Millennial. Note the distinctive red band, kind of a flip of a lipstick ring on the end of a filter.
I think all US cigarettes are made with US tobacco, but in marketing, he who takes credit, gets credit.
An unapologetic smoker, founder David Sley is billing them as more flavorful, artisan crafted and less chemical filled than traditional alternatives.
The cigs aren’t widely distributed and Sley gives out many a pack to cigfluencers (i’m sorry, others are using these terms, i’m just the messenger) like the gals from Red Scare. Bowls are being laid out at parties at places like SxSW.
SMOKING CIGARETTES IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND COOL. SMOKING IS BOTH FASHIONABLE AND BAD FOR YOU. WHICH ARE BASICALLY THE SAME THING. IT ABSOLUTELY MAKES YOU LOOK POSHER AND MORE EFF-ABLE ETC AND I REALLY BELIEVE IN MY CIG ADVOCACY.
Meg Superstar Princess, here loving a good cig
Women Secretly Smoking
It’s not all sexy influencers. Some women are just sneaking a Parliament while they take out the trash or when the baby conks out.
As any ex-smoker can tell you, the feeling of smoking as a stress buster is extremely hard to shake. I myself had chain smoking dreams during covid.
I’m not alone, as evidenced by this recent headline from the Cut:
Some even keep their habit secret from their husbands. Regina (not her real name), whose baby is 15-months-old, keeps her vape pen in a box of hemorrhoid suppositories the hospital gave her when her child was born
Smoking as women’s empowerment is nothing new:
Does this not remind you of the Rhode shots I posted a while back?
Today’s preppy dressers, take style notes. Fur coat if you’re still on mob wife.
If all this has you craving a cigarette like the old days, spend some time flipping through old Newport ads.
They’re entertaining, exuberantly optimistic heterosexuality, and often, just incredibly weird. Admit it, though: Alive with Pleasure is an iconic tagline.
What is going on here?
Fever dream? Feminist commentary? Bad hair day?
I would have loved to be in these photo brainstorm meetings.
ALSO THIS WEEK
Ugly is the new bland. This has been happening for a while (see the packages above) but now there’s a new thing: The Frutiger Aero aesthetic is taking off!
Frutiger Aero is an aesthetic based on early 2000s computer graphics. It features high gloss, expansive skies, lens flare, water, tropical fish, and futuristic technology and visuals. Thematically, Frutiger Aero focuses on the harmonious connection between nature and technology. In this aesthetic, there is no conflict between the natural world and modern technology; instead, both coexist to their mutual benefit. Frutiger Aero is positive, utopic, and filled with light.
15 year-old founder launches at Target
When I saw that a teen launched a PMS supplement (gummy, of course) into Target, my soul screamed out for all the struggling female founders out there looking for a break.
Then I read further and saw her dad founded Yes to. Reader, I screamed again.
In fairness, the ingredient list is solid—but not as solid as her advisory board:
To help navigate being a teen founder, she also created an advisory board that includes Josette Sheeran, the former head of the World Food Program; Michele Promaulayko, the former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan; and nutritionist Joanna Shinewell.
The price point makes me wonder about the efficacy, but it’s hard when you’re bootstrapping:
Despite her father’s experience in beauty and personal care, Zoe Leffler said her company is currently self-funded through her own savings.
Best Female Focused Headline I Saw This Week
(via The Cut)
BRING IT TO WORK //MARKETING TAKEAWAYS:
These quotes from the Blip founders:
“We have a different thesis: Produce content that is engaging and not cheesy or boring, the young adults in your life might share it on a group text.”
That’s how you sell a product — first you get the hipsters who roll their eyes, and then you get everyone else.”
Thank you for reading The Biz of Women! Please share with a marketing leader, founder or creative you know!
