Gold Flake is a classic Indian

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...

brand that has been on the market for over a century. Gold Flake is sold in a multitude of varieties, including Gold Flake Kings (84mm), Gold Flake Kings Lights (84mm), Gold Flake and Gold Flake Lights. This brand is owned, manufactured and marketed by ITC Limited.

History

Gold Flake was first produced by Stephen Mitchell & Son of Glasgow. From 1901, Bristol's W.D. & H.O. Wills, a subsidiary of

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (originally the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain & Ireland, and subsequently Imperial Tobacco Group plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is ...

, took over production. "Gold flake" refers to cigarettes made using ''bright rich golden tobacco''. After 1912, the biggest change came in 1971 with the introduction of Gold Flake Kings, followed up with the launch of Gold Flake Kings Lights in 1999. Gold Flake enjoys a large market share in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

where it is sold by British American Tobacco Pakistan.

ITC In India

ITC launched the brand Gold Flake in India in the 1960s. Initial advertisements were targeted towards adult male SEC A category smokers. After the introduction of lights as a category, the brand introduced Honeydew Smooth – giving the brand a recognizable differentiator with a dew drop symbol. With smoothness being their biggest selling proposition, the brand used symbols like the silk scarf, feather, paint brush, violin, marble vase, hour glass, and shell as visuals to reiterate and associate themselves with smoothness. After this, the brand reinvented its image and positioning with a new campaign that moved away from the well-established Honeydew campaign. This was the ''Go Smooth'' campaign.

Marketing

Many poster advertisements have been made for Gold Flake cigarettes, especially in India. In the early 1900s, two characters by the names of "Mr. Gold" and "Mr. Flake" were introduced to promote the Gold Flake brand in the United Kingdom. The characters were used for about 30 years and were popular, but it did not help the sales of the brand and Gold Flake was discontinued for a short period of time.

Markets

Gold Flake is mainly sold in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was exported to

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Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the

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, the

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, the

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Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Products

The brand has many variations, including Gold Flake Kings (84mm) and Gold Flake Kings Lights (84mm). A 10-pack of Gold Flake quad-core cigarettes costs Rs. 95. Various other variants are available at different prices, and Gold Flake is amongst the top 10 best brands in India. As of 2013, Gold Flake has been targeting young adult smokers. It extended beyond the SEC A category to the SEC B as well. ITC has launched its smallest size which is of 64 mm and costs 60

Rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

s for a 10-pack of cigarettes.

Sponsorship

Gold Flake was the main sponsor of the

Gold Flake Open The Maharashtra Open (known as Tata Open Maharashtra for sponsorship reasons) was an annual men's ATP Tour 250 Tennis championship since 1996. It was held in Pune (since 2018) and was part of the ATP Tour, before it was moved to Hong Kong i ...

tennis tournament from 1997 until 2001. It was an ATP tennis tournament held in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, India. The tournament is now known as the Maharashtra Open. The tournament was held from 6 April to 13 April.

References

{{Imperial Tobacco Indian cigarette brands Imperial Brands brands Companies based in Kolkata Products introduced in 1901 ITC Limited