Diane Stewart Burrows

Diane Stewart Burrows was an R.J. Reynolds Marketing Research Analyst. She wrote a 1982 memo that discussed the effects that price increases have on cigarette sales and that pointed out that price affects the incidence of smoking (the rate at which people start to smoke). One group listed "Teens 12-17." The memo stated,


 * ...[T]he loss of younger adult makes and teenagers is more important to the long term, drying up the supply of new smokers to replace the old. This is not a fixed loss to the industry: its importance increases with time. In ten years, increased rate per day would have been expected to raise this group's consumption by more than 50%.

Diane Burrows also wrote a 90-page R.J. Reynolds strategic market research report that said "Younger adult smokers are the only source of replacement smokers," and "The renewal of the market stems almost entirely from 18-year-old smokers. No more than 5% of smokers start after age 24." The report also stated,


 * brand loyalty of 18-year old smokers far outweighs any tendency to switch with age....Thus, even if a brand falls from favor among younger adult smokers, the younger adults it attracted in earlier years and their increasing consumption can carry the brand's market share for years, significantly extending its overall life cycle.

Diane S. Burrows retired from RJR in 1993.

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