2019 PCA Magazine

28 PCA The Magazine | JULY-AUGUST 2019 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG OK, let’s talk about the new logo. In addition to representing the entire industry, what’s behind the color palette and shape? First, you’ll notice the three sections, which represents the number 33, the year the organizationwas founded. The colors fromthe green to the brown to the gray represent the life cycle of the tobacco leaf: green for the tobacco fields, brown for themanufacturing and sale of the products, and gray for the ash that results from enjoying the product. Everything is very clear as far as why the rebrand, particularly when it comes to the lobbying aspects of the organization. So now I’m just trying to put my feet in the shoes of a retailer who sees this change. What does that mean for me, as a retailer? How is this all going to impact me? Hopefully it’s going to have a positive impact.We have a renewed focus onhowwe can deliver added value for all of ourmembers, specifically for our retailers.We’re going to be seeing lots of new initiatives and tools retailers can use to improve their business, with one, as an example, being this newmagazine.We’re really going to bring to bear every single component and level of the research that we have at the organization to delivering value to ourmembers. The trade show, of course, helps with that because it provides this one-stop shop. You get the good discounts and put your orders in andmeet themanufacturers. But to complement the trade show, we’re really looking for ways in whichwe can leverage the entirety of our network and our resources to continue to provide better tools and services. For example, inThe Blend section of this issuewithTom Lazuka andAsylum’s Ogre, the article offers the story behind the cigar.We knowa story really helps sell the product. And being able to get inside tips fromthe guys who created the cigars, I think is awonderful tool for our retailers to be able to use as crib notes essentially, when customers inevitably ask, “What’s new?” Our office is often used for welcoming policymakers— congressmen and senators as well as staffers. And I’moften asked about the cigars we have in our humidors. There are several instances of cigar makers explaining their cigars tome and then I would, in turn, convey that information to our guests. One that stands out is Omar de Frias of Fratello. Omar really took the time to explain his cigars tome—the tastes, the blends and why he created them. A few days after his tutorial, we were hosting some folks and I was able to share that knowledge with our guests. About amonth later, I reconnected with one of the guests and he said he went looking and found Fratello Cigars at Drapers after I had explained the cigar to him. So emphasizing and enhancing that direct link between themanufacturer and retailer can only benefit business. We really exist to help the retailers and the retailers are selling thosemanufacturers’ products. So with all of our initiatives, we’re trying to facilitate that type of commerce, and really help people be their best when doing it. We want to help all our members decrease costs, increase revenues and therefore realizemore profit at the end of the day. The organization is also making some changes to the charter, specifically allowing consumers to join. Can you talk about that? The time has really come for us to represent the entirety of the premiumcategory, and that includes the consumers. Themain drivers for this are obviously our advocacy efforts. When we can involve themany thousands of consumers in our engagement with state and federal policymakers, we bring amuchmore powerful message. We are at our best when we think with onemind, speak with one voice and act with one heart. It’s great to be able to have four, five, 10 store owners within a congressional district to go to their state capitols or come here on Capitol Hill. It’s even better that the store owners can be accompanied by dozens if not hundreds of enthusiasts and customers who are all taxpaying voters in those districts to say, “This is important tome.” So that’s one of the things that we’re looking to do, to connect the consumer in a stronger way through our local retail stores in the lobbying fight. In addition, involving consumers really allows us to facilitate even better brand relationships with both retailers andmanufacturers. This alsomeans the debut of CigarCon in 2020. You can read inmore detail about CigarCon in this issue, but we’re excited to host an event that centers around the premium category and celebrates it from the consumer end. We’ve got a lot of people out there that really love the trade show. The consumers, they see it via social media, from influencers, the cigar media and elsewhere. So being able to engage with consumers through this event, I think just completes that industry circle. And it obviously can only help retailers andmanufacturers in terms of brand building and customer relationships. Strength in numbers, right? Right. We face perpetual battles now. We need to have a mechanism in place that we can fund. We need to be able to do it in amanner that’s going to be responsible, that’s going to eliminate redundancies, and that’s going tomake sure that every dollar spent is focused onmoving our strategy forward. We’re creating an infrastructure to be proactive. In the past, we’ve been reactive. So we want to get to the point where we’re ahead of the game 90 percent of the time. There’s always going to be those things that come up that just come out of nowhere and we couldn’t foresee, but if we can be engaged and active on the local level, the federal level and with each segment of the premium cigar industry, I think we’ll have a much greater chance of success. The bold simplicity of the PCA logo design expresses deeper layers of meaning: the three segments on the top and bottom of the leaf represent the founding year of the organization (1933), while the leaf’s color palette is used to represent the lifecycle of tobacco, evolving from the vivid green of a tobacco plant to the rich brown of a processed leaf, and finally to a warm gray that evokes the ash of a freshly smoked and enjoyed cigar. PCA P R E M I U M C I G A R A S S O C I A T I O N