While the tobacco industry is often frowned upon, it’s also been kind to investors. In fact, for years, tobacco stocks have been among the best performers, benefiting from an addictive, highly profitable product that has also been recession proof.
However, with many smokers wanting to give up the habit, and the addictiveness of tobacco and nicotine, they’re looking for safer alternatives. That’s where a company like TAAT Lifestyle & Wellness (CSE:TAAT)(OTC:TOBAF) comes into play.
The company may have the solution millions may be looking for. In fact, it’s already delivering cigarettes with no tobacco , and no nicotine, and offering a better option to millions of smokers. Not only is it doing it at less cost, it’s not removing the taste or the smell of tobacco at all.
TAAT Lifestyle & Wellness (CSE:TAAT)(OTC:TOBAF) Working with CROSSMARK Inc.
The company just announced that its flagship product TAAT™ is now under the representation of CROSSMARK, Inc., a Texas-based sales agency of more than 25,000 employees that serves retail channels across North America as well as Canada. TAAT™ intends to leverage CROSSMARK’s existing relationships with over 100,000 convenience retailers to expand availability of TAAT™ in Ohio and potentially elsewhere in the United States. Besides food, beverage, and household products in the consumer packaged goods category, CROSSMARK has also had success in commercializing tobacco category offerings in the United States. In addition to providing wholesale and retail head office listing support, CROSSMARK is to deploy an in-field execution team across both banner and independent retailers to support in-store acceptance, merchandising, and reorders of TAAT™ products. TAAT™ also seeks to leverage CROSSMARK’s extensive promotional, trade marketing, and analytics support to augment existing initiatives and potentially drive nationwide growth, as the Company works towards its sales and volume objectives for 2021.
The Company’s engagement with CROSSMARK is the result of the successful completion of a process that began in October 2020 when the Company issued requests for proposals to solicit national-level representation for TAAT™ by a sales agency in the United States. After reviewing three proposals and completing due diligence, the Company entered into an agreement with CROSSMARK dated January 20, 2021 in which TAAT will work collaboratively with CROSSMARK over the next several weeks to prepare their employees to onboard TAAT™ as part of its CPG offerings and begin rapidly introducing the product line to retail accounts who sell tobacco.
Founded in 1905, CROSSMARK first rose to prominence in 1977 when it took on an inventory management project for Cadbury to mitigate difficulties with out-of-date product in stores. By the year 2000, CROSSMARK had completed over 50 mergers and acquisitions to form a nationwide full-service sales, brand management, and merchandising firm. In 2013 CROSSMARK also acquired Marketing Werks and PromoWorks , which are Chicago-based agencies specializing in end-to-end marketing and consumer engagement through in-store and out-of-store channels. The Company is confident that CROSSMARK’s comprehensive suite of services covering the entire CPG product journey can play an important role in further establishing the presence of TAAT™ in retail stores.
TAAT™ Chief Executive Officer Setti Coscarella commented, “Ever since TAAT™ was first placed on store shelves in Ohio in December 2020, we have received glowing feedback about the product from both legal-aged smokers and retailers alike. It is common knowledge in the world of business that this is only the first step towards the success of a product launch. We selected CROSSMARK to represent TAAT™ because their formula for creating, implementing, and executing strategies for CPG merchandising has been honed over decades of bringing new consumer products to mainstream retail channels. In addition to leveraging their relationships with major retailers and wholesalers across our targeted channels for TAAT™, CROSSMARK also offers an impressive suite of ‘back office’ functions including marketing, data analytics, and order processing support. Altogether, these services could enable TAAT™ to penetrate the tobacco market much more rapidly and efficiently compared to building out our own national sales and merchandising team from scratch. One only has to look at the results CROSSMARK achieved in commercializing another tobacco brand across the United States to know that they have both the experience and know-how to launch a product to an audience of legal-aged smokers, which could assist the Company in realizing its objectives for the TAAT™ product launch. We are thrilled to have CROSSMARK on our side as we seek to make TAAT™ products available to legal-aged smokers throughout the United States.”
Jeff Neihart, a Vice President and General Manager of Customer Service for CROSSMARK commented, “At CROSSMARK, we pride ourselves in our familiarity with what intrigues today’s consumers and what consistently delivers value to them. We are very selective in onboarding only a limited number of new brands each year, and it gives me great satisfaction to have found a match in TAAT™ as a novel, relevant, and ‘sticky’ product that could continue to resonate well with legal-aged smokers. Furthermore, we are confident that with the combination of our presence in the retail channels through which tobacco products are sold and our experience in executing strategies within the category of tobacco alternatives, we can amplify the value proposition offered by TAAT™ to legal-aged smokers in the United States and help the Company meet or exceed their goals. CROSSMARK has been in the business of connecting retailers with a curated range of CPG products for more than 100 years, and we are excited to introduce TAAT™ to tobacco retailers who we predict will find the product appealing and will want to carry it in their respective stores.”
Other related developments from around the markets include:
RLX Technology Inc. (NYSE:RLX), which just debuted on market, claims to be the No. 1 “e-vapor” brand in China, as noted by Benzinga. “ Revenue for RLX Technology was $228.2 million in fiscal 2019 and $324.2 million for the first nine months of 2020. E-vapor was a $1.5 billion market in China in 2019 and is expected to grow to $11.3 billion by 2023, the company says.”
Universal Corporation (NYSE:UVV) will webcast its conference call on February 8, 2021 , following the release of its results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 after market close on that date. The conference call will begin at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and will be hosted by Candace C. Formacek, Vice President and Treasurer. A live webcast of the conference call will be available online on a listen-only basis at www.universalcorp.com . A replay of the webcast conference call will be available at that site through May 8, 2021.
Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) announced the appointment of Jorge Insuasty to the position of Chief Life Sciences Officer, effective Jan. 15, 2021. Mr. Insuasty will report to the company’s CEO, André Calantzopoulos. “Jorge’s wealth of experience across both the pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare industries makes him the ideal candidate to succeed John O’Mullane, who is retiring,” said Calantzopoulos.
22nd Century Group Inc. (NYSE:XXII), a leading plant-based, biotechnology company that is focused on tobacco harm reduction, very low nicotine content tobacco, and hemp/cannabis research, announced that the Company is moving its corporate headquarters to the up-and-coming Larkinville District in downtown Buffalo. “We have experienced tremendous positive change in our organization over the past year and this relocation will help us improve on efficiency, collaboration, and our ability to attract and retain top talent,” said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century Group.
Legal Disclaimer / Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Winning Media is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Winning Media is only compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation. Pursuant to an agreement Winning Media has been paid three thousand five hundred dollars for advertising and marketing services for TAAT Lifestyle & Wellness Ltd. by a third party. We own ZERO shares of TAAT Lifestyle & Wellness Ltd. Please click here for full disclaimer.
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