Table 2.

Potential sources of information regarding new and modified tobacco products.

Source	Location	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages	Utility
					Identify	Characterize	Monitor
Disclosures to governments	www.ftc.gov/tobacco http://www.mass.gov/dph/mtcp http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html (See Appendix A for full list)	The last FTC report on cigarette yields was issued in 2000, covering brands tested in 1998. Later data can be requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Texas require additional disclosure of product design features and smoke constituents such as nicotine in tobacco, ventilation, and smoking at alternate machine regimens. State tax and finance departments require manufacturers to report the brands and/or varieties offered for sale in those states, pursuant to the Master Settlement Agreement. The New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control maintains a list of brand styles certified as compliant with the cigarette ignition propensity regulation.	Legal mandate Product-level data in many cases Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes exist for companies dealing in Tobacco Products (SIC 2100) or Cigarettes (SIC 2111).	Depending on required reporting cycle, data may not reflect currently available products. Data fields limited by what was requested by law/regulation	X	X	X
Industry reports and communications	Business Source Hoovers Stock analyst reports Scientific meeting presentations	Important pieces of data to extract are launches, market share, profitability, total product sales by category (cigarettes, smokeless, other), and profit margin.	Databases exist Designed for others in the industry and/or investors	Time and effort needed to extract data At best hypothesis generating	X	X	X
Internet	Various	Novel products may have dedicated websites with product information. Examine possible viral marketing on the web, via chat rooms, blogs, message boards, YouTube, and social networking sites (e.g., MySpace; Facebook).	May gain direct insights from consumers	Difficult to determine accuracy/reliability of information Particularly difficult separating ‘stealth’ comments made by marketers from legitimate consumer postings.	X	X	X
Local Area Tracking	N/A	The distinction between national rollout and local test markets can be important. States routinely perform compliance checks of retailers’ youth sales practices under the Synar Amendment, which might provide an opportunity to examine the brand mix and pricing strategies in retail environments.	Assess point of purchase, a key marketing point Know what is available in a given market Allows data gathering for characterization of packaging, claims, and product engineering	Coordination needed to ensure coverage of different retail environments Labor intensive	X	X	X
Newspapers	Lexis-Nexis	CDC created a system to track tobacco-related news stories in 2004, so in principle it is feasible.	Databases search major domestic and international newspapers, and even TV and radio transcripts	Labor intensive Requires pre-coded evaluation and abstracting	X	X	X
Patents	http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html http://www.google.com/ptshp?tab=wt http://www.espacenet.com/index.en.htm	The USPTO allows searches of published patent applications from March 1991 forward.	Technically descriptive Requirement to describe prior art	Difficult to link to specific products May never be commercialized May contain misleading/incorrect information	X	X
Internal Tobacco Industry Documents	www.tobaccodocuments.org legacy.library.ucsf.edu www.pmdocs.com www.rjrtdocs.com www.lorillarddocs.com	As a result of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the major cigarette companies are required to disclose among other things internal reports and research on their products.	Required disclosure Little motivation to mislead internally Availability of developmental work, laboratory notebooks, testing data	Lag between creation and release May reflect older thinking Some product specific information (such as brand formulas) may be considered proprietary and not made available. Incomplete record	X	X
Correspondence with the company	www.altria.com www.philipmorrisusa.com www.reynoldsamerican.com www.lorillard.com www.ustinc.com	Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program has held meetings with tobacco manufacturers in an effort to learn about new product offerings such as Marlboro UltraSmooth, Taboka, Marlboro Snus, and Marlboro Moist Snuff.	Ability to ask targeted, direct questions May gain information not otherwise publicized	No guarantee of (truthful) response May be provided misleading information	X	X
Informants	N/A	Former and current company employees, assuming they are not bound by confidentiality agreements, may be able to describe ongoing research in general terms. Wholesalers, distributors, and retailers may also be aware of upcoming product launches, and may also be able to provide advance notice.	May gain information not otherwise publicized	No guarantee of accuracy of information	X	X
Products introduced in international markets	http://www.tobaccojournal.com/	The major tobacco companies operate in multiple countries via partnerships, licensing agreements, and subsidiaries.	Actual products and associated marketing to examine	Product may fill a localized product niche, and stand little chance of being sold in US	X	X
Trade publications	www.tobaccoreporter.com www.tobaccojournal.com http://www.tma.org/tmalive/FrmMain	Trade publications include Tobacco Reporter, Tobacco Journal International, Smokeshop, and Tobacco International. The Tobacco Merchants’ Association (TMA) has extensive databases of product information that may be purchased by interested parties.	Information directly from and for those commercially interested in the products	May require corroboration from independent sources Require subscriptions Costly	X		X
Magazine Advertising	http://www.smrb.com/ http://www.mediamark.com/ http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/ http://www.tns-mi.com/	Magazine advertising data is available from independent commercial data sources for consumer products such as Simmons Market Research, Mediamark Research Inc., TNS Media Intelligence (TNS), TwelvePlus, and DoubleBase. Key variables Readership demographics Advertising volume Expenditures Placement information (magazine title, issue date, brands advertised, list price)	Databases exist, and customized datasets can be ordered	Magazine advertising of cigarette products less common than in the past Costly		X	X
Sales and Use	http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/	Commercial databases track consumer products including tobacco products for sale and price by sub-brand nationally and in selected markets that can be used to measure use and compare to conventional products and control for manufacturer’s manipulation of price to affect sales.	Objective data on purchasing patterns Ability to examine trends	May not include certain retail outlet categories (e.g., convenience stores) Costly. Little insight into reasons for purchase			X
Population surveys	http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/	Brand and sub-brand level tobacco use data are obtained from a number of national and statewide tobacco surveys or other surveys with tobacco modules or questions, including the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Monitoring the Future Survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the National Health Information Survey.	Representative samples Samples generally large enough to examine test marketing in limited geographic areas	Limited brand information, if any Can only ask limited set of questions about any given topic Difficult to field for quick response to emerging product			X
Focus groups		Gather small groups of consumers to gain information about product perceptions.	Can be fielded rapidly in response to new products Opportunity for more in-depth questionning Can serve to inform other data collection modalities (e.g., surveys)	Tend to be unrepresentative Time consuming			X