The reason of Winston Cigarettes’ success was the use of a filter and a new type of tobacco mixture. According to legend, the idea of ​​producing filter cigarettes was brought by one of the company’s managers (Edward Darr), who returned from a trip to Switzerland (in Europe filter cigarettes were a great success). There were only fears that the taste of new cigarettes would be unnecessarily mild. Of the two and a half hundred developed cigarettes, Winston was chosen. In addition, a new type of tobacco bag was tested, which included tobacco grade “Burley”. This kind of tobacco was pre-thermally processed by a special technique (this process is called “toasting”). It is noteworthy that in the same year Philip Morris Company changed the composition of the tobacco mixture of Marlboro cigarettes, which was present on the market for 3 decades and missed the stars, on very similar. Whether this was a coincidence, or there was a case of industrial espionage, is unknown, but the composition of the tobacco mixture obtained was much better than before, which consumers did not fail to confirm.

It was decided to name the brand in honor of the city of Winston, in which Reynolds laid the foundation of the future company – a small factory for processing tobacco. In the 50’s the city merged with the neighboring Salem, founded a century earlier. The name Salem was also used as a cigarette brand – menthol cigarettes of the same name began to be sold in 1956. But there was one more factor that contributed to the rapid growth of sales of Winston cigarettes – it was a well-thought-out advertising campaign.

In September 1954 in the Pittsburgh newspaper there was an advertisement of these cigarettes, accompanied by a couplet “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should”. The slogan contains a grammatical error: instead of “like” you should use “as”. It is not known whether the mistake was made inadvertently, or it was a deliberate PR move, but the advertising achieved its goal – the brand was attracted universal attention. The next move with the use of the phrase “What do you want, good grammar or good taste?” This made cigarettes incredibly popular.

The scandalous slogan put on music was launched on the air of radio stations and TV channels, as a result of which in 1956 the brand became the most successful tobacco brand.