Why Did RJR's Smokeless Cigarette Fail?
$325M for a Cigarette Smokers Hated
📜 What Happened
RJ Reynolds spent $325M developing Premier — a 'smokeless' cigarette that heated instead of burned. Focus groups had warned everyone: smokers said it tasted 'like charcoal' and hissed when lit; it required instructions to smoke; and health groups attacked it anyway. The company's own CEO admitted it 'tasted like sh*t.' It launched anyway (sunk costs demanded it), died in four months, and became a Harvard case in ignoring your own research.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
The research said no, the sunk costs said go — and $325M of internal momentum outvoted every smoker they'd asked.
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
Focus groups can't save you if you only hear the answers you paid to like. The most expensive words in product development: 'we've come too far to stop now.'
📕 The Antidote Book
Customer conversations are the cheapest startup insurance — and almost everyone does them wrong, collecting compliments ('sounds great, I'd buy it!') that evaporate at the checkout. Fitzpatrick's rules, named for the…
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