This year, Philip Morris International celebrates 10 years since IQOS was first launched to the world.
“The changes in the tobacco industry are “tectonic” and in just 10 years are already a fact. Consumers are becoming more demanding and businesses are becoming more open, more flexible and more responsible in offering products to meet their demands,” says Verginia Djevelekova, Public Relations Manager at Philip Morris Bulgaria.
Her career path began 29 years ago in the reception area of the Philip Morris Bulgaria office, and over the years she has moved through various roles, departments and stages of the company’s development to also become part of an unprecedented transformation on the path to building a smoke-free future. Thus, through difficult tasks, complex cases, unconventional solutions, bold ideas, fast and dynamic teamwork, Verginia Djevelekova has been gaining experience in one of the most challenging industries – tobacco – for over a quarter of a century.
For Philip Morris, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the company’s first heating device in the world. Can you share your experience before that and how the company got to the milestone in 2014?
I will take the tape back a few more years, when back in 2010 at Philip Morris International’s headquarters in Switzerland, I first saw prototype developments of electronic devices that heated special tobacco sticks without them burning. The first thing that impressed me was that after a few minutes of heating and inhalation, the filter remained pure white, as there was no tar deposition, and secondly, there was very little, almost invisible, vapour – no smoke. For me personally, and for the rest of my colleagues it was an experience we will never forget – it seemed like a fantasy. There was skepticism, but we were very excited and hopeful. We left with the expectation that something big was coming.
If smoke-free tobacco heating systems were developed as early as 2010, what delayed their market launch even then?
The smoke-free tobacco heating system known as IQOS might not have the leading position and such successful implementation it has today if it was not backed by solid and comprehensive scientific research demonstrating through laboratory, toxicological and clinical testing the reduced levels and exposure to harmful substances compared to cigarette smoke. At our research centre in New Chatel, I met some of the scientific team, and today there are over 1500 scientists from the fields of medicine, chemistry, biology, pharmacology, toxicology, who have been instrumental in the way the company is going. Senior management was determined more than fifteen years ago to invest in science as a key element for future success – a revolutionary idea for the tobacco industry. So when, shortly before Christmas of 2014, the first IQOS devices were unveiled in Nagoya, Japan, and in Milan, Italy, the entire Philip Morris community around the world looked forward to it. And it was a sign of the beginning of our new path.
A radical change in our industry is now a fact – in consumer and societal perceptions and attitudes towards the harms of tobacco. We have built a new business model in which science has become an integral part, and we have active, open and honest communication with all stakeholders, including regulators, scientific experts, health experts and adult consumers.
What assessment would you give of the past decade of Philip Morris in fulfilling the mission of a smoke-free future?
Some will say my assessment is biased. So I’ll just say objective data and facts: in 2016, Philip Morris International publicly announced its mission to build a smoke-free future and its ambition for adult smokers who do not completely quit using tobacco or nicotine to replace cigarettes with proven less harmful smoke-free alternatives. Thus boldly articulated, our mission and ambition sparked, and continues to this day, a “seismic activity” that 10 years later has led to tectonic changes deep in the foundations of the industry and consumer habits.
The fact is that today IQOS is the leading smoke-free alternative to cigarettes for millions of adults worldwide and is present in 84 countries. It is a fact that, Philip Morris International has invested over $12.5 billion in research, development and technology development. It is a fact that with continuous improvements in technology, product design and the accumulated scientific data on IQOS, both proprietary and independent, over 33 million smokers worldwide have now left cigarettes in the past and switched to our smoke-free system. And this is because they have become convinced of the qualities of a better smoke-free alternative than cigarettes. Among them, at the beginning of 2024, there are over 350 000 in Bulgaria, and the number continues to grow.
What else can we expect from Philip Morris in the way of creating a smoke-free world?
Reality, of which we are a part, is in constant flux. “Panta rhei, pants chorei” (“Everything flows, everything changes”). There are historical periods that are more energy-laden than others, and I think we are in just such a period, when changes in every sphere are moving at a frightening speed. This is also true of the changes in the lifestyles and mindsets of people who are increasingly demanding of themselves and their consumption. These societal dynamics are also shaping the way we do business; industries are becoming more flexible, more entrepreneurial, more open and bold in their ideas. The tobacco industry is no exception, and Philip Morris International is proving to be a company that knows how to not only be a game changer, but to lead the way, and that means responsibility and sustainability.
In our mission for a smoke-free future, IQOS will continue to be our focus, and caring for the IQOS community of millions is paramount. But we recognize that consumers have different demands and expectations for smoke-free alternatives. These can only be met with a greater variety of product developments. That is why the company is constantly building on and expanding its smoke-free portfolio, not only with heating tobacco such as IQOS ILUMA and lil SOLIDEz (in partnership with the South Korean company KT&G), but also with vaping offerings – now also in Bulgaria from May, and in the future with other projects in the smoke-free category. All with the potential to reduce harm compared to cigarettes, of the highest quality, with care and attention to detail and with responsibility towards people and the environment.
How is the company’s responsibility to the environment put into practice in Bulgaria?
Our information campaign “ChangeThePicture” (promenikartinkata.bg) to encourage consumers to always dispose of their tobacco waste and filters in the designated places has now reached 3 years old, and the supporters and participants in our clean-up actions multiply with each initiative.
Responsible business behaviour also requires a clear commitment to recycling electronic devices, their components and batteries. So we are building on “ChangeThePicture” (promenikartinkata.bg) with our new programs to collect used devices and include them in two recycling rounds – one at our recycling center in Hungary and the other at home in partnership with the Bulgarian company EcoSafe, so that 80% of all our products are recycled.
What’s more, some of the devices that we offer – the IQOS Refreshed line – are completely refurbished used devices that consumers are very interested in. And that’s not all, most of the materials, including the packaging, put into our products are from recycled resources. This is how our “ChangeThePicture” campaign is becoming more and more recognisable – we are effectively changing the landscape of the country.