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MANUFACTURER SPOTLIGHT
> Left: Ohserase’ redesign of its Signal packaging features a heroic-looking Mohawk brave sending a fiery signal on the front of its cigarette pack, while a placard celebrating Native American traditions now appears on the back. Around the tops is a stylized rendition of Mohawk beadwork. Above: Members of the Mohawk tribe, like Misty Swamp (shown here doing quality control on Signal cigarettes), play an important part in operating the Ohserase factory.
Message from the Mohawks How a tribe in Upstate New York is capturing the appeal of traditional Native America in an all natural cigarette made by indigenous workers. >BY CHRISTOPHER BICKERS
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ou might say the Mohawks are sending a “Signal.” And the signal is there is a cigarette coming out of the north country now that contains an all-natural tobacco blend and is made largely by Native Americans. Way up north in upstate New York— so far north that a few steps the wrong way will put you in Canada—-you will find Ohserase Manufacturing, a family-owned and operated tobacco products manufacturing company and members of the legendary Native American tribe, the Mohawks. They may be on the verge of winning a significant place in the American cigarette market, thanks to a new marketing
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push on Ohseraseg’s flagship brand, appropriately called Signal. The brand and company were both launched in 2006, but the presentation has been completely revamped in the last year, and you can see those advances most clearly in the packaging for Signal cigarettes. SUBSTANTIAL REDESIGN The packaging before had what you might call a generic look and just didn’t convey the brands’ best attributes: its all-natural blend, containing only tobacco and water, and the fact that the product is Native American-made. “The redesign focused on celebrating our heritage of keeping the product
pure from additives and other chemicals while showcasing our Native American roots,” says Justin Tarbell, executive vice president of strategy and business development at Tarbell Management Group, the family business that owns Ohserase Manufacturing among other holdings. There is now a Mohawk brave on the front of each pack holding a flaming ember as if to signal his tribesmen. The top of each pack has been decorated with a colorful stylized representation of beadwork of the sort that Mohawks are famous for. There are Mohawk words printed under the lid. For instance, under the lid of the pack I just opened, I found oh yoo gwa, which means tobacco. But the attribute that defines what the Tarbells are trying to accomplish is the seal on the lid, says Justin. It guarantees that the cigarettes inside use only all-natural tobacco and is believed to be the only cigarette brand in the country with a guaranteed like this. And a perspective on Native American tobacco use is given in a placard on the back of each pack. It says:
