advertising campaign was launched; the simplicity and originality of the new marketing strategies have been cited as key factors behind the uptick in brand recognition that was soon to follow.

The campaign employed a strategy of placing paid promoters inside pubs, bars, restaurants and discotheques from which brand interest could be driven directly; in particular, by encouraging young people to engage in blindfolded product comparisons between West cigarettes and their current cigarette brand of choice.

The expansion of the range and the high demand for West cigarettes made it possible in two years to begin sales in Central and Eastern Europe.

[4][5] In Russia, sales of West began in 1997, initially the cigarettes were available in two versions (Full Flavor and Lights) with a classic filter.

The appearance of the new brand was accompanied by the advertising campaigns "The taste of now" and "The power of now", which started a year earlier in Europe.

Through the fresh design, the company said it was making "a conscious effort for innovation and to create something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing for our adult smokers".

So there are a total of 5 different motifs painted in national colors faces from Germany, France, England, Italy and Brazil.

and made good use of it after the fall of the Berlin Wall to gain name recognition in the former German Democratic Republic.

[18][19] West terminated its relationship with McLaren due to a European Union ban on tobacco advertising in 2005 and Vodafone and Emirates became their primary sponsor from 2006 onwards.

[20] In countries where tobacco advertising already was banned on a local level (like Germany and France), West used certain logos, covered the West logos with black gaps, put the first names of the drivers ("Mika" for Mika Häkkinen, "David" for David Coulthard, "Juan Pablo" for Juan Pablo Montoya, "Kimi" for Kimi Räikkönen, and so on) or put "East" on their cars, referring to East Germany at the time to circumvent those laws.

West is mainly sold in Germany, but also was or still is sold in the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Canary Islands, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Algeria, Argentina, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Costa Rica[32] Azerbaijan, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States and Brazil.