Inside a $280 billion tobacco giant’s push to turn smokers into smoke-free customers

Philip Morris International (PMI) is attempting an ambitious reinvention, repositioning itself around smoke-free alternatives in the U.S., while still carrying the financial weight of a global cigarette business. The roughly $280 billion tobacco company, best known for the Marlboro brand, says it plans to generate more than two-thirds of its net revenue from smoke-free alternatives by 2030. It is a delicate transition. To get there, PMI must build new growth engines while preserving the revenue base that makes transformation possible at scale.

Seth Kaufman, PMI’s U.S. chief commercial officer, frames the strategy as a rare alignment between business growth and public health goals. The pitch is straightforward, he says. Millions of adults still consume nicotine, and PMI wants them to move away from cigarettes toward smoke-free alternatives. Kaufman points to the size of the opportunity. “There are 45 million legal age nicotine users in the US, over 30 million of whom still consume nicotine in its most harmful form.” In theory, helping those users switch allows the company to grow while advancing a harm reduction narrative.

That promise sits at the center of PMI’s public positioning, but it also exposes the tensions underneath. PMI markets itself as smoke-free in the U.S., where its portfolio focuses on alternatives rather than cigarettes. Combustible products, however, remain a major source of revenue internationally. The company argues that revenue from traditional products supports investment and expansion in smoke-free platforms, a framing that supporters view as a pathway toward transition, though critics say it allows PMI to continue profiting from cigarettes in some markets while positioning itself as a health-forward innovator in others.

How PMI navigates those tensions depends heavily on the consumer strategy driving its U.S. business.

Kaufman’s approach to building brands reflects a career spent in industries built on repeated consumption. Before entering nicotine, he worked across soda, coffee, and wine, categories that depend on creating repeat behavior and emotional attachment to brands.

Those businesses also succeed by shaping how products fit into everyday life, sometimes blurring the line between routine and dependency. That background shows up in how he talks about strategy now. “It always, always, always has to start with the consumer,” he says, emphasizing curiosity, empathy, and identifying unmet needs. The framework is classic consumer packaged goods thinking applied to one of the most heavily scrutinized categories in business.

PMI says its growth story is built around conversion rather than expansion, insisting it is focused on existing adult nicotine users, not on creating new ones. Kaufman describes the opportunity as embedded in the mission. “Growth is actually inherent in the mission, because there is an audience there that we can talk to, and we can help them make better choices.” The logic works while millions of smokers remain available to switch. The unanswered question is what happens when that pool shrinks. Conversion-driven growth has a natural ceiling, and pressure to keep delivering returns could eventually collide with the company’s public health narrative.

Culture has also complicated the story in ways PMI did not fully script. Nicotine pouches like Zen have become closely associated with high-stress workplace environments, particularly in finance and tech circles, where they are frequently discussed as productivity aids. Kaufman avoids describing the products in performance terms, reframing nicotine use around rituals and occasions instead. The language keeps the emphasis on harm reduction rather than on cognitive or functional benefits, which could create regulatory risk as the company seeks to maintain credibility with public health authorities.

Kaufman describes Zyn’s cultural surge as something driven by consumers rather than company strategy, creating distance between PMI and the viral online culture surrounding Zyn products and reinforcing the idea that the company is responding to demand rather than driving it. “I’m always surprised by consumer behavior,” he says. “If I wasn’t surprised by consumer behavior, it would tell me I’m not curious enough, because it’s changing so quickly.” At the same time, Kaufman points to broader audiences beyond the finance and tech image that has popularized the products online. Female smokers, he says, are an underdeveloped segment, so the company is highlighting certain flavor profiles and adjusting its messaging to reach them.

Inside PMI, product development focuses on refining the portfolio based on consumer feedback. Kaufman points to gaps in flavor variety, nicotine strengths, and packaging formats intended for different occasions. “We’re really, really early in understanding what those unmet needs are,” he says. The strategy relies on continually adjusting offerings to better match how adult nicotine users actually consume them. 

Kaufman projects confidence that PMI’s smoke-free transformation can work. Smoke-free products already account for 42% of net revenue across 106 markets as of the end of 2025. Still, some contradictions are difficult to ignore: A smoke-free narrative supported by combustible revenue elsewhere. A conversion strategy that promises growth but ultimately faces limits. And a consumer playbook built on cultivating habits that is now being used to sell a future centered on harm reduction.

The challenge ahead will be to prove that the economics, cultural positioning, and public health narrative remain aligned as the company pushes deeper into its next chapter.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com