Davidoff Camacho : Fernando the Cigar Genius

Davidoff is promoting its Camacho cigars with the invention of an oily and disreputable character who calls himself the "Cigar Genius". If that sounds like a bizarre strategy for a luxury brand, well, the character, Fernando (played by Broadway actor Philip Hernandez) has already amassed a following in a series of amusing YouTube videos, a Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Fernando (who philosophizes smugly about cigars but is never actually seen smoking one) actually stands for everything the Camacho brand is against, and the connection between him and the Camacho brand was not originally made clear. However, Camacho had been running a giveaway via Cigar Aficionado's 20th anniversary issue calling for Cigar Smokers to "Get Real". Eventually, on September 19, Camacho challenged Fernando to "Get Real" and smoke one of its cigars, or lose his "Cigar Genius" title. The campaign, by Wunderman New York, has already seen Fernando acquire 18,000 Facebook fans, and continues.