Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a new cannabis brand is launched. Marketing is branded and presented with trendy words and concise phrases. The packaging is minimalist and well-designed, with sleek fonts, clean lines and a tasteful but neutral color scheme. Maybe there’s even a celebrity involved. Weed, which should be the focus, exists, but it is a dish, mass-grown and sometimes flavored with botanical terpenes from other plants. It almost seems like a later idea, and it often is. My friend and colleague Jimi Devine likes to call it a “weed in the press release.”
For some people, the new wave of sexy branding is met with mediocre product hits. Marketers are waiting for it: many are betting on their entire business because cannabis scares many people, thanks to the efforts of prohibitionists over the years. They hope that there will be an incalculable “curious cane” customer who has just waited for Uncle Sam’s permission to be turned on, and once they do, they will be hooked for life. Personally, I believe that the archetype of the consumer is the one for whom the type of marketing is intended.
But for anyone who has been smoking weeds for a long time and often enough, finding an elegant brand in the current cannabis industry that continuously legalizes can be a bit of shit.
“Who exactly is this for?” I often wonder, especially as a person who is at the intersection of a few seemingly priority target groups for cannabis sellers: I’m a woman who, at 36, is approaching middle age. I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder as well as ADHD. I also stopped drinking a lot more than two years ago, switching from more weeds to less drinking. According to the panels I’ve moderated and participated in, the people I’ve interviewed, and the trend reports I’ve read, these are all the main goals for cannabis companies, especially middle-aged women. But the truth is, I’ve always smoked marijuana, and all I care about is buying it. nice to be all.
Interestingly, though, the only aspect of my life that should seem appealing to cannabis sellers — the fact that I’m what my primary care physician calls a “big cannabis user” – doesn’t seem to be particularly sought after. by the brands or people who market them. At first glance, this seems a bit obvious, because why should anyone build something for a population that has already arrived when growth at all costs is the goal? But it seems a bit disrespectful that cannabis branding and marketing efforts are increasingly ignoring its main customer, rather than getting a peacock for a possible imaginary toker who honestly will probably never buy more than a bag of groceries. low doses every few months. or so.
Add insult to injury, cannabis is not just another well-packaged consumer. It is a criminalized controlled substance, the prohibition of which has resulted in the death and imprisonment of many people, a legacy that continues to this day. It may seem curious in the age of dispensaries that look like Apple stores or high-end stores, but not too long ago, it wasn’t really normal to even buy or sell weeds for sure! Those of us who did, whether we tried or not, were participating to some extent in an act of resistance. We were at risk. To me, I think this means that our weed marks are as weeds and stony as we like. Bring the tie-dye, the kitsch of Grateful Dead, the wide range of touches. We have fought for it and we deserve to enjoy it.
Instead, I find myself scanning display cases at dispensaries, often not even being able to see or smell the weed inside the beautiful packages and not being sure what I’m buying. I read brilliant profiles of cannabis executives, many of whom have been quoted as saying something like, “Our weed brand transcends the stereotype and image of the stoner.”
Great, I guess, but what does that mean? So many types of people smoke weeds, and on paper and at first glance, I’m probably not what most people will imagine when they hear “stoner,” but here I am. Also, I’m not ashamed of being a pothead, especially considering how much cannabis has improved my life and helped me cure a variety of ailments. The problem is not my consumption, but the view of the rest of society what the problem really is.
That said, there are certain aspects of culture that I am glad are beginning to change, as more and more different types of consumption are being celebrated. The fact that low- and mid-range THC products are being called along with a greater focus on terpenes is music to my ears. And while there is still a long way to go, I am grateful that the serious culture of the cannabis world is beginning to dissipate, albeit slowly. I look around at consumer venues, parties, industry events, dispensaries, boardrooms, and cannabis media companies, and more and more women are present than ever. To me, this is more meaningful than a nice pre-roll with “feminine” design attributes.
Up until this point, I was recently in a panel with cannabis lawyer Heidi Urness, who also agreed with me that cannabis brands should stop focusing on this fake customer who so much wants to appear out of nowhere. . “You can make a product that appeals to a customer that you didn’t intend to attract,” he said. “This is your customer now! Serve them!” I could not agree more.
