Cannabis brand Ayr Wellness latched onto Mother’s Day by using images that could’ve been marketing spa packages or weekend getaways. But the language—“Canna mom escape? She’ll THC-you later”—made clear the kind of self-care product on sale.
Popular social tonic Cann, meantime, continued to spar with Big Alcohol in a short film for the holidays showing a boozy family dinner run amok. Its savior came in the form of weed-spiked soda and one of the best lines of ad dialogue in 2022: “Merry microdosing, motherf*cker.”
While eye-catching and entertaining in their own right, these two pieces of cannabis marketing are also doing some heavy lifting. They aim to bust the lingering stigma of weed consumption, challenge stoner stereotypes and stake claims on major mainstream holidays, mirroring their CPG counterparts.
And yet, the campaigns somehow didn’t make it into the best-of 2022 list. How is that even possible? It was an embarrassment of riches, folks, which speaks to the state of creativity in a category besieged by rules and regs, shadow bans and arbitrary shutdowns.
This year, Adweek is presenting an expanded list—10 instead of the usual five—covering our favorite activations, advertising, activism and collaborations. With apologies to those not included—catch you next time, Cheeba Chews—we present the unranked winners here:
‘Weed’s Come a Long Way, Baby’
From mood board to billboard: a luxury brand dubbed “the Coco Channel of cannabis” borrowed from one of the most famous women-centered commercial campaigns in history, and the result was a visual and contextual chef’s kiss.
Flower by Edie Parker launched its largest marketing effort to date under the tagline, “Weed’s Come a Long Way, Baby,” putting its own twist on iconic Virginia Slims imagery and tweaking the original ad language.
Company founder Brett Heyman said she’s always been inspired by the groundbreaking 1960s and ’70s aesthetic of the groundbreaking Phillip Morris work. And she had been waiting for just the right time to bring the concept into the modern era. She decided to make that splash for April 20, the Black Friday of weed, just as the female demo has swelled to 55% of cannabis buyers, per Headset.
‘Big Heads Listening Party’
A modern-day Beavis and Butt-Head episode. A friendly gathering with many bong hits and PBRs, set to a chillwave soundtrack. A trippy display of giant, perpetually-smiling papier-mâché heads.
What’s not to love about a mashup of all these things?
To promote his latest release, Grammy-nominated artist Toro y Moi partnered with audio company Sonos and weed brand Pax to bring his twisted vision to life. The result was a 41-minute ad that has logged more than 645,000 views on YouTube alone with virtually no paid media push.
This is not—repeat not—a typical music video, and that’s why it’s so memorable. With a Mystery Science Theater vibe, goofy expressionist dancing and psychedelic dream sequences, the listening party for Toro y Moi’s Mahal record is a must-watch.
BVG Hempticket
A tiny cheat here: this was a stunt, not a straight-up ad, and it happened at the tail-end of 2021. Neither fact diminishes its awesomeness.
To make the everyday chore of commuting less of a total buzzkill, Germany’s public transportation system, BVG, dropped a product no one saw coming: first-of-their-kind hemp-infused coupons.
These train tickets were dope—literally.
With the tagline, “Come home, calm down,” BVG and agency Jung von Matt AG created the tickets out of edible paper, doused them with cannabis’ legal cousin and sold them in the days leading up to Christmas 2021.
The limited-edition product, which caused a social media frenzy and won a Grand Clio, advised consumers to “chew up all the stress of the festive season” while hitching a ride. The program snagged the equivalent of $13.3 million in media spending and 860 million impressions.
Freedom Grams
Advocates often repeat this number—40,000—because it represents the people held in U.S. jails for minor, non-violent cannabis offenses. And in 2022, when legalization has swept across 37 states, it’s a tragic piece of data.
To put a human face on the issue, a coalition of activist brands and ad agency Serviceplan Germany launched a brand—Freedom Grams—that sells legal cannabis in exactly the amounts that landed people behind bars.
In addition to flower that comes in 0.3 to 23.5 grams, with AR-enabled packaging that highlights eight U.S. prisoners and their personal stories, the program features a dedicated website, editorial content and merchandise.
Freedom Grams, which sold out its initial run and donates its proceeds to the Last Prisoner Project, plans to expand from California into Washington and Colorado. Aside from gathering broad-based support, the program also racked up a bronze Lion at Cannes 2022 and a Grand Clio.
All Things Must Grass
Another cheat: this is a product line, but its retro-style low-fi branding aesthetic and intro video make it a true best-of contender.
Nascent cannabis player Dad Grass scored a major coup by partnering with George Harrison’s estate for a co-branded collection of pre-rolled hemp joints, smoking paraphernalia and merchandise.
The products launched in April under the banner All Things Must Grass, a purposely corny riff on Harrison’s seminal 1970 album All Things Must Pass.
The collection—an example of both the popular microdosing trend and the growing demand for weed-related swag—marks the first time a member of The Beatles or their families have officially aligned with a cannabis company.
It was also the first celebrity deal for Dad Grass, a brand born during the pandemic in 2020 as a distinct counterpoint to the high-potency weed that has come to dominate the adult-use market. And it’s not a one-and-done deal; expect to see more goods from this alliance.
‘More Flowerful’
This campaign for Pax wasn’t a spring fashion spread for Vogue, but it sure looked like one.
“More Flowerful,” which coincided with Women’s History Month, put some of the industry’s unsung heroines into photogenic scenarios fit for the pages of Cosmopolitan.
Pax intentionally chose to feature women who aren’t often in the spotlight: “the budtenders, the brand builders, the artists, the educators, the innovators, the activists, the partakers.”
The art-driven project launched against a less-than-sunny backdrop: the number of women in corporate cannabis C-suites is below the national average and there are still scant female-owned businesses.
“Women have been an important backbone of this industry since day one, helping to build it from the ground up,” Lauryn Livengood, the campaign’s architect, told Adweek, noting that the aim was to “give visibility to those living life out loud and shaping cannabis today, and to inspire more women to join the movement.”
‘Taste So Good’
Weed-laced soda Cann and partner Weedmaps took inspiration from various sources for their long-form content that kicked off Pride month. Among the touch points: an iconic Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears—for the Super Bowlesque spectacle—and vocal flourishes from Lady Marmalade.
What they ended up with was a sexy glitter bomb called “Taste So Good” that featured an original song, celebrity cameos and “radical inclusivity.”
The short film, which took a swipe at the entrenched booze industry, starred a cast of diverse characters including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Patricia Arquette, Kesha, Olympic skier-actor Gus Kenworthy, singer-songwriter Vincint and a bevy of RuPaul’s Drag Race alums.
It was the centerpiece of a five-state campaign for Cann, representing its most significant marketing to date. And the results—all organic—were stellar: 5 million views on YouTube and Instagram combined, 3 million audio streams and nearly 100,000 TikToks created.
‘#SaveBrockOllie’
Weedmaps isn’t the first cannabis company to try to buy a commercial during the Super Bowl, the most coveted appointment viewing on network TV. Multistate operator Acreage Holdings attempted to do so back in 2019.
Both had the same results: Hard no.
Instead of airing during the Big Game, the Weedmaps 2022 spot got digital and social distribution, along with significant earned media for its exasperated fictional character named Brock Ollie.
The walking, talking veggie—the broccoli emoji come to life—showed how fed up he was with the innuendo that followed him around. Co-workers, neighbors and strangers bombarded him daily with clumsy references to getting high when, as most of the country has legalized cannabis, it should be an open conversation with no coded language necessary.
Weedmaps used the short film to make a statement about censorship in cannabis marketing, and because of its deadpan humor, got the message across in a way that entertained and didn’t preach.
’37 Seconds’
Gary Chambers Jr. didn’t win his bid to become a U.S. Senator, but the Louisiana activist and cannafan still made history by becoming the first major-party candidate to smoke a blunt in a political ad.
Chambers ended up with about 18% of the vote in November, losing to the Republican incumbent and Trump ally John Kennedy. But his “37 Seconds” campaign kickoff video made an impression far beyond his home state.
Its goal, along with destigmatizing the plant, was to highlight the disproportionate impact that prohibition has had—and continues to have—on minority communities. (Someone in America, most often a person of color, is arrested every 37 seconds for possession of cannabis.)
“We knew it was a bold position to take,” Chambers told Adweek in January, just after the ad started catching fire on social media. “We didn’t want this to come off as a gimmick, and that’s why we approached this project with a tone and message that would resonate.”
Jeeter Marts
Jeeter, known for its streetwear-style product drops and epic live events, kicked off a 100-stop pop-up tour in July, building mini convenience stores at dispensaries in California, Arizona and Michigan.
The design? Classic mid-century with an old-school, feel-good vibe. And the flourishes? Pure retro-fabulous.
In addition to mini mart staples like scratch-off lottery tickets and salty snacks, the store-within-a-store concept featured an exclusive Piña Colada flower strain, limited-edition merchandise and capsule collection apparel, all stoking the FOMO of the young target demo.
Jeeter’s founders drew from their roots as concert promoters in the EDM space for their most ambitious marketing to date. And their three-month sweep cleverly coincided with a summer of amped-up experiential activations at weed retailers nationwide.
Source link
