Cannabis Branding: Smart Marketing Or Too Much Waste?

Legalizing cannabis almost certainly seems to be doing more than harming the world. As an industry takes shape and drug war victims gradually receive a minimum of restorative justice, we sometimes overlook the adverse effects along the way. Waste is still a major concern.

State legalization leads to an influx of operators and often strict regulations for child-resistant packaging. To make matters worse, growing licensed and unlicensed farms can often have a significant impact on water, waste and land. So much so, that a 2021 study by Colorado State University found that the state’s indoor and greenhouse cultivation produced more gas emissions than state-run coal mining.

Waste concerns aren’t just reserved for manufacturers and retailers. Marketing materials contribute to a smaller but still worrying amount – be it large volumes of leaflets in pharmacies or promotional materials wrapped in layers of plastic or cardboard.

High Times has spoken to several cannabis marketing executives about the problem, its extent, and why cannabis, an area that is revolutionizing, often lapses into such wasteful marketing practices.

Marketing materials are a concern, but far from being the most wasteful type of cannabis

Most respondents believe that marketing and promotional waste is not the main concern of the industry. However, most also considered it a topic worth tackling now.

Brett Puffenbarger is fed up with redundant marketing material. Puffenbarger, director of sales and marketing for FOCUS – Foundation Of Cannabis Unified Standards, told the High Times, “I’m really tired of being handed 150 flyers every time I go to an event.” I’m even more fed up with 75 side dishes that I get in a bag, ”he added when visiting a pharmacy.

Justin Johnson, founder and CEO of the BudsFeed product platform, has worked in marketing and branding since 2004. Johnson, also the co-founder and CMO of Chill Steel Pipes, believes only a handful of large companies are investing in significant promotions right now.

“While it’s likely a large number overall, I think marketing and PR waste are likely only a small percentage of the industry’s total waste concerns,” he said.

Johnson believes a lot of the marketing wastage can be attributed to company growth. He pointed out that brands need to set up regional managers for ordering promotional materials such as bags, pens, stickers, and other items.

“For that reason alone, you’re going to find a lot of waste with MSOs who have individual budgets for different markets and don’t necessarily order swag across the company,” he said, adding that the concerns are not unique to cannabis.

Strict regulations lead to reactions from the industry

Lisa Buffo, founder and CEO of the Cannabis Marketing Association, said packaging was the main concern. She cites strict regulations and single-use materials as the main causes of the problem. While Buffo waits for the rules to change, Buffo begs consumers, influencers, and the media to provide feedback to companies on its marketing materials.

“It’s okay to give brands feedback and let them know that you care less about waste and like the brand more when they act accordingly,” Buffo said.

New York publicist Melissa Vitale said she didn’t see as much waste from cannabis as from beauty and wellness PR efforts. “I saw juice companies send a whole cooler of juices to a journalist with a Brooklyn-sized apartment and they were allergic to most of the juices,” she said.

While the subject is a matter of concern, she agrees that cannabis is not on par with other major industries. “As much as we joke that PR is the devil, compared to other direct marketing initiatives, cannabis PR isn’t big enough to massively affect the industry’s waste concerns,” she said.

Still, Vitale wants to reduce waste. Your company MAVPR recently launched PressBoxx, a quarterly box emailed to media professionals showcasing their cannabis and sex customers.

“Instead of assigning mailings to individual brands, we specialize in multi-client shipping, which minimizes the number of packages that each press receives,” she explained. The PR chief added that her brands are advised to include products that people want to use and avoid branded products that are likely to be given away or thrown away.

How to Implement Green Marketing

Marketing leaders advise brands to think about the environmental impact of their marketing materials. At the same time, they need to consider whether people are using the product instead of worrying about the cost of production. In some cases, this consideration can lead to digital endeavors rather than physical materials.

Johnson sees the transformation of cannabis into a packaged consumer goods (CPG) business. He added, “Getting your product into people’s hands through sampling and gift wrapping has always been a proven practice.” Instead of fighting what he sees as inevitable, brands need to think about what to create and where to get it can finally land – on the landfill. He recommends using compostable packaging.

He also recommended avoiding branded items that people are likely to throw away.

“When brands make something, they should invest in an original design that people actually wear, and not just a branded piece of junk,” Johnson said.

Puffenbarger offered a similar attitude. He remembered a cannabis brand offering free sunglasses at an outdoor summer event. “At the end of the day … I probably saw a hundred people wearing these sunglasses,” he recalls. He added that the wearable brand’s presence almost made the company appear as the main sponsor of the event.

Kyle Rosner, director of media relations at cannabis agency 420Interactive, said his company advises brands to rely on email, newsletters, and other digital endeavors.

“Our top recommendation to brands for effective green marketing is to build their email lead list for targeted digital communication and PR,” he said.

Rosner said iPads on demos tuned to specific company landing pages have increased signups. The company is offering in-store discounts as an added incentive to sign up while also helping to increase in-store sales for the pharmacy.

While the problem is recognized, the cannabis field is likely to be ravaged by waste for some time to come. However, the consensus is that now is the time to act. “If you’re not thinking about the environmental impact of your marketing efforts, you are probably not thinking about the impact of your product,” said Buffo.