How to Use Identity Policies to Protect Your Cannabis Brand

Cannabis branding is absolutely essential today and is becoming more important every day as the market becomes more competitive. In short, cannabis companies and cannabis-related companies must compete at the brand level if they are to gain significant market share.

That means defining your cannabis brand based on the 7 Ps of branding and securing your claim to a position in the market in order to stay competitive, continue to grow and win in the markets in which you operate.

What does your marijuana brand promise to consumers? How is it better or different from other brands in the market? How do consumers perceive this? Does it meet your expectations? These are just a few of the questions to ask yourself as you build your brand. If you don’t know the answers to these questions, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

When you start a cannabis business, you are investing a lot of money into building brand awareness and memory. Additionally, you will be spending a lot of time building brand loyalty and word of mouth marketing. All of this requires a very strong identity that starts with a brand name and visual elements that represent it.

Establish brand equity (and why you need to protect it)

In business, your brand can become one of your company’s most valuable intangible assets, so you need to prioritize it from the start.

Every brand has the potential to become extremely valuable, including brands of marijuana – and including your brand. If you don’t take steps to protect this potential asset from the very beginning of your brand’s lifecycle, you lose chances of getting it to the full. In fact, you can even make critical mistakes that will open the door for others to reap the value of your brand.

Hence, if you are not already doing so, you need to take immediate steps to monitor and protect your brand. One of the most important steps you can take to do this is to create brand identity guidelines that will tell your employees, suppliers, business partners, journalists, and everyone else how to properly use your brand name and assets in the marketplace.

A key to building brand equity is consistently displaying your brand in every interaction with consumers and the public. Imagine if the Coca-Cola logo looked different than you see it everywhere. You wouldn’t immediately know which company is behind the products if the logo were inconsistent. The same goes for a brand name and the other visual assets that match the brand, such as color palettes and fonts.

This is why you need brand identity guidelines, and these guidelines should be used by both your employees and external audiences. Consistency is essential for brand building.

Develop your cannabis brand identity guidelines

Your goal in developing brand identity guidelines is to provide clear instructions to anyone who needs to produce any type of material bearing your brand name or logo so that they know exactly what your name and logo (and any other assets are You want to protect) can and should be used and displayed.

Know your purpose

The purpose of brand identity guidelines is to ensure that your brand is used consistently and correctly at all times so that there is no confusion among consumers or the public in general about the origin of the goods or services being sold or marketed. Confusion is the number one brand killer, so every aspect of your guidelines should be focused on consistency.

Add the basics

First, your guidelines should include colors, fonts, the required space around your logo, dimensions, shape, proportions and positioning in various treatments (e.g. a co-branded ad, a PowerPoint presentation, a sign or a brochure) . Do the same for any other special image or iconography that you want to protect as part of your brand identity.

Cover the do’s and don’ts

Next, add descriptions of the legal and prohibited uses of your logo and brand values. Do’s and don’ts lists are very helpful in making guidelines less overwhelming and easier to understand. Most importantly, explain when people need to contact you (and how to do so) to determine if they need to get your permission before using your logo or branded content in their materials.

Make sure your guidelines are easily accessible

Also, make your brand identity guidelines and high resolution logo files available on your website. This makes it much easier for media professionals to find what they need if they want to mention your company in a publication.

It also prevents many people from pulling your logo from a Google search where the results could be from sources other than your company and the file they selected could misrepresent your logo.

Use other brands’ guidelines for inspiration

LeafLink’s Brand Identity Guidelines provide a great example of a cannabis brand with useful guidelines readily available on their website including logos, icons, fonts, colors, buttons, social posts, rules, examples, and more.

The NewLeaf Cannabis Branding Guidelines document is 22 pages. It is divided into three sections that cover the brand’s culture, mission, vision and values, as well as the word mark, symbol and size of the logo and the color palette and typeface.

Use the guidelines from LeafLink and NewLeaf Cannabis as inspiration to create your own. You can also look for ideas outside of the cannabis industry. Take a look at the brand identity guidelines for some popular brands like Slack, Facebook, LinkedIn, SquareSpace, and Skype. You can also search for “brand identity guidelines” on Google or your favorite search engine and find plenty of examples to read for inspiration.

Train your team, suppliers and partners

Finally, make sure every employee is given a copy of your brand identity guidelines and understands what they mean and how to use them. Do the same for your suppliers and business partners.

For example, a business partner might want to display your logo on their website. Make your official logo and usage guidelines easier for your partner by providing a copy of your identity guidelines and a link to the guidelines and logo files they need on your website so they are less likely to misuse your brand.

Create a one-pager

A comprehensive brand identity guidelines document can get very long. Few people will take the time to read through this entire document to find the specific instructions they need. So it’s a good idea to have simple, one-page PDFs available that contain easy-to-understand instructions on how to use your logo and other branding elements in a common way.

For example, provide a PDF describing how to use your logo online and another one about using your logo in co-branded ads. That way, you can direct users to the exact list of guidelines to follow when the time comes. You are more likely to get compliance when it is easy for people to do.

Protect your brand

Just as you put up signs and notices at your place of business to protect people from unauthorized entry or theft, you need to put up signs and notices on your brand to prevent people from entering or stealing your brand value.

While many marijuana-related brands cannot secure state trademark registrations today because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, there are steps you can take to increase the value of your brand so that you have a better chance of getting one in the future Secure trademark when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office finally starts granting it on a larger scale.

1. Search

Do a full trademark research as soon as possible to make sure your trademark isn’t inadvertently infringing another trademark’s rights. If not, follow the steps in the link above to get the most out of your trademark claim.

2. Get government protection (if possible)

Additionally, if your business is in a state that allows state registration of cannabis-related trademarks, like California, try to get one too. This can only improve your chances of getting a federal trademark registration if the opportunity presents itself.

3. Monitor

Additionally, you should create your brand identity guidelines and start monitoring how people use your brand name and assets. Even if you register your marijuana brand’s trademark in the future, it will be extremely difficult to prevent others from violating it and using the value you have built in that brand to their own benefit if you don’t take steps To ensure people are using your brand name and your items properly. There are two simple reasons for this:

• A trademark registration only protects your trademark exactly as it was registered.
• You will lose your ability to protect your trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (even if it’s trademarked) if you don’t monitor its use and take steps to prevent others from infringing your trademark.

It is your responsibility to monitor your brand and maintain its value by protecting it to ensure that others do not abuse it or benefit from it without your permission. So create and enforce brand identity guidelines. After all, if you don’t protect your marijuana brand, you’re the only one to lose.

Key takeaways on cannabis branding guidelines

Whatever you do, don’t underestimate the potential value of your brand by not defining and protecting it. Imagine what would have happened to Apple and Google if they hadn’t given trademark protection a priority in the early days when businesses were just starting out? Things may be very different today. It is very possible that the Apple name and logo on your phone or laptop are a completely different symbol.

The bottom line is that the amount of money that is required to rebrand is significant, and you don’t want to have to pay that money if you don’t! Define and protect your brand with brand identity guidelines, trademarks (where possible) and start monitoring their usage immediately.

‍ Originally published 7/27/18. Updated 7/16/21.