EXCLUSIVE: Cannabis Companies On Importance Of Brands Going Mainstream, Entry Into Consumer Packaged Good Market

Cannabis brands need to market to a mainstream audience, while also focusing on their target customer.

This unique balance was a common theme from speakers at the 2023 Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago, Illinois, for a panel on positioning cannabis brands as consumer packaged goods (CPG) products.

L to R: Michael Piermont (Moderator), Patricia Rosi (Acreage Holdings), Sandy Li (Wana Brands), David Knight (Jones Soda), Luke Anderson (Cann)

Cannabis Going Mainstream: Companies in the cannabis space going mainstream can provide broader access to consumers, something that Acreage Holdings Inc ACRHF Chief Marketing Officer Patricia Rosi prided herself on.

“For me, that means consumers can easily purchase and purchase again,” Rosi said. “CPG for me also means building a business engine, driving business performance, a repeatable growth model.”

Rosi said cannabis companies going mainstream were focused on the brand, which was “the driving force” of everything Acreage Holdings does. She added the company has a vision to become mainstream and bring its brands nationwide.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for 12 years.”

Beverage company Cann had a unique position in going mainstream with a focus on branding differently.

“We decided to position Cann as a mainstream CPG product,” Cann co-founder Luke Anderson said.

Anderson said the company made its product look like something you would buy at a grocery store such as Whole Foods, something you might trust.

“For us, it was all about positioning it outside of cannabis.”

Anderson said Cann established itself as an alcohol substitute and it was ridiculous that alcohol was allowed everywhere but cannabis was not.

Jones Soda Co JSDA President and CEO David Knight said positioning a brand to consumers was a bit of science, art and magic.

“It’s marketing 101, it’s all about the brand,” Knight said.

At Jones Soda, Knight said the company looked at who its primary consumer is and thought about making sure people could access the brand in every store and for every occasion. The company often asked how it ensured the brand was available to the consumers it was targeting.

For Wana Brands, the focus was on several items with its asset-light business model.

“For us, we focus on product development,” Wana Brands CFO Sandy Li said.

Li said for branding and getting in front of consumers it was important to focus on key items such as product quality, innovation, consistency and transparency.

For the cannabis sector to grow in the consumer packaged goods space, Li said it was important the “quality across the board is the same.”

Wana has a vision to enhance people’s lives and its key customer was one it can help.

Related Link: Breaking: Senate Committee Approves Cannabis Banking Reform In Historic Vote 

Consumer Feedback Important: Feedback from consumers and looking at data can be incredibly important to help drive the success of brands and consumer packaged goods, Knight told the audience at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference on Sept. 27.

Knight said it was important to engage in consumer conversations and also have cannabis experts hired within the company. Another important data point comes directly from retailers where products are sold.

“You need to engage in conversations with retailers,” Knight said. “Those conversations are critical.”

Knight said team members and partners could also be the eyes and ears and provide customer feedback.

“Get in front of your consumers as much as you can.”

Anderson said there were multiple data points the industry and companies collect and it was important to know which data applied to the customer a company is targeting.

“The feedback you want to get is from your target customer only,” Anderson said.

When looking at customer feedback, Anderson said it was important to know if the feedback was coming from a person you wanted to sell the product to.

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Photo: Shutterstock; Conference photo: Carlos Alvarez