The Green Repeal - A Guide to Cannabis Marketing Advertising

In America, a criminal record can make it much harder not just to get a job, but to launch a business. Social equity programs are working to change this, and have helped former felons and victims of Reagan-era drug policy to start innovative companies - sometimes in formerly criminalized industries.

Chris Ball is the founder of Ball Family Farms - a family-owned and operated business, and the first vertically integrated social equity brand in Los Angeles. They focus on unique form meticulous pheno-hunted genetics and offer a wide array of potent flower strains. He used a social equity program to build his cannabis business after being indicted, and is now using his company and his platform to advocate for change across the industry.

Today, Chris joins the podcast to share the story of his journey into the cannabis industry and the many hurdles he faced along the way. We talk about the value that traditional cannabis guys can bring to the adult-use market, the innovative technology Chris is using to create fascinating new cannabis products, and how brands can both court connoisseurs and advocate for change.

Key Takeaways

• How social equity programs allow people who were disenfranchised by the war on drugs to launch businesses.
• What does - and doesn't - work when it comes to new product launches, and why Chris aims to make every Ball Family Farms release an event.
• What Chris is doing to get the attention of the important gatekeepers in the cannabis industry.
• How brands can cultivate authentic relationships with minority audiences - and why so many brands come across as phony when they try to do this.
• Why Chris thinks we're 24 months away from federal legalization.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/23

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

The legal cannabis industry is astoundingly white and astoundingly male - and the barriers to entry for everyone else are astoundingly high. Entrepreneurs of color struggle to raise funds, shake social stigmas, and become part of an industry that hasn't fully reckoned with its history.

Entrepreneurs like Ashley Stallworth don't just know this firsthand - they have a deep understanding of how to navigate these challenges and advocate for others to break into this industry. Ashley is the owner and founder of Present Naturals and Bio Fiber Industries. He is also on the management team of about 400 other companies including Pathogen Pros, High Standard Labs, and Wepa! Farms, as well as an active member of the Minority Hemp Builders Association.

Today, Ashley joins the podcast to share his unique views on the industry, where it's come from, and where it's headed. We discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship in the face of regulation, upcoming legislation, and what it means to be a Black man making a living in the cannabis industry in 2020.

Key Takeaways

• How Ashley keeps track of the many unusual tax rules and regulations that make operating cannabis businesses across multiple states so difficult.
• Why it's so hard for people of color and diverse backgrounds to get into legitimate cannabis - and how this mirrors the lack of diversity in startup hubs and Silicon Valley.
• Why so many people of color are also afraid to get involved in legitimate cannabis - and how a rampant distrust of authority has made this even worse.
• How Ashley thinks states should approach legalization of adult-use cannabis - and why criminal records for nonviolent crimes related to cannabis need to be expunged at the same time.
• Why so many businesses are looking for the perfect banner ad instead of advocating for meaningful change - and how the Black Lives Matter movement has impacted Ashley's work.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/22

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

The stereotypes around "stoner culture" - Bob Marley posters, ridiculous looking photos of bongs, and the associations with criminals, addicts, and drug dealers - have been around for decades. As the perception of cannabis, both in medicine and adult use, changes, people are finally pushing back against this imagery.

Serial entrepreneur Ophelia Chong is a tireless advocate for Asian American women in the cannabis industry. She's the founder of Stockpot Images, Asian Americans for Cannabis Education, and Mogu Garden, to name just a few of her many endeavors.

Today, Ophelia joins the podcast to talk about how she built a massive collection of positive stock imagery around cannabis, the unique challenges businesses face in making a Schedule 1 controlled substance approachable to a mass audience, and how women and minorities can get a bigger stake and find their voices in an industry dominated by white men.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• How her sister's battle with an autoimmune disease led Ophelia to launch her first cannabis-related company.
• Why almost everyone has an "edibles story," why it's so hard to accurately dose cannabis for new consumers, and how the industry can work to stop this from happening (and scaring off customers) in the future.
• How cannabis product sales have changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• How high-end cannabis, much like high-end wine, can become a category of its own.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/21

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

There's no one-size-fits-all career, especially in the world of cannabis. However, there's one thing we've learned in our conversations with industry insiders and talented people building incredible companies: there's a long way to go before the stigmas around stoner culture, slacking off, and being lazy are gone for good.

Jay Jackson, aka Laganja Estranja, is living an unconventional career in cannabis - and is as far from a slacker as you could imagine. Laganja is a world-renowned female illusionist, choreographer, musician, cannabis advocate, and LGBTQ+ icon. You may have seen her on season 6 of RuPaul's Drag Race, Heidi Klum's Queen of Drag Race, and So You Think You Can Dance. She also graced the cover of New York Magazine's The Most Powerful Drag Queens in America issue, and has performed at events and festivals all over the world.

Today, you'll hear the story of how an injury and successful treatment convinced Laganja to make cannabis her platform, what brands are doing right (and wrong) in trying to reach wider audiences, and what she's doing to advocate for both cannabis and the LGBTQ+ community in an utterly unique way.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• How a serious injury sustained as a dancer led Laganja to medical cannabis.
• How Laganja built a platform designed to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
• What it means to Laganja to be drag's reigning cannabis ambassador - and why she still sees the mainstream cannabis industry as not open to the queer community.
• Why it's everyone's responsibility to be critical when it comes to their spending - and what cannabis companies can do to nurture an authentic, inclusive culture and message.
• Why Laganja sees full legalization as at least four or five years away, no matter what happens this election.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/20

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

Direct to consumer subscription services have filled a wide variety of niches and become massively popular over the last several years. For reasons both obvious and not so obvious, the cannabis industry is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this business model, but also faces extremely specific challenges that other subscription goods services do not.

Liz Whiting is the head of marketing and creative at The Daily High Club, a monthly subscription service that sends its members a box of amazing smoking accessories each month. These can include glassware bongs, dab rigs, rolling papers, munchies, and much more. The brand has a number of regular collaborators, including B-Real and Tommy Chong. Liz is also an entrepreneur, blogger, painter, and women's health advocate, and you may have seen her writing in SELF.

Today, Liz joins the podcast to walk us through her job, what it means to be part of a male-dominated industry, and her advice for anyone looking to break stigmas and build a career in the cannabis space.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Why the Daily High Club had to make a pivot to survive the COVID-19 pandemic despite being a delivery business.
• How the Daily High Club has gotten involved in community-based initiatives and done more in tough times.
• Why education is so important in the cannabis industry right now - and how Liz brings her personal values to Daily High Club.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/19

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

The nascent culture surrounding adult-use cannabis is still finding its tone of voice, and brands are still struggling to fully define themselves. Many companies that produce materials for the industry are either cold and clinical and make you feel like you're looking at something from a pharmacy. Others fully embrace all of the stereotypes of stoner culture, and that pushes people away, too.

Charlie McElroy is thinking differently about how to teach people about cannabis. He's the founder of Goldleaf and now spends his time at the company focusing on the creative vision. His company designs and prints journals, templates, infographics, data visualizations, and other educational assets for the cannabis community. He distills complex ideas, makes them digestible, and makes them beautiful - and his clients, which include doctor's offices, co-ops, dispensaries, and growth centers, to name a few, rely on him to win over skeptics and cultivate a new kind of lifestyle brand.

Today, Charlie joins the podcast to tell the story of how he entered the cannabis industry, effective storytelling techniques for brands within the field, and how he's putting an end to common misconceptions about these products.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• How Charlie discovered a need for new kinds of educational materials when it comes to cannabis.
• Why Goldleaf has a very deliberate and intentional look and feel that's neither cold and clinical, nor reflective of stoner culture.
• What makes cannabis education so different from teaching consumers about alcohol - and why it's much more like wine than it is whiskey or spirits.
• The cannabis myths Charlie finds himself debunking often - and why the indica-sativa generalization is so inaccurate.
• Why Goldleaf is committed to staying analog in a digital era.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/18

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

Huge amounts of wealth have been created for entrepreneurs and businesses seeing success in the cannabis industry today. However, there are still many people all over the country incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses, and there is so much work to be done as we reckon with the legacy of cannabis prohibition.

Andrew Deangelo has spent decades of his life working to address both of these issues. He's the co-founder of Harborside Health and part of the Board of Directors at the California Cannabis Industry Association. Perhaps most critically, he's also the co-founder of the Last Prisoner Project, which is laser-focused on getting cannabis prisoners out of jail and reintegrated into society through jobs, training, and housing.

Today, Andrew joins the podcast to share stories about coming up in the nascent cannabis industry, why it was so hard to be a champion of cannabis over the last 30 years without getting arrested, and the power of storytelling to make change in our world.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Why the frameworks surrounding cannabis regulation and taxation need to be improved - and how a lack of interstate industry creates massive inefficiencies and redundancies.
• How the United States can end "Prohibition 2.0," stop its war on the gray market, work with its legacy, and create a large, thriving legal market.
• What can be done to help those hit hardest by the war on drugs to build businesses - and how prior convictions create a series of neverending red tape and setbacks.
• The parallel barriers across the alcohol and cannabis industries - and the systems in place that lead to legal monopolies in both.
• Why Andrew believes we're still very far from full federal legalization.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/17

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

The cannabis industry faces many different unique challenges, and making sense of the data it produces requires specialized tools. To name just a few, there's an astounding amount of product out there, tons of variables at play at every stage of manufacturing and distribution, and the nuances of legality across states.

To turn this information into data-driven decisions, cannabis businesses turn to Headset - a data intelligence company that specifically provides analytics for cannabis retailers, manufacturers, brands, and investors. It gives them the power to easily forecast the marketplace and create the reports they need to get ahead in a complex, crowded industry.

Today, Liz Conners, Headset's Director of Analytics, joins the podcast for a deep dive on this topic. You'll discover how cannabis businesses discover the trends that shape this industry, what Liz has seen develop in her home state of Washington, and what's changed for Headset's clients since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The learning curve that sets cannabis apart from other industries when it comes to analytics.
• The unique data Headset provides businesses that can't be collected from other cannabis POS systems.
• Why it's so hard to collect honest, accurate data from cannabis users.
• How data and analytics add legitimacy to the cannabis industry on a national level.
• Why Liz foresees more states moving to adult use in the near future.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/16

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

With the onset of the COVID-19, lifestyles all over the world have changed in major ways. More than ever before, people are relying on delivery services to get their groceries, meals from their favorite restaurants, alcoholic beverages, and a whole lot of other things. However, for many reasons, some of which might be obvious, cannabis is a particularly tricky product to legally deliver.

Meredith Mahoney is facing these challenges head-on. She's the president of Lantern, a cannabis business solely owned by Drizly. Currently serving customers in Massachusetts, Lantern helps people shop by dispensary, find cannabis products suited to their unique needs, and safely and legally purchase directly from shops from the convenience of their doorstep.

Today, Meredith joins the podcast to walk us through how Lantern got started, the challenges of building an online business in a highly regulated space, and what the company is doing to grow over the next several years.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Why Lantern, as a software company and not a delivery business, doesn't need to be licensed on a state-by-state basis in order to operate.
• How a business like Lantern differs from food delivery vendors in terms of pricing structure.
• How Lantern finds partners, retailers, and dispensaries to work with - and how social equity and economic empowerment are part of the company's mission.
• What makes using Lantern a better experience than most dispensaries' own websites.
• Why Lantern hasn't yet rolled out in states like Colorado - and how federal restrictions help protect the company from competitors.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com/15

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal

In November of 2018, Missouri voted to legalize medical use of cannabis, making them the 33rd state to do so. As the state builds momentum toward adult use, a number of interesting things are happening that prove how different just every path to legalization is.

Today's guest is Internist Mimi Vo. Mimi graduated from medical school at the age of 23, and discovered that there was a massive educational gap when it came to the potential use of cannabis.

Now, in addition to practicing medicine in St. Louis as the CEO of Vo Medical Clinic, she's also one half of YEN-ology, an organization representing healthcare and patient rights for cannabis patients, and the Head of Healthcare Education and Training at the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association. The St. Louis Business Journal also named her one of the most influential businesswomen of 2019.

Today, Mimi joins the podcast to tell the story of her own awakening to the medical potential of cannabis, the promising research she's seen in medical cannabis, and how the coronavirus crisis is impacting cannabis business owners on both sides of the industry at this time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• How Mimi discovered the potential of medical cannabis - and used data, not stories, to change her strict father's perception of cannabis.
• Why cannabis is essentially apolitical in Missouri - and why rural communities actively want cannabis businesses to open there.
• How the COVID-19 crisis changed the developing cannabis industry in Missouri - and the frustrations Mimi has faced as a medical practitioner.
• Why attempts to keep the global economy moving could negatively impact cannabis prohibitions - and the unique challenges for businesses that can't qualify for any federal aid money.
• How universities are finally formally integrating cannabis science, extraction, and dispensary procedures into their curriculum - and why it looks a lot like trade programs for wine and beer.

Show Notes

For complete show notes, including transcripts, takeaways, and links to all the resources mentioned, visit SoHoExp.com

To learn more about the podcast and get access to all episodes, visit: SoHoExp.com/GreenRepeal