Craig Lyon, who recently joined California brand Connected Cannabis as head of marketing, spent the early years of his career at Nike, which constructs mythologies around its products as effectively as any company in the world.
You can’t sell an eighth for $70 unless it’s high-quality product, but plenty of high-quality producers charge far less.
Coming to the new industry, Lyon has been struck by how so many brands are trying to demystify cannabis: “Everything seems to be about making this easier, simpler,” he said.
He wants to step back a bit and ask why so many companies are using the same playbook, even if it doesn’t necessarily fit their brand.
Lyon sees a similar conformity in brand ambassadors, in-store demos and other cannabis marketing staples, that won’t necessarily be replicable as the industry grows.
Some of that likely owes to brands which have to train all their resources on simply getting a product to market, rather than the story they tell the world.
“I have always believed that the word of your friend is greater than the word of any brand speaking to you,” he said.
In California, Connected is a known entity, but that’s not true to the same degree in some of the new states coming online.
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