Inside Cannabis Brand PR: When Historic Events Happen, Grasslands Puts Clients in Spotlight
Updated August, 2024
One of the great privileges of working as a publicist for cannabis businesses is watching history unfold daily—and playing a part in ensuring that history makes it into the public record.
For example, Grasslands helped propel a historic 4/20 happening this year when the famous, giant marquees over Times Square lit up with the Royal Queen Seeds brand name. Here was a resounding answer to the question of whether you can name a mainstream weed brand. A plant-touching business was announcing its name loud and proud in one of the most iconic advertising destinations on Earth—and we made sure the world knew about it.
At Grasslands, we often discuss how PR for cannabis businesses is PR for the cannabis industry as a whole. When my colleagues hustle to get cannabis CEOs on the cover of mainstream publications like Forbes or ensure our clients’ cannabis products make it into gift guides for Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, we’re not only increasing brand recognition, we’re also shifting perceptions of a highly stigmatized plant.
Why PR for Cananbis Brands is PR for the Industry as a Whole
Since cannabis advertising restrictions prevent brands from pursuing paid media on platforms like television, radio and Google Ads, public relations offers a way to promote cannabis businesses within legal marketing boundaries. Effective earned media not only helps cannabis brands become distinct in the market and expand business; it also drives the mainstream American public’s understanding and acceptance of the cannabis industry.
When Bliss + Lex opened in New York City in early 2024, our pitches highlighted that this was the first Black, female-owned dispensary in Manhattan—a significant milestone in an industry marred by decades of systemic racism in law and policy. To see a pair of social equity applicants finally achieve business ownership after decades of barriers from involvement in the justice system was truly a moment for both reflection and celebration.
It’s also essential to connect journalists with these moments and their significance. So much of the day-to-day of our agency’s PR for cannabis businesses is helping journalists understand where cannabis fits into more traditional beats of business and lifestyle—and that it’s not so very different from other wellness CPG and natural products.
Today, cannabis stories can intersect with a variety of editorial niches like fashion, music, parenting, business, travel and more. And that exposure benefits far more people than just featured cannabis brands. When a Grasslands cannabis PR professional earns a client placement in a mainstream publication like Forbes or The Guardian, a previously unfamiliar audience has a chance to learn something new about cannabis. If the coverage is positive, that’s a chance to change cannabis’s Reefer Madness reputation of decades past.
PR for Cannabis Brands as the Industry Goes Mainstream
While cannabis trade publications and editorships like Grasslands CEO and Founder Ricardo Baca’s historic role at The Denver Post remain vital to the industry, cannabis is no longer a siloed topic. Nor is it a siloed product. With the rising popularity and prevalence of hemp-derived THC and CBD brands like Fable Libations and Wherehouse Beverage Co, as well as a burgeoning cannabis hospitality sector in travel destinations like Las Vegas, cannabis can be found beyond dispensaries now.
In fact, one of the historic highlights during the summer of 2024 was the debut of cannabis consumption at the California State Fair, and Grasslands pulled the spotlight to our client Embarc. For the first time in the fair’s 170-year history, attendees could purchase and enjoy cannabis products much the same as they might indulge in fairground favorites like funnel cake, corn dogs or lemonade. Cannabis has been considered as an agricultural product for a few years now at the California State Fair, but providing a dedicated consumption space went a long way to reducing stigma and shifting perceptions of the plant.
Lauren Carpenter, CEO and Co-Founder of Embarc—the family of neighborhood dispensaries that served as the California State Fair’s partner in facilitating onsite sales and consumption—contextualized the on-site consumption experience in a post on LinkedIn:
"Engaging with this audience has reminded me that for A LOT of Californians, cannabis is still completely foreign. Opening eyes and softening hearts is a beautiful thing and I’m feeling grateful for this perspective and experience."
This is what makes the fair and mainstream events where cannabis is integrated and not the primary focus so incredible and powerful. It’s an opportunity to call people into the rich legacy of cannabis culture and the way this plant can bring people closer together.
Contextualizing Cannabis Fluency in History and Culture
After all, the history of cannabis is deeply entwined with cultures of solidarity between marginalized communities. When international cannabis powerhouse Cookies teamed up with Erykah Badu on her cannabis line That Badu, including a forthcoming line of functional mushroom teas, the collab evoked the century-old interplay between cannabis, R&B, soul and blues. Indeed, “tea” was a jazz-era slang term for cannabis.
A pair of BIPOC celebrities partnering on a line of cannabis and natural products is a potent clap-back to the criminalization of cannabis and subsequent demonization of working-class music made by Black and brown artists. Even if Cookies Founder Berner and Badu never explicitly mention that throughline in their marketing and PR messaging, the legacy of soul and zaza is baked into products made for a modern audience, who might find their curiosity piqued by the collaboration.
That’s our job as publicists—to support and collaborate with our stellar clients who are making history one brand activation, opening and partnership at a time. When we help connect cannabis brands like Cookies and SLANG Worldwide to papers of record, and secure placements in trade publications, alt-weeklies and other media outlets, we’re ensuring that today’s cannabis history is preserved for posterity.
Publicists employ a variety of media relations tactics to promote their clients: news releases, event marketing, gift guide pitches, award and speaking applications. All have their strategic advantages. But it’s proactive newsjacking that presents one of the best opportunities to convey a brand narrative through a trustworthy third-party journalist.
It takes a journalism-minded PR professional to understand how to effectively gain the attention of busy writers and editors to forge relationships and secure earned media coverage. A solid, newsworthy pitch should highlight the brand client and align with their strategic communications goals, as well as give journalists the information and narrative foundation they need to craft a compelling, clickable story.
Proactive pitching and thought leadership opportunities are among the services that Grasslands offers for clients in the cannabis space. Our journalism-minded PR and marketing team will help your business flourish. Interested? Drop us a line any time.