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From the brand that packaged cannabis like top-shelf liquor for the 2023 holidays comes a new—even more covert—way to give the gift of ganja.
Vivid, which has a devoted fan following among Missouri cannaseurs, has launched limited-edition containers modeled after bottles of wine and video game controllers. Opening these Trojan horses reveals the real present: three jars of premium Vivid flower tucked inside.
The seasonal stunt—accompanied by marketing that mimics vintage beer advertising and classic Norman Rockwell imagery—drops as cannabis has spread further into the mainstream than ever before, with 40 states legalizing its sales in some form and 88% of Americans supporting the end of prohibition.
Yet some stubborn old stigmas linger, with consumer insights driving the Vivid campaign, according to Tony Billmeyer, CMO at parent company Show-Me Organics.
Billmeyer and his team said they heard countless stories of the “elaborate effort” that consumers put into exchanging holiday weed on the down-low. Some people hide in closets to wrap pre-rolls, tinctures, and vapes, while others make excuses to leave family gatherings for a cannabis gift handoff, he said.
“We don’t think people should have to sneak around,” Billmeyer told ADWEEK. “So we’re giving them the means to proudly give those gifts right in front of loved ones at their holiday gatherings.”
Tension buster
Coming up with a clever disguise for weed—making it look like a benign, everyday object—could be seen as a hedge. But it could also be a proactive tension diffuser at a traditionally stressful time of year, made more fraught by the recent contentious presidential election.
In other words, ultra-conservative relatives will be none the wiser when siblings gift each other bottles of Vivid “wine,” with the camouflage helping to sidestep any potential judgement or shouting match.
