These Are Rules to Live By for Weed Marketers Amid the Green Rush

It is premature to predict that a commercial for cannabis will show up in the Super Bowl—at least in the near future—but marketers in the fast-growing industry should be prepping now for a more open advertising landscape.

The advice, from the Cannabis Media Council, comes as the trade group launches its first set of ad rules for marketers in the space. Full Spectrum: Guidelines for Responsible Use, which will be updated annually, notes that the weed industry “has to commit to a bit of adulting” to convince mainstream media outlets to accept its paid ads.

Among its seven core pillars, the association recommends that ad campaigns be fact-based, educational and legally compliant, targeted only at consumers of legal age. Marketing should be diverse in its artwork and imagery, and environmentally sensitive in its production, per the rules.

“The cannabis industry is rapidly growing as legalization and curiosity peak, so we must evolve to support this influx of new users,” according to Rachel Boykins, CMC founding board member and the leader of the effort. “Similar to the alcohol and pharmaceutical industries, it’s important that we establish best practices as advertisers that are responsible and ethical in order for mainstream media to see cannabis as a safe space.”

Part of the document’s mission, and the CMC aim overall, is to “counter misinformation and deprogram the war on plants,” said the report.

Full Spectrum includes case studies of impactful weed campaigns from brands such as Pax, Cann, Betty’s Eddies and House of Puff. The CMC uses its own launch campaign from early this year as an example of how to land paid ads in a largely hostile environment, given that cannabis is still federally illegal.

The CMC’s ongoing campaign, “I’m High Right Now” from creative agency of record Sister Merci, was recently the first weed ad to ever appear in Vanity Fair magazine. The placement was part of CMC’s partnership with Hearst Media and 46 Mile.

Green rush

The 83-page Full Spectrum report, launching as 74% of Americans have access to some form of legal weed, includes checklists for both marketers and publishers. It stresses the importance of advertising for the health of the cannabis industry, which is still cut off from traditional avenues like national TV, radio and print.

With the recent exception of Twitter, where a number of brands are experimenting with paid ads, digital giants like Meta and Google also remain off limits for weed marketers.

Partly because there are limited options and ongoing censorship, cannabis companies spend 79% less on marketing than other CPG players, when comparing ad spend as a percentage of revenue, per Surfside. 

At the same time, more than 85% of cannabis businesses say they struggle to reach their target consumer, according to New Frontier Data.

As noted in the report, states across the country continue to legalize medical and adult-use cannabis sales; the tally now stands at 37 states and Washington D.C., with more expected to join the green rush. There are an estimated 54 million American cannabis consumers in the regulated and illicit markets, worth $107.7 billion. 

Marketing that speaks to current and canna-curious consumers has long been considered an invaluable tool to help lure people from the unregulated market.

‘Invitation for creativity’

CMC now has some 200 members, including CannaCraft, DadGrass, Weedmaps, Kiva, Sundae School and Pure Beauty. While the rules outlined in Full Spectrum are voluntary, the group may help set a precedent for other emerging categories, according to Dorian Slater Thomas of the law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz‘s advertising and interactive entertainment division.

“Perhaps the CMC and its guidelines will inspire other plant-based industries, like psilocybin (psychedelic mushrooms), to consider similar self-regulatory measures,” Slater Thomas told Adweek.

The report’s release “signals that the industry has reached a certain level of sophistication,” Slater Thomas said, noting that the winners will be agencies and brands “who see such guidelines as an invitation for further creativity, not a prohibition to creativity.”