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For the second time this year, the social network X (formerly Twitter) plans to relax its advertising rules for cannabis companies.
Though details were scant, the sneak peek at the new policy came at the recent Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, with X’s sales and partnership executive Alexa Alianiello saying that feedback from the industry spurred the move.
Alianiello’s appearance at the gathering in Chicago—a semiannual event that draws hundreds of analysts, investors, C-suite execs and cannapreneurs—continues X’s charm offensive on the weed world.
The platform set a precedent in media by lifting its ban on cannabis ads in February, then rewrote the guidelines in May to allow marketers more freedom, both geographically and creatively.
An announcement about the broadening standards is imminent, Alianiello said during the session, hinting that weed products will be able to shed their packaging for the first time. That may be especially significant for companies that sell flower, which makes up the lion’s share of weed sales across the 38 legal U.S. states.
“We have some forthcoming policy relaxation that will allow even more opportunities to feature products,” Alianiello said. “There’s some news coming soon.”
‘100 million impressions’
Some brands still need convincing that X is a valuable and safe media buy, even though paid advertising channels are limited for the federally illegal industry. Meanwhile, others have already jumped in, with multi-state operator Trulieve offering a mini case study during the Benzinga session of its results so far.
The conglomerate broke ground as the first weed advertiser on X, seeing “100 million impressions and 40,000 followers across four states in a matter of months,” according to Iram Cesani, director of digital marketing at Trulieve.