Hashish model Ayr Wellness latched onto Mom’s Day by utilizing photographs that might’ve been advertising spa packages or weekend getaways. However the language—“Canna mother escape? She’ll THC-you later”—made clear the sort of self-care product on sale.
Standard social tonic Cann, meantime, continued to spar with Large Alcohol in a brief movie for the vacations exhibiting a boozy household dinner run amok. Its savior got here within the type of weed-spiked soda and among the finest traces of advert dialogue in 2022: “Merry microdosing, motherf*cker.”
Whereas eye-catching and entertaining in their very own proper, these two items of hashish advertising are additionally doing a little heavy lifting. They goal to bust the lingering stigma of weed consumption, problem stoner stereotypes and stake claims on main mainstream holidays, mirroring their CPG counterparts.
And but, the campaigns in some way didn’t make it into the best-of 2022 record. How is that even doable? It was a humiliation of riches, people, which speaks to the state of creativity in a class besieged by guidelines and regs, shadow bans and arbitrary shutdowns.
This yr, Adweek is presenting an expanded record—10 as an alternative of the standard 5—overlaying our favourite activations, promoting, activism and collaborations. With apologies to these not included—catch you subsequent time, Cheeba Chews—we current the unranked winners right here:
‘Weed’s Come a Lengthy Method, Child’
From temper board to billboard: a luxurious model dubbed “the Coco Channel of hashish” borrowed from one of the crucial well-known women-centered industrial campaigns in historical past, and the end result was a visible and contextual chef’s kiss.
Flower by Edie Parker launched its largest advertising effort so far below the tagline, “Weed’s Come a Lengthy Method, Child,” placing its personal twist on iconic Virginia Slims imagery and tweaking the unique advert language.
Firm founder Brett Heyman mentioned she’s all the time been impressed by the groundbreaking Nineteen Sixties and ’70s aesthetic of the groundbreaking Phillip Morris work. And she or he had been ready for simply the fitting time to carry the idea into the trendy period. She determined to make that splash for April 20, the Black Friday of weed, simply as the feminine demo has swelled to 55% of hashish consumers, per Headset.
‘Large Heads Listening Celebration’
A contemporary-day Beavis and Butt-Head episode. A pleasant gathering with many bong hits and PBRs, set to a chillwave soundtrack. A trippy show of large, perpetually-smiling papier-mâché heads.
What’s to not love a few mashup of all this stuff?
To advertise his newest launch, Grammy-nominated artist Toro y Moi partnered with audio firm Sonos and weed model Pax to carry his twisted imaginative and prescient to life. The end result was a 41-minute advert that has logged greater than 645,000 views on YouTube alone with nearly no paid media push.
This isn’t—repeat not—a typical music video, and that’s why it’s so memorable. With a Thriller Science Theater vibe, goofy expressionist dancing and psychedelic dream sequences, the listening social gathering for Toro y Moi’s Mahal document is a must-watch.
BVG Hempticket
A tiny cheat right here: this was a stunt, not a straight-up advert, and it occurred on the tail-end of 2021. Neither truth diminishes its awesomeness.
To make the on a regular basis chore of commuting much less of a complete buzzkill, Germany’s public transportation system, BVG, dropped a product nobody noticed coming: first-of-their-kind hemp-infused coupons.
These prepare tickets have been dope—actually.
With the tagline, “Come dwelling, relax,” BVG and company Jung von Matt AG created the tickets out of edible paper, doused them with hashish’ authorized cousin and bought them within the days main as much as Christmas 2021.
The limited-edition product, which brought about a social media frenzy and received a Grand Clio, suggested customers to “chew up all of the stress of the festive season” whereas hitching a journey. This system snagged the equal of $13.3 million in media spending and 860 million impressions.
Freedom Grams
Advocates usually repeat this quantity—40,000—as a result of it represents the individuals held in U.S. jails for minor, non-violent hashish offenses. And in 2022, when legalization has swept throughout 37 states, it’s a tragic piece of information.
To place a human face on the difficulty, a coalition of activist manufacturers and advert company Serviceplan Germany launched a model—Freedom Grams—that sells authorized hashish in precisely the quantities that landed individuals behind bars.
Along with flower that is available in 0.3 to 23.5 grams, with AR-enabled packaging that highlights eight U.S. prisoners and their private tales, this system incorporates a devoted web site, editorial content material and merchandise.
Freedom Grams, which bought out its preliminary run and donates its proceeds to the Final Prisoner Venture, plans to broaden from California into Washington and Colorado. Except for gathering broad-based assist, this system additionally racked up a bronze Lion at Cannes 2022 and a Grand Clio.
All Issues Should Grass
One other cheat: this can be a product line, however its retro-style low-fi branding aesthetic and intro video make it a real best-of contender.
Nascent hashish participant Dad Grass scored a significant coup by partnering with George Harrison’s property for a co-branded assortment of pre-rolled hemp joints, smoking paraphernalia and merchandise.
The merchandise launched in April below the banner All Issues Should Grass, a purposely corny riff on Harrison’s seminal 1970 album All Issues Should Go.
The gathering—an instance of each the favored microdosing development and the rising demand for weed-related swag—marks the primary time a member of The Beatles or their households have formally aligned with a hashish firm.
It was additionally the primary superstar deal for Dad Grass, a model born throughout the pandemic in 2020 as a definite counterpoint to the high-potency weed that has come to dominate the adult-use market. And it’s not a one-and-done deal; anticipate to see extra items from this alliance.
‘Extra Flowerful’
This marketing campaign for Pax wasn’t a spring trend unfold for Vogue, however it certain seemed like one.
“Extra Flowerful,” which coincided with Girls’s Historical past Month, put a number of the trade’s unsung heroines into photogenic situations match for the pages of Cosmopolitan.
Pax deliberately selected to function girls who aren’t usually within the highlight: “the budtenders, the model builders, the artists, the educators, the innovators, the activists, the partakers.”
The art-driven challenge launched in opposition to a less-than-sunny backdrop: the variety of girls in company hashish C-suites is under the nationwide common and there are nonetheless scant female-owned companies.
“Girls have been an necessary spine of this trade since day one, serving to to construct it from the bottom up,” Lauryn Livengood, the marketing campaign’s architect, instructed Adweek, noting that the goal was to “give visibility to these residing life out loud and shaping hashish immediately, and to encourage extra girls to affix the motion.”
‘Style So Good’
Weed-laced soda Cann and companion Weedmaps took inspiration from numerous sources for his or her long-form content material that kicked off Satisfaction month. Among the many contact factors: an iconic Pepsi industrial with Britney Spears—for the Tremendous Bowlesque spectacle—and vocal thrives from Girl Marmalade.
What they ended up with was an attractive glitter bomb referred to as “Style So Good” that featured an authentic track, superstar cameos and “radical inclusivity.”
The brief movie, which took a swipe on the entrenched booze trade, starred a solid of numerous characters together with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Patricia Arquette, Kesha, Olympic skier-actor Gus Kenworthy, singer-songwriter Vincint and a bevy of RuPaul’s Drag Race alums.
It was the centerpiece of a five-state marketing campaign for Cann, representing its most vital advertising so far. And the outcomes—all natural—have been stellar: 5 million views on YouTube and Instagram mixed, 3 million audio streams and practically 100,000 TikToks created.
‘#SaveBrockOllie’
Weedmaps isn’t the primary hashish firm to attempt to purchase a industrial throughout the Tremendous Bowl, probably the most coveted appointment viewing on community TV. Multistate operator Acreage Holdings tried to take action again in 2019.
Each had the identical outcomes: Arduous no.
As an alternative of airing throughout the Large Sport, the Weedmaps 2022 spot acquired digital and social distribution, together with important earned media for its exasperated fictional character named Brock Ollie.
The strolling, speaking veggie—the broccoli emoji come to life—confirmed how fed up he was with the innuendo that adopted him round. Co-workers, neighbors and strangers bombarded him each day with clumsy references to getting excessive when, as many of the nation has legalized hashish, it must be an open dialog with no coded language obligatory.
Weedmaps used the brief movie to make a press release about censorship in hashish advertising, and due to its deadpan humor, acquired the message throughout in a manner that entertained and didn’t preach.
’37 Seconds’
Gary Chambers Jr. didn’t win his bid to develop into a U.S. Senator, however the Louisiana activist and cannafan nonetheless made historical past by turning into the primary major-party candidate to smoke a blunt in a political advert.
Chambers ended up with about 18% of the vote in November, dropping to the Republican incumbent and Trump ally John Kennedy. However his “37 Seconds” marketing campaign kickoff video made an impression far past his dwelling state.
Its aim, together with destigmatizing the plant, was to focus on the disproportionate affect that prohibition has had—and continues to have—on minority communities. (Somebody in America, most frequently an individual of coloration, is arrested each 37 seconds for possession of hashish.)
“We knew it was a daring place to take,” Chambers instructed Adweek in January, simply after the advert began catching hearth on social media. “We didn’t need this to return off as a gimmick, and that’s why we approached this challenge with a tone and message that might resonate.”
Jeeter Marts
Jeeter, identified for its streetwear-style product drops and epic stay occasions, kicked off a 100-stop pop-up tour in July, constructing mini comfort shops at dispensaries in California, Arizona and Michigan.
The design? Traditional mid-century with an old-school, feel-good vibe. And the thrives? Pure retro-fabulous.
Along with mini mart staples like scratch-off lottery tickets and salty snacks, the store-within-a-store idea featured an unique Piña Colada flower pressure, limited-edition merchandise and capsule assortment attire, all stoking the FOMO of the younger goal demo.
Jeeter’s founders drew from their roots as live performance promoters within the EDM area for his or her most bold advertising so far. And their three-month sweep cleverly coincided with a summer season of amped-up experiential activations at weed retailers nationwide.
