2020 will be a year to remember with COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions in most states, traditional cannabis marketing strategies were put on hold for American marketing agencies. Now, with 2021 in-reach, the industry has shifted from in-person retail activations to everything online, especially with shelter-in-place orders, which resulted in fewer impressions from out-of-home advertising. However, a few marketing agencies still found creative ways to continue serving consumers amidst all of this uncertainty. Let’s take a look at the American cannabis marketing agency finalists as voted by you, the ADCANN community.
HIGHOPES Design
HIGHOPES, is located in Seattle, Washington, and was created in 2017 specializing in branding, packaging, web design, and development. HIGHOPES believes they offer the most comprehensive cannabis branding services in the industry. With an extensive background in the cannabis industry, they have an award-winning team with extensive experience in the industry.
HIGHOPES has a proven track record of happy customers. One of their clients, Campfire Cannabis, hired HIGHOPES to help them develop their online identity and design, as well as web design and development. The team of HIGHOPES helped interpret Campfire Cannabis vision and design their website following the brand’s outdoor enthusiast vision. With the use of fonts, a neutral color scheme, and secondary elements, HIGHOPES was able to help Campfire Cannabis become a recognized brand. A few of the agencies’ other clients and work include Best Buds and designing their packing and website, The Good Leaf, the agency designed their logo, Hybrid LA got the help of HIGHOPES to create their brand strategy and online identity, as well as designing and developing the website for US Storefront Brand of the Year finalist, VidaCann. They also have a blog to help educate people on the benefits of cannabis and the different ways they have improved the many brand’s online identities.
”We're tremendously honored to be included in the final nominations for Best Agency of the Year. Our team is humbled to be included with the hardworking agencies that share this privilege. We want to thank everyone who's taken the time to vote for our agency and to thank AdCann for their recognition thus far. The new year brings new opportunities in this ever-evolving industry, and we are looking forward to advancing the way customers interact with brands through storytelling, implementing emerging technologies, and compliant marketing to support this new dynamic.
Patrick Toste, Creative Director & Co-Founder
MATTIO Communications
Hailing from New York City, MATTIO Communications is an award-winning independent marketing and communications firm that services local and national cannabis and lifestyle chains. The agency is mainly female-run, however, every employee is diverse, with different backgrounds and talents, as they believe that what unifies all the employees is their belief that well-told stories contribute to a more intelligent and interesting world. They have been mentioned in multiple highly respected publications. In Forbes, MATTIO founder Rosie Mattio was named as one of the 15 most powerful and innovative women in Cannabis. The Green Market Report named the founder of MATTIO as one of the 100 most important women in weed 2019. The agency has been featured in Refinery29, Goop, The Boston Globe, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, Vive, Bloomberg, and many more.
MATTIO’s PR and marketing messages are designed to create a thoughtful dialogue that gives the audience pause and brand purpose. MATTIO provides media relations for brands to help with creating industry news and trends with media messages built to bolster the brand, win headlines, and increase mindshare. MATTIO specializes in SEO, which helps increase the brand’s visibility by ranking at the top of search engine results. MATTIO also offers brands help with social media, influencer marketing, event production, and programmatic ad campaigns targeted to the brand’s audience through lifestyle media that matches its audience.
PufCreativ
PufCreativ is located in Denver Colorado and was started in 2017 by cannabis marketing Trailblazer John Shute, who is also nominated for US Marketer of the Year. PufCreativ is a full-service cannabis marketing agency that works with THC and CBD brands to “disrupt and innovate the industry.” They also work with dispensaries and medical marijuana brands where their goal is to provide a balance of strategic and flexible marketing services. In today’s social-media-driven world, companies need a marketing partner that can create advertising opportunities on a variety of social media platforms. The agency uses a data-driven approach to provide custom-tailored content for their clients. The idea behind the company is to help bring their client’s vision to the eyes of millions.
PufCreativ has a team of cannabis social media marketers who help cannabis and CBD brands create a consistent social media presence and deal with the challenges of algorithms. They specialize in creating a “digital storefront” for brands and they can design a user-friendly, engaging, and responsive website. They also have a reporting system that lets them know how the client’s website ranks within the cannabis and CBD industry and where the brand needs improvements to improve its online presence. PufCreativ also offers everything from lifestyle and product photography to videography, promotional video production, and blogging.
”It means the world to us to have both our agency and CEO nominated this year. It's been a tough year for us, our team, families, friends, clients, and network. We're beyond grateful that we've been able to continue to do our work while also helping those in need. Our mission at PufCreativ is to harness the power of creativity, to fuel the systems of humans who are making our world a better place. We're looking forward to this next year being a year we can do just that, with more and more organizations who see the future of cannabis as safe, sensible, equitable, environmentally conscious and responsible.
John Shute, CEO
Nomad
Nomad, is an American cannabis marketing agency with 10 years of experience designing and developing cannabis brands, designing packaging, and performing all major marketing functions on behalf of their clients. Founded by cannabis marketing Trailblazer Zac Cohen, Nomad strives to help other brands experience the simplicity of being straightforward. They work with passionate founders, entrepreneurs, and marketing and brand executives to deliver a stylish, impactful brand that creates a sense of wonder in the cannabis marketplace. Clients seek out this agency for their deep experience in the industry but also for their exceptional customer support, as well as their ability to match the client’s budgets, and tight timelines.
Nomad has a carefully constructed work process, which they go through with every client. The first is Brand Incubation, where each client engagement begins with on-site (or, for now, ZOOM) kick-off calls where have a chance to explore the nuts and bolts of the brand. The second is design, Nomad is known for speed and efficiency and clients usually see initial design and concepts within 2 weeks. The third step is the brand launch, where Nomads projects don’t end with design and messaging, they take their work further, overseeing printing, packaging, labeling, and launch and manage advertising and social campaigns. The agency’s fourth step to success is Evolution, where brands can’t stay static because the design and product development never stop and they help their clients anticipate marketplace evolutions to stay ahead of the game.
Youwho Brand
Youwho Brand is a cannabis and hemp marketing agency that was started in 2018 in Denver Colorado. Youwho uses data to drive decision making and achieve certain goals in the industry. Jarrod Mason, is the founder of Youwho Brand and a founding research assistant at the Institute of Cannabis Research (ICR-Pueblo), with an educational background in psychology, statistics, and neuroscience. Due to Mason’s extensive background, Youwho has always used data-driven marketing ideas to assess their campaign’s chances of success. The agency also uses the analytics available and as a result, the company uses all available data to drive decisions, save money, and ensuring industry-best results.
Youwho specializes in digital marketing, web design, brand identity, and business strategy, as well as offering social media, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, and SEO. For any kind of web design, Youwho can create responsive, user-friendly websites that will help brands drive sales and increase online visibility. One new aspect of Youwho is that they have an influencer marketing program for their clients to help get their brand in front of thousands and increase the brand’s reach by utilizing an influencer marketing campaign. Youwho uses influencers to help clients by increasing sales by setting up a targeted influencer campaign designed to drive traffic to the online or retail store.
”We are humbled to be named a finalist for Agency of the Year! Just two years ago, Youwho Brand was nothing more than an idea and a passion burning in our hearts. Watching the agency evolve, and now to be a finalist amongst well-established and respected industry veterans is truly an honor that we will carry with us forever! Special thanks to all of our clients for believing in us, especially those who trusted us before we had a single piece of work in our portfolio. Without our clients and their faith in us, Youwho Brand would not be what it is today. In the upcoming year, we look forward to the continued expansion of legal cannabis across the United States allowing increased access for all consumers and the resurgence of hemp textiles in North America.
Jarrod Mason, Founder
American Cannabis Marketing Agency Trends
- Social Media
American cannabis marketing agencies are active on social media in some way or another to help advertise and market their client’s brands. Every agency has a social media presence on Instagram and Twitter to show what content they are capable of making. Since we live in a digital world, it’s impossible to market towards this generation, without using social media; and since the pandemic, the way we shop has changed and moved online due to storefronts having to close. Many company’s look towards marketing agencies who are experts in using social media and can draw people in through social media campaigns and commercials digital platforms. - Interactive Websites
All of the agencies have used similar design patterns for their online campaigns, as well as developing a website that has the clients intrigued by the website and drawn in due to all of the digital aspects. Some of the websites had blogs, some had podcasts, and would bring you to other pages to show off their previous campaigns for other brands, which helps keep people on the site for longer. - Transparency
Being transparent and honest continues to be an important aspect for both consumers and businesses. Consumers want accurate data and simple ways to navigate through a website. People want to know exactly what the agency offers and each of the five mentioned above, do just that. Each of these agencies is unique and makes sure each of their clients’ brands is authentic and different from each other in every aspect from product design to the campaign. The success of all of these agencies shows that when you’re advertising to consumers, it is essential to be transparent and simplistic.
Which of these American cannabis marketing agencies did the best work this year?
Last Updated on December 30, 2020 by ADCANN
