Cannabis companies and retailers see a boom of new business during the holiday season due to gift-giving and increased consumption. LPs and producers in Canada understand this and aim to capitalize on the season by offering holiday-themed products and by launching holiday-themed marketing campaigns. This article will explore the best Canadian holiday cannabis marketing campaigns and product launches in December of 2021.
12 Joints of Christmas by Citizen Stash
Advent calendars – but make it cannabis. The “12 Joints of Christmas” are 12 unique pre-rolls each rolled with 0.5 grams of a different strain grown by Citizen Stash’s collective of growers. This claims to be the first holiday-themed pre-roll pack of its kind in Canada. The limited-time product launched in late November in Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Fewer than 10,000 total units were produced making this a very limited and exciting drop. The 12 strains included are Interstellar, Cookie Puss, Sundae Driver, FPOG, Sage n’ Sour, Cake Crasher, Stonewall, Ice Cream Gelato, Dieseltonic, Island Pink, Death Bubba, and MAC 1.
Good Vibes Giveaway by San Rafael ‘71
San Rafael ‘71 has earned a reputation for their epic Instagram giveaways and influencer merchandise packages. This year, the brand ran 11 different giveaways during the holiday season – giving their existing and new followers several chances to win one of several prize packs. One of these days offered followers a full SR71 tracksuit along with gift cards. Another giveaway day offered a Higher Society Glass dab rig and dabbing accessories. Gingerbread houses, vinyls, and more were given away throughout the other days. This strategy appears to have paid off for San Rafael, as they gained over 1,000 new Instagram followers as a result.
12 Days of Burbmas by Burb
BC-based cannabis retailer and lifestyle brand Burb created their own cannabis-themed advent calendar for the holiday season. These calendars were limited-run packages that included 12 products ranging in product type and THC potency. Products within the calendar included an XMG beverage, pre-rolled joints from Color, and flower from a variety of producers. These calendars were available for purchase in-store at Burb’s 3 locations in the Vancouver area. This calendar coincided with Burb’s “Only Fire” collection clothing drop marketing campaign, which featured artists such as Yung Bans.
Cognoscente Tasting Kit
This first of its kind craft tasting flight is a limited run curated sampling of six 1.5 gram buds, along with a single 1g pre-roll blunt and two 0.5g exclusive pre-rolls, consisting of a variety of cultivars and product formats. This product is the first launched under Avant’s Congoscente brand. Avant Brands was previously known as GTEC Holdings and is responsible for launching both the popular BLKMKT and Tenzo brands. This tasting flight is not an explicit holiday-themed campaign but was launched during the holidays and was purchased by many to be gifted.
12 J’s For The Holidays by AHLOT
A similar concept to the 12 Joints of Christmas, AHLOT launched the “12 J’s For The Holidays” in collaboration with Thinker. This product also claims to be Canada’s first legal, advent-inspired cannabis calendar featuring 12 x 0.25g pre-rolls across two curated cultivars. Six of the pre-rolls are KSmorz, a sativa with a lineage of Zookies and PCS1, and six of the pre-rolls are from Dos Z Dos, an indica with a lineage of Do Si Dos and Zen. Each pre-roll is made from 100% whole flower that is hang dried, hand-trimmed and hand packed to meet the criteria for the OCS Craft Designation.
Radvent Calendar by Palmetto
Palmetto, a recreational cannabis brand launched by Sundial Growers, created a virtual “radvent” calendar for the holiday season. The website is an interactive calendar with windows that would unlock based on the date in December. Website visitors could either enter giveaways or access unique content and videos.
Candy Cane Redees by Redecan
Redecan is a well-known cannabis brand that is credited with popularizing cigarette-style pre-rolled joints in Canada. During the holiday season, Redecan changes the colour and design on their Redees pre-rolls to mimic candy canes with red and white swirls in select provinces. The Redecan logo is also changed from a solid green grown to a green and red colourway on the packaging. Redecan also launched their Christmas-themed “Mistletoke” strain in 2020.
Various Edible Products
Several Licensed Producers launched holiday-themed edible products this year. Some of these examples include the Eggnog Chocolate by Back Forty, the Gingerbread and Cinnamon Bun Caramels by Chüz, and the Festive Sprinkle Sugar Cookie by Slow Ride Bakery. At this stage in the Canadian cannabis market, timely and novel, exciting products tend to sell through to retailers and consumers very quickly. We expect to see more holiday-themed edible and cannabis products in 2022.
Holiday Cannabis Marketing in 2021
We saw more brands unveiling holiday cannabis marketing campaigns this year than we did in 2020. As the largest consumer spending event of the year, more cannabis brands will likely take notice and partake in the trend next year.
Last Updated on January 6, 2022 by ADCANN
