2022 Cannabis Agency Marketer of the Year Finalists

Celebrating the best agencies in cannabis would be meaningless without celebrating the individuals that make up the collective. Cannabis marketers navigate a barrage of red tape in order to conceptualize and bring ideas to the forefront of our industry. These innovators build brands that become staples of our industry, and are often not celebrated in the same way growers are celebrated yet their work is just as meaningful.

The following individuals not only work for some of the top agencies, but stand out amongst the collection of excellence.

Here are the finalists for Agency Marketer of the Year

Noah Parker

Noah Parker is both a Partner & VP of Operations at The Influence Agency; an award winning, multi-national marketing agency specializing in influencer marketing. Having been with The Influence Agency for more than 6 years now, Noah has been instrumental to the execution of their many influencer campaigns.

The Influence Agency, and Noah, are no strangers to cannabis marketing – finding compliant yet engaging ways to introduce brands to the public. With cannabis becoming legal all across North America, we’re all sure to see Noah’s work on a billboard or screen sometime soon (if we haven’t already).

Robyn Ham

Robyn Ham is no stranger to the ADCANN Awards, as last year she was responsible for Farmer Jane‘s nomination for Social Good Campaign of the Year for their Farmer Jane Fights Hunger in our Communities campaign. Now rather than celebrate a campaign she’s been a part of, we celebrate Robyn for her work within the cannabis industry. With an entrepreneurial mind yet charitable heart, Robyn has hands outside of cannabis; as a co-founder of Sask Masks – a local non-profit.

Now with BudSense, this University of Regina graduate is a proud Marketing Lead is helping retailers such as The House of Cannabis, True North, Pop’s Cannabis, and even her old stomping grounds, Farmer Jane.

Krista Raymer

Krista Raymer has more than enough cannabis & marketing information to go around – and luck for us, she’s been sharing it. The founder of Vetrina Group finds time to share her thoughts on cannabis marketing & more across her LinkedIn when she isn’t helping grow retailers fuch as 6 of Spade & SOMA.

For those seeking a little more knowledge, a trip to Krista’s LinkedIn is absolutely worth the visit.

Paul Lawton

Paul Lawton is the active definition of “hustle”. This University of Calgary graduate is not just a founding member at Sister Merci, one of the top agencies in Canada for both marketing strategy & brand design. On top of working with some of the biggest brands in cannabis, Paul is also a Founding Partner at Neontaffy, a Brand Strategist for PKL Consultancy, and an Instructor at McMaster University Centre for Continuing Education.

Whilst a man of many hats, the Sister Merci hat is the fit making waves in the cannabis industry – be sure to keep your eye open for their work with Canopy, Hexo, Auxly, and more.

Katie Pringle

Katie Pringle is the co-founder of Marigold Marketing and PR. Co-founding Marigold in 2016, she came from a lifestyle and entertainment background. At one time she handled the social media strategy for all of Corus Entertainment’s television business and then she went on to become the Marketing Manager for Food Banks Canada.

Katie’s specialties include but are not limited to business development, sales, and integrated marketing strategy. Aside from Katie’s work with Marigold, she’s also a co-founder of Canndora, a networking platform for Women in cannabis – showing Katie is just as socially conscious as she is business minded.

Shamus Lahman

Shamus is the Creative Director & Co-Founder of both PufCreativ & the Cannabis Creative Movement. Through following Shamus’ creative vision, PufCreative has managed to please clients such as Rebel Spirit, Just the Tip, & The Fire Station Cannabis Co.

Shamus’ work includes, but is not limited to, SEO, logo design, crafting the user experience, and utilizing WordPress. When not working with PufCreative, he’s managing their Cannabis Creative Movement, being sure to raise awareness to the issues of the industry.

Katie Burrell

Katie Burell is Co-Founder, VP and COO of Pufcreativ in Philadelphia. Katie is a video editor, graphic designer, strategist and general person who’s doing a lot of interesting things. She’s also an LGBTQ+ activist. Cool right? Pufcreativ provides digital marketing and advertising services for cannabis companies of all kinds. 

Katie’s not the first Pufcreativ creative to be recognized by the ADCANN community. As partners in The Last Prisoner Project and The Cannabis impact fund, Katie and the rest of PufCreativ are hard to ignore.

Olivia Mannix

Olivia Mannix may be the person on this list doing the most. There are 7 active things on her LinkedIn that she’s either the CEO of, a founder of, or a contributing writer for. She owns Cannabrand, a psychedelics brand, a women’s psychedelics health brand, a third psychedelics brand in the biotech space. She’s also a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. Does she sleep? Are there secretly two of her? It’s impressive. 

As the CEO of Denver-based Cannabrand, she helps US cannabis companies with strategy for national expansion, business operations, and communications strategy.

Guillermo Bravo

An evangelist is a preacher. A person who seeks to convert others to their cause. Often through public speaking. The term evangelist is often used in religious conversations, but not exclusively. Guillermo Bravo’s title at MediaJel is Chief Evangelist. His goal is to convert you to Mediajel, a marketing and advertising agency in California that specializes in marketing software and campaigns for cannabis brands and retailers. 

Guillermo brings decades of agency and start-up experience to the cannabis industry. He specializes in building brands, driving sales, publishing, and brand safety. MediaJel works with retailers in the cannabis digital marketing and tech space.

Ricardo Baca

Ricardo Baca is the founder and CEO of Grasslands, a journalism-focused agency in Colorado. Ricardo was The Denver Post’s first Marijuana Editor. That must be a very paper-intensive roll. In all seriousness, Grasslands was founded in 2016 and provides PR, thought leadership, content marketing and social media services. 

His first writing role in cannabis was in 2013 when he founded The Cannabist. Ricardo has been involved in cannabis for a relatively long time now. He was even ADCANN’s 2019 Marketer of the year, as voted by you!