Cannabis marketers face the daily challenge of differentiating their brands from others within their industry. Product quality and genetic selection are of the utmost importance and will continue to be. However, many brands are looking past just these fundamentals to create exciting, hype and collectible moments for cannabis consumers to drive sales. One stand-out “home-run” strategy is baseball-style cannabis collectible cards associated with strains and products. This strategy has been used by a few brands, most prominently Sluggers Hit in America and Ghost Drops in Canada.
USA – Sluggers Hit
Sluggers is an American cannabis brand that was founded in late 2021 to “build a brand with lasting legacy”. The Sluggers brand leans on luxury experiences to connect with consumers. Sluggers Hit only offers pre-rolled products in both “natural” (regular bud) and “juiced” (triple-infused with liquid diamonds and coated in kief). The brand is entirely based on this collectible card concept, with every pre-roll pack containing a collectible card inside the package. The exterior packaging resembles a pack of shiny, holographic collectible cards (think various sports or Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc) which creates a sense of nostalgia among their consumers. This is a unique packaging concept for the product itself that allows consumers to engage in the brand experience from start to finish. The brand is primarily available in California and has collaborated with big name brands such as Champelli and Cookies.
Canada – Ghost Drops
Ghost Drops was founded in Toronto in 2017 and transitioned to the legal market in early 2021. The brand is known in Canada for setting trends such as strain-specific branding, coloured glass jars, variety pack pre-rolls and of course – baseball-style cannabis collectible cards. Ghost Drops brand is playful, colourful and creative and has deep authentic connections in the hip-hop community. The brand introduced these collectible trading cards with their legal market launch in 2021. 3.5g jars of their signature strains such as First Class Funk, Khalifa Mints and Z-Splitter come accompanied by collectible trading cards when consumers buy products at select retailers. By registering these cards, consumers are entered into a monthly draw where they can win Ghost Drops merchandise and accessories. The brand is available all across Canada.
Baseball-style Cannabis Collectible Cards and Hype Marketing
If cannabis brands want to differentiate and create long-lasting, deep connections with consumers – they must challenge themselves to think past the product itself and seek to bring value in novel ways.
Collectible culture hit an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic, which coincided with the launch of both Ghost Drops’ and Sluggers’ trading card launches. Capitalizing on the desire for consumers to collect the rarest and most unique products has worked out for both brands. These cards act as educational pieces that budtenders can use to sell consumers, and consumers can use to learn more about the strains they are consuming. This simple value add can result in building a larger, loyal and more engaged customer base. Infusing the excitement and wonder of opening a randomized collectible card pack into the cannabis purchasing experience is a recipe for success
The point of this article is not to convince you to create collectible trading cards for your own brand, but rather to find the authentic and unique marketing differentiation that is right for you. As a cannabis marketer, challenge yourself to think of groundbreaking methods that you can use to engage, educate, entertain and entice your target consumer. Think past the product and add real value through packaging, content, add-ons and more.
Last Updated on November 21, 2023 by ADCANN
