'It gets tiring': Cannabis retailer MedMen's marketing chief talks about the challenges of marketing marijuana and why education is a key pillar of its strategy
- Marijuana is becoming increasingly mainstream, but not enough to convince TV networks to run commercials for cannabis.
- MedMen became the latest cannabis retailer whose broadcast dreams were dashed, with its new two minute-long spot directed by Spike Jonze being rejected by cable TV provider Spectrum in southern California.
- Business Insider spoke with MedMen's chief marketing officer David Dancer about the company's quest to normalize cannabis, compliance issues, regulations, and the lingering stigma around the product.
Marijuana is becoming increasingly mainstream, but not mainstream enough to convince television networks to let cannabis companies run commercials.
Just ask cannabis retailer MedMen, which became the latest cannabis retailer to have a TV ad rejected, following Acreage Holdings' 30-second Super Bowl spot being rejected by CBS earlier this month.
The 8-year-old brand just released a new, 2 minute-long spot directed by Spike Jonze that was designed to air on cable TV provider Spectrum channels in southern California, but was ultimately rejected, a Spectrum spokesman confirmed to Business Insider.
The spot, which chronicles the history of cannabis in the US, from George Washington's hemp farm to the growing use of marijuana today, will instead air digitally and across connected TV devices and elsewhere including out-of-home and print.
Business Insider spoke with MedMen's chief marketing officer David Dancer on the company's quest to normalize cannabis and how it deals with compliance issues, regulations, and the lingering stigma around the product.
The following interview has been condensed for clarity.
Tanya Dua: What are your biggest challenges?
David Dancer: There are regulatory hurdles on all of the messaging, creative and channels. We need to meet a 21-plus threshold of who we're targeting, and the regulations vary by state and then sometimes by county. But the greater complexity is really around the advertising and media. We have to spend a lot of time educating, showing the legitimacy of our message, the professionalism of our creative and proving our credibility. It gets tiring. But even the places that reject us are all very interested. In the case of Spectrum, for example, it made its way all the way up to the very highest levels. Over time we'll chip away and/or the federal law will will change.
Dua: A lot of your time goes into educating people. Why is that necessary?
Dancer: We launched our first campaign over a year and a half ago and it was called "It's Legal," which was very effective. The creative from that campaign is still our-top performing creative, which just signals that people still are not aware of the legality in their own state. So focusing on education and the benefits of cannabis is very important.
Dua: How has your messaging evolved?
Dancer: We used to focus on the mainstreaming of marijuana. The new campaign is about the normalization of cannabis. All of our cast were cast to show how they have used cannabis for a variety of reasons.
Dua: The majority of your audience presumably skews young. With those people increasingly cord-cutting, why use traditional TV?
Dancer: Our primary target audience in some states is utilizing alternate media. But you can reach an audience effectively through broadcast, and do it fairly cost effectively. There's something around that piece of breaking through and broadening the scale on the scope of who we can reach. It's proven, tried and true.
Dua: Why do you handle your creative in-house?
Dancer: There's a reaction time and an efficiency that we can gain. The reason it's really important for us is around creative control and speed to market. When we do have special projects like a commercial where we need extra help, we certainly will get it; we worked with Mekanism for this campaign. I definitely don't have the intention of having everything in-house.