Pubdate: Sun, 05 Oct 2014
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Jessica Bennett

IN COLORADO, A REBRANDING OF POT INC

Step into a Colorado pot dispensary at random, and you'll long for 
the luxuries of the D.M.V.

Metal bars cover windows. Vinyl signs are tacked to walls. Guys in 
hoodie sweatshirts greet you from behind the counter. Even the act of 
ordering the product itself is borderline absurd. What grown adult 
can respectfully walk into a store and ask for an eighth of Green 
Krack and a nub of Big Buddha Cheese, please?

But that experience is changing, thanks to a new breed of 
entrepreneur in Colorado - young, ambitious and often female - that 
is trying to reach a more sophisticated clientele in everything from 
language to packaging to social events.

"We're weeding out the stoners," said Olivia Mannix, the 25-year-old 
co-founder of a start-up called Cannabrand, an advertising agency 
devoted exclusively to marketing marijuana. "We want to show the 
world that normal, professional, successful people consume cannabis."

Colorado became the first of two states to legalize recreational 
marijuana sales this year, paving the way for millions in tax 
revenue, and a new kind of consumer. That is why, on a recent 
weekend, Ms. Mannix and her co-founder, Jennifer DeFalco, were camped 
out in Aspen for a pot-themed (and pot-induced) brainstorming session.

The gathering was billed as a "writer's retreat," but mostly it 
involved talking. They discussed edible marijuana and flavor pairings 
over a meal prepared by Melissa Parks, a chef trained at Le Cordon 
Bleu (THC-infused truffles optional). They contemplated strain 
hybrids and herbal remedies, with commentary from a self-described 
"cannabis sommelier," as well as the "gangapreneurs" who have flocked 
to Colorado since pot was made legal, not wanting to miss out on the 
so-called green rush.

And, of course, they talked about branding: How can the pot industry 
shed its stoner stigma?

Pot has practically gone mainstream. A majority of Americans now 
supports legalization efforts. There are coming ballot measures in 
Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia. Yet when it comes to pot 
culture, the industry remains comically rudimentary.

Dispensaries still "look like underground abortion clinics," Ms. 
Mannix said. Advertisements are full of "women with whipped cream 
straddling bongs," Ms. DeFalco said. And the old stoner stereotype 
endures: lazy, mostly men, rolling joints in their parents' basement, 
covered in Doritos crumbs.

"The average person, when you say the word 'marijuana,' they have a 
visceral reaction," said Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the 
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, one of the 
oldest of such groups. "There's a reason the alcohol industry spends 
tens of millions of dollars to advertise and market their products. 
Successful branding pays off."

So where do branding specialists begin? For starters, they would like 
to stop calling it pot, thank you very much. Better to call it 
cannabis, the plant's scientific name. (Less aggressive.) Rather than 
"smoke," one "consumes" the "product." (Subtler.) For those in the 
business - or cannabusiness, as it's known - 9-to-5 chic is crucial, 
said the Cannabrand owners: no sweats, no tie-dye, no Bob Marley T-shirts.

While smoking (or rather, consuming) on the job seems to be par for 
the course, it's not without a certain decorum: a dainty-looking 
joint or perhaps a vaporizer pen (like an e-cigarette for weed) that 
slides neatly in a purse or pocket.

Cultural crossover is already well underway in the state. The 
Colorado Symphony made headlines this summer when it began a series 
of shows called "Classically Cannabis," in which free-spirited music 
lovers were invited to B.Y.O.P.

Throughout Denver, there are monthly cocktail and cannabis events, 
put on by a local party planner, as well as a weekly painting course 
called Puff, Pass and Paint, hosted in a charming Victorian studio - 
an effort to, as Heidi Keyes, the cheerful 28-year-old instructor, 
put it, blend "Mary Jane and Monet."

Cannabrand recently rolled out a yoga class called Vape and Vinyasa. 
The company is working on an app that will allow users to place their 
pot order online and skip the line (as they describe it, "like an 
OpenTable for weed").

"The thing is," said Ms. DeFalco, who is the duo's creative director, 
"baby boomers are smoking, stay-at-home moms are smoking, business 
executives are smoking. But for so long, they've done it behind 
closed doors. We want to bring them out of the shadows."

And they want to keep them out there. Meg Sanders, the chief 
executive of a network of dispensaries called Mindful, recently hired 
Cannabrand to do an overhaul of her company, formerly called Gaia.

The new name was chosen to reflect the brand philosophy, she said, 
but also to modernize its look - in everything from logo to the 
uniforms worn by employees to the dispensaries' shabby insides. Many 
of the marketing materials do not even mention the word "cannabis" 
(or any other word for pot).

"I've heard time and time again, 'I walk into a dispensary and I feel 
like I'm walking into a stoner's basement,' " said Ms. Sanders during 
a tour through the expansive factory where her plants are harvested. 
(It also acts as the company's headquarters.) "So we really had to 
think, 'How do we package our product in a way that wherever we go - 
whether it's the most liberal or the most conservative clientele - 
people look at us and think, "I get it. I'm not offended by this." ' 
It's not Joey's weed shop, you know?"

Ms. Mannix and Ms. DeFalco studied together at the University of 
Colorado at Boulder, though neither has a business background (Ms. 
Mannix studied communications, Ms. DeFalco advertising). They are 
young, working overtime trying to project a business savvy, but 
they've also filled a hole in the industry that the mainstream 
business sector has yet to touch.

For example, the women were among the sponsors of a recent career 
fair called CannaSearch to recruit for some of the 500 open pot jobs 
in the state. The jobs included dispensary workers, yes, but also 
horticulturalists, social media managers and marketing executives. 
The applicants showed up - among them, C-suite level executives, said 
Ms. Sanders - but not a single mainstream brand had even a 
sponsorship presence.

"There is a huge untapped market here," said Ashley Picillo, a 
26-year-old former teacher who runs a cannabis events agency and was 
the fair's co-organizer. "It's about reaching nonconsumers. Women. 
Young people. Business professionals. Grandmothers and soccer moms. 
People like me."

In other words: more Aspen, less Cheech and Chong.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom