Pubdate: Tue, 22 Sep 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Josh O'Kane
Page: B6

NEW SITE TARGETS HIGHBROW POT SMOKERS

Digital Publication Hopes to Capitalize on the Turning Tide of Public 
Opinion in Favour of Cannabis

The world is warming up to recreational marijuana, and a southern New 
Brunswick startup is betting they're hungry for stories about it.

On Monday morning, Saint John's Revolution Strategy is launching 
Civilized, an Internet publishing company targeting professionals who 
happen to enjoy marijuana. Founder and publisher Derek Riedle likens 
it to a high-end editorial destination for highbrow marijuana 
smokers, publishing stories and content not unlike cigar aficionado 
magazines, though with a broader lifestyle focus.

"It's not about slackers on the couch - it's for people who consume 
to relax, be creative or social with friends," he says. In most other 
cannabis-centric publications, "millions of people are 
underrepresented and misrepresented."

Civilized hopes to be more Harper's than High Times: To avoid being 
too niche, the website will offer a broad suite of content geared 
toward their target audience: professionals - executives, 
politicians, teachers - who live across North America and enjoy pot, 
but don't let it define their identity.

Four U. S. states now allow recreational pot smoking, and public 
opinion both there and in Canada - where decriminalization is a 
looming election issue - is in greater favour of cannabis than ever 
before. Investment dollars are following suit, flowing not just into 
marijuana itself, but also myriad spinoff products, ranging from 
grow- light systems to child-resistant packaging. Civilized is 
seizing the chance to latch onto this rapidly accelerating social 
change by pitching itself as a go-to information source.

"The cannabis industry is exploding," Mr. Riedle says. After 
realizing last winter how many influential professionals discuss ( 
and consume) marijuana behind closed doors, he saw a huge opportunity 
in illuminating the conversation. He can't stress enough how quickly 
the idea accelerated: "It was like hitting the intersection with the 
lights turning green."

 From a newsroom on Saint John's historic Prince William Street, 
Civilized plans to deliver "cannabis culture, elevated." Like 
Huffington Post and Buzzfeed, its early days will see some content 
curated from around the Web, but the team is already hard at work to 
deliver original content, including in-depth feature interviews with 
celebrity marijuana advocates.

Stories will be free to all and eventually ad-supported, though Mr. 
Riedle is open to change: "Once we're past launch, we will determine 
exactly how to monetize it." While advertising marijuana will be a 
grey area - even if it were decriminalized in Canada, it could very 
easily fall under regulations that restrict ads - he believes spinoff 
industries will clamour to advertise on the site.

Fourteen angel investors have backed Civilized in its first round of 
funding, including Francis McGuire, the retired chief executive of 
Moncton-based Major Drilling Group International Inc. He jumped at 
the chance to invest at the intersection of publishing and social 
change - something akin to Playboy's role in the sexual revolution, 
in terms of normalizing the previously obscene. "It took me 15 
seconds to make the parallel to Hugh Hefner," he says.

Mr. Riedle and his partner, Terri MacDonald Riedle, co-own Revolution 
Strategy, a creative and marketing firm that has served Atlantic 
Canadian companies since 2002. Last year they moved to Los Angeles, 
in part to help launch a reality television series, Real Houses 
Of..., which premiered earlier this month on the W Network. They 
travel back and forth between there and Saint John, and plan to 
eventually expand Civilized's staff to California. But the company's 
roots will be planted firmly in New Brunswick, where it houses a 
staff of 14 and growing. Its founding editor, Mark Leger, is a staple 
of Saint John journalism. He co-founded the city's once venerable, 
though now defunct, alt-weekly Here Magazine; since leaving it a 
decade ago, he's written extensively for print and radio.

"It's a special opportunity for us in New Brunswick to look at 
building a media outlet that has a North American focus over a local 
one," Mr. Leger says. It's also a challenge, he admits, but one he's 
up to . "We're doing something groundbreaking."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom