Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jul 2016
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Jason Blevins

STAR MUSICIANS IN TUNE WITH SIGNATURE POT

Latest Innovation From Weed Growers Is More Partnership Than Endorsement Deal.

Pot is going the way of sneakers and snowboards.

As cannabis fights for a foothold in the U.S. economy, innovative 
weed growers are taking cues from a variety of industries - footwear, 
musical instruments, skis and snowboards, for example - and working 
with superstar musicians to develop signature marijuana strains, 
pro-model cannabis that sails off the shelves.

Colorado's growers - captains of the state's maturing cannabis scene 
- - are leading the charge in this next stage of marijuana marketing 
that's more partnership than endorsement deal.

In the past year, a number of musicians have unveiled signature 
strains of marijuana. Snoop Dogg has several. Rappers Freddie Gibbs 
and Wiz Khalifa, singersongwriters Willie Nelson and Melissa 
Etheridge and the family of the late Bob Marley all announced 
signature weed products last year.

The chic East Colfax grassery GroundSwell Cannabis Boutique got a big 
bump in business this month when Dead & Company bass player Oteil 
Burbridge wore a shop T-shirt during the band's Saturday show at 
Folsom Field in Boulder.

"People were coming in saying 'I saw Oteil with that shirt, and 
that's why I'm here,' " said GroundSwell's chief grower, Rodney 
Coquia. Coquia and Grammywinning Burbridge worked for nine months 
crafting Oteil's Egyptian Kush, a first-ever hybrid of Alien OG and 
OG Kush. "It was definitely a big weekend for us. It was a big 
weekend for Oteil as well."

Partnering with entertainers is an understandable step for marijuana 
companies working inside a disorganized industry from which national 
brands have not yet emerged, said Harvard Business School marketing 
professor John Quelch, who in 2014 cowrote the case study "Marketing 
Marijuana in Colorado."

"I see this as a low-cost vehicle for achieving brand 
differentiation," Quelch said. "I think it's probably going to 
proliferate but unlikely to be a real good basis for sustained 
differentiation. Each of these individuals will attract a certain 
number of aficionados who are drawn to purchase the product as a 
recognition of the music or the artist, but if they don't care for 
the product, they won't buy it again. Overall I regard this as a 
relatively unsustainable model, but understandable given the 
fragmented nature of the local market at the moment."

Still, Colorado growers labor to synthesize strains with staying 
power. And tapping musicians with a long-standing relationship with 
cannabis is akin to enrolling expert consultants in the research and 
design phase of manufacturing.

Colorado's own Native Roots - one of the largest dispensary chains in 
the country - worked with Boulder's instrumental livetronica duo Big 
Gigantic to develop Cookies and Dream, a strain the company unveiled 
at its private Tree House party in Aspen during the X Games this 
year. Last year, Native Roots released GRiZ Kush, a hybrid strain 
developed with Boulder artist GRiZ.

When Big Gigantic took the stage in a transformed diner in downtown 
Aspen during the X Games circus, hundreds of people puffed 
complimentary doobies. (There were about seven ways to get high that 
night, including THC-infused cocktails, lotions and stickon patches.)

Native Roots, Colorado's largest dispensary company, with 16 shops 
across the state, spent months with GRiZ and Big Gigantic to craft 
the one-of-a-kind strains. Other musicians are lining up asking for 
their own strains, Native Roots CEO Josh Ginsberg said.

"It's something they feel makes the most sense for their music and 
who they are," Ginsberg said. "It's something they want to smoke when 
they are playing or listening."

Coquia calls the indica hybrid he developed with Burbridge "the 
ultimate musical strain" with a cherry flavor that Florida-based 
Burbridge likes.

Burbridge, 51, called GroundSwell "Willie Wonka's." He chatted up his 
strain with dedicated Deadfan Bill Walton on Sirius radio. Online 
magazines featured the bass player and Oteil's Egyptian Kush as he 
prepared for the historic concerts at Folsom Field, the first live 
music in the football stadium in 15 years.

"Oteil was just over the top. Like a kid who got exactly what he 
wanted for Christmas," said Coquia, who has known Burbridge for more 
than 20 years. "You could tell the day we released it was a big day 
in his life."

Coquia, who plays lead guitar for Bonfire Dub, also spent 18 months 
crafting a potent sativa hybrid with turntablist DJ Logic. Logic 
Diesel, released last year, remains one of the most popular strains 
at GroundSwell, which has sold medical marijuana for five years and 
began recreational sales a year ago.

Like Native Roots, GroundSwell has several big-name musicians asking 
for their own strains, which the dispensary promotes with 
baseball-type trading cards detailing their specific genetics and 
stony characteristics.

"I want a pack of cards, wrapped with a stick of ganja gum," said 
Coquia, only half joking.

That is the kind of out-ofthe-box thinking that is driving innovation 
in Colorado's cannabis industry. Pro-model weed isn't going to 
transform the industry or start replacing timeless strains, Ginsberg 
said, but "it's something cool and unique, and it's fun for us and 
it's fun for the artists.

"This is some really great pot we are creating," Ginsberg said of the 
GRiZ strain, which ranks among Native Roots' most popular offerings. 
"It's a great weed, and everyone loves it.

"His name may bring people to the table. They may buy it once for the 
name, but they keep coming back because it's such a great smoke."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom