{"id":8619,"date":"2019-01-27T10:03:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T10:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=3341707&amp;preview_id=3341707"},"modified":"2019-01-27T10:03:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T10:03:53","slug":"advertising-weed-is-tough-when-the-feds-consider-you-a-drug-dealer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/advertising-weed-is-tough-when-the-feds-consider-you-a-drug-dealer\/","title":{"rendered":"Advertising weed Is tough\u00a0when the feds consider you a drug dealer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/advertising-weed-is-tough-when-the-feds-consider-you-a-drug-dealer\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/advertising-weed-is-tough-when-the-feds-consider-you-a-drug-dealer.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>America\u2019s cannabis companies are racing to build national brands and market their wares to mainstream consumers. There\u2019s just one problem: It\u2019s hard to advertise your product when the federal government considers you a drug dealer. <\/p>\n<p>Facebook, which like Google prohibits marijuana ads, has kicked some weed sellers off Instagram. Earlier this month CBS declined to air a commercial touting the benefits of medical marijuana during the Super Bowl. Much the way banks are unwilling to finance cannabis startups, television networks and online advertising marketplaces are understandably cautious because the Feds still classify marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug alongside heroin and ecstasy. <\/p>\n<p>With a growing number of states legalizing weed for recreational and medical purposes, the U.S. market could surge eight-fold to $80 billion in sales by 2030, according to Cowen &amp; Co. But it\u2019s hard to see that happening unless companies can market their wares the way beer and liquor companies do. After decades of prohibition, many consumers need a push to give marijuana a try. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe public has a stigmatized view of the product but legitimate business owners can\u2019t reach them\u201d it creates mistrust,\u201d says Kyle Porter, who runs CMW Media, which does marketing and public relations for cannabis companies. \u201cWe\u2019re really limited in how we can reach customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For several years, marijuana companies have considered Instagram an ideal place to build their brands. In an effort to position weed as a mainstream product, they post pictures of buds and joints and show people hiking with vape pens or relaxing on the beach with cannabis edibles. But Instagram, a Facebook property, doesn\u2019t let weed sellers advertise. In a statement, the company said that while it allows \u201cmarijuana advocacy content,\u201d posts promoting the sale of cannabis are verboten. Dispensaries are prohibited from providing contact information, including phone numbers and street addresses, \u201cregardless of state or country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though many weed sellers\u201d legal and black market\u201d continue to operate accounts on Instagram, some complain that the social-media site shuts down their accounts with little warning or explanation. Binske, a Colorado company that sells vape pens, bud and cannabis-infused chocolates made with Peruvian cacao, spent the better part of two years building up its brand on Instagram. Then in September, just a few days after the company paid Snoop Dogg $30,000 to DJ a promotional event at a Las Vegas dispensary, the account disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>Concerned about losing social-media momentum, Binske vice president of business development Alex Pasternack spent two weeks submitting documents to Instagram, trying to prove his company was legit. Then, without notice, the account came back\u201d with its more than 12,000 followers intact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone is just making up their own rules,\u201d says Pasternack, who\u2019s looking at other ways to get the word out. Binske now has licensing deals with companies that will use its recipes and branding in California, Nevada and Florida, partnerships the company hopes will help double revenue this year. This type of arrangement is key in an industry where companies are still not allowed to ship products from one state to another.<\/p>\n<p>Caliva\u201d one of California\u2019s top-selling marijuana brands\u201d says it has lost five or six Instagram accounts over the last couple of years. It sponsors education events at Bay Area yoga studios and senior centers, where representatives hold forth on the medical benefits of marijuana, how to fit edibles into an active lifestyle and other topics. Many companies rely on the\u201cbud tenders\u201d manning the counter at dispensaries around California. If asked for recommendations, they can steer customers toward certain brands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur hands are really tied from a marketing perspective,\u201d says Caliva\u2019s branding chief Rosie Rothrock. \u201cSo we rely heavily on those relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MedMen, arguably the best-known name in the industry, is using a time-tested marketing trick from the brick-and-mortar playbook: opening stores. With a market value of roughly $1.5 billion, the company has spent heavily on licenses and real estate to operate stores at high-profile spots in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and even New York City, where it has a location not far from the Public Library on Fifth Avenue. New York state has a small medical program and is expected to approve recreational weed this year. Until then, the real estate is an \u201cinvestment in a flagship,\u201d says David Dancer, the company\u2019s chief marketing officer.<\/p>\n<p>While MedMen has also lost Instagram accounts, it\u2019s finding that some marketing channels are opening up as attitudes about marijuana shift across the U.S. The company, which sells weed in distinctive red bags, has billboards in California and runs spots during the Howard Stern show on Sirius radio. It has also started placing print ads in Conde Nast publications.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>For now, television and streaming services are a \u201chard no\u201d when it comes to cannabis ads, Dancer says, but he expects them to get on board sooner rather than later. \u201cIt just keeps snowballing,\u201d he says. \u201cThese conversations keep expanding and expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To contact the author of this story: Craig Giammona in New York at cgiammona@bloomberg.net<\/p>\n<p>To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>(Bloomberg) &#8212; America&#8217;s cannabis companies are racing to build national brands and market their wares to mainstream consumers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7604,52,2384,6811,910,8033,6813,7524,77,5667,56,9,5019,5921,1,3,1653,61,1736],"tags":[7606,2632,4948,6816,3481,8051,6818,7527,2655,5673,2636,5022,5936,4221],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}