Cannabis for Canadians
CMO at Native Roots, leading Garden Variety, 2019 to 2020 Launched, 2019 · acquired
Strategy:
Manitoba allows the sale and restricts the promotion, so the brand had to be the whole operation: the name and the mark, the stores, the shelf, the content, and print that could say 'This is not a cannabis ad'.
Design:
One system from the ground up: the Sparwolf mark, half sparrow and half wolf, a botanical kit, packaging, merch, three stores built like a cafe around the flower bar, and a print run Advertising Age called creatively noteworthy.
Leadership:
As CMO of Native Roots I led the Manitoba expansion: brand, retail, content, packaging and campaign. We partnered with a First Nation as co-owner, opened three stores, and sold the business to Delta 9.
Brand system
Three parts, every size.
The wordmark, the botanical pattern and the leaf palette were built as a kit. The same three parts set the cards, the packaging concepts, the brochure and the store, so the brand reads the same at any size.
Brand system01/6
Manitoba lets you sell cannabis and mostly forbids you from advertising it.
Product in Hand
Not a cannabis ad.
A cream sheet, one object in the middle, a pine tree or a baguette, and the line under it. The Sparwolf sits small at the foot. The store keeps the same restraint: wood and open shelves.
Product in Life
A cafe that sells cannabis.
A first-timer in Manitoba walks into a room that looks like a cafe, leans on the flower bar and asks what the difference between two jars is. Nobody treats the question, or the person, like a problem.
The stores01/16
Posters15 pieces
Render, not built
Product in Culture
Legal, and unadvertised.
A province can legalize a product and still forbid most ways of telling anyone. That moves the brand off the billboard and into the store, onto the shelf and the counter. In cannabis the store is the media plan.
3Stores
Opened 2019 on the Colorado system. The business was sold to Delta 9.
Position:
CMO at Native Roots
Services:
Research, Design, Management
Partner:
Garden Variety
Status:
Launched 2019, sold to Delta 9