Americans have proved over and over again that they are willing to do things that most of their favorite celebrities do. They will do things with their names on them and even buy them.
For instance, Martha Stewart’s followers would buy things in her name on them such as cookware, bedding, and magazines. And soon they might even start buying weed branded by Stewart. In February, she announced she joined Canadian cannabis grower, Canopy Growth, and has been starting her own range of products containing cannabidiol (CBD).
Dealing with weed has now become a thing for A-list celebrities – from actors to Super Bowl players. Drake, for instance, wants to sell locally grown weed in his native Toronto, while football champs like Ricky Williams and Rob Gronkowski promote CBD products to ease your pains and aches.
Snoop Dogg, the legendary rapper, began cultivating cannabis long ago before federal efforts to legalize it in America. In 2015, he launched his products containing cannabis with LivWell in Colorado, calling them “Leafs by Snoop.”
According to reports, Snoop teamed up with Stewart. While his products were in development in the United States, he collaborated with Canopy Growth to see whether he could enter and expand into the Canadian market.
Canada legalized medical marijuana in 2001 so its market is a bit more mature than in the United States where some states have ban marijuana while others allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana for chronic pain.
According to Canopy Growth’s vice president Jordan Sinclair, “Snoop’s team reached out through just the general ‘Contact us’ form on our website. We thought it was a hoax at first.”
Soon after, Snoop and Canopy launched his brand in Canada in 2016 and then he introduced Canopy’s executives to Stewart.
Other A-list celebrities who had been dealing with weed products include Willie Nelson, Damian Marley, Tommy Chong, and other rappers such as Wiz Khalifa and Ghostface Killah.
“The industry is fairly strict when it comes to advertising regulations,” added Sinclair. “Promotion is very difficult, and credibility building and brand building are also very difficult.”
The marijuana industry needs someone like Stewart or Snoop to boost the sales of their products. “We didn’t expect the amount of traction that that announcement generated,” recalled Sinclair. “It was as much press and as much reach and as many stories as we generated on the day that cannabis got legalized in Canada, and we were the business that made the first legal sale ever.”
This kind of celebrity strategy to boost sales is the oldest marketing trick in the book. However, it may not make a big impact when it comes to long-term success, said Dina Mayzlin, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. “There’s a big debate about the extent to which any advertising is effective, but at the end of the day, it’s usually more about the product, or the logistics of how you sell,” said Mayzlin. “I don’t think celebrity endorsements are that powerful.”
