Rebranding Pot
A project about the changing aesthetics of the cannabis industry
In the U. S. and Canada, cannapreneurs - entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry employ increasingly sophisticated design strategies to position their brands. They are target a range of potential consumers — women, connoisseurs, skeptics, health nuts, millennials and (perhaps most interesting) those who have never used cannabis before. Rebranding Pot features the cannapreneurs who are responsible for the green revolution’s exciting examples of innovative branding and advertising, and reveals how certain cannabis companies attract new consumers and position themselves in a burgeoning industry.
Source: @420friendlykitty
With the increased legalization of cannabis in the U.S. and Canada, aspects of the plant’s countercultural associations and negative stigmas have begun to dissipate. Replacing this taboo are new connotations, engineered through branding and supplemented by the sheer experience of the substance. Many of us are seeking new ways to relax, socialize, and improve our health. From the medical to the recreational, marketers are using design to communicate a need to a consumer base that can best be filled through cannabis. For those who partake in legal cannabis, the question will arise: What role does design play in that decision?
Laundry Day new 'Hudson Pipe'. Source: goo.gl/3s2Zpi
Rebranding Pot was structured around the central assumption that aesthetics will play a significant role in how cannabis products are received by society as cannabis becomes legal in North America. Intelligent and elegant solutions will allow companies to disassociate themselves from the stigma traditionally attached to cannabis consumption, securing new consumers among the cannabis-curious. This thesis is supported by images, stories and case studies that showcase the range of branding trends surfacing as a result of the green rush.
Image: @ladiesofparadise
In order to create an overview of the cannabis industry’s most compelling designs, Rebranding Pot’s case studies will focus on the people responsible for leading their company’s branding process. Through interviews and independent research, questions are explored such as: How are cannabis companies defining target audiences? How do these companies position their cannabis products? How do they catalyze contemporary trends or execute the unexpected?
Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa and Seth Rogen. Source: goo.gl/uwzZfT
What is different and unique about Rebranding Pot’s approach is its focus on aesthetics. Up until recently, the imagery associated with cannabis was stagnant and drew from from established tropes such as green cannabis leaves, Bob Marley references, dancing bears and symbols from late 1960s and early 1970s cultural zeitgeist. Now, as legalization spreads throughout North America, designers are reimagining and updating the visual materials used to package and market cannabis products.
“A THC-focused formula supported by CBD in a ratio of 8:1 THC-to-CBD. The formula is supported by a sleep-promoting terpene blend that works to help calm and relax your body and mind to ensure you have a restful night’s sleep. The pre-filled dose pen™ offers over 200 doses (2.25mg per dose) and ensures a precise dose every time.” Dosist Website
Rebranding Pot was a series about companies that are adopting sophisticated, innovative and unexpected designs when branding their products. Far from being “Bob Marley visual plagiarists” who recycle stereotypical images, the cannabis brands discussed in the articles displayed remarkable ingenuity, sophistication and design sensibility. While other cannabis-related books chronicle legal and political changes in the field, Rebranding Pot took the reader outside the conventional scope of existing industry literature by focusing on cannapreneurs and shining a light on their chosen branding strategies. As a design historian interested in the intersection between design, politics, sociology, law, and business, I explored how these individuals are changing the aesthetics related to cannabis in the U.S. and Canada. Rebranding Pot was intendeed to make us wonder: What will this industry look like once cannabis is federally legal? What does legalization look like?
Photo by Robert Nelson on Unsplash
