Would You Support Companies That Advertise To Cannabis Consumers Over Ones That Don’t?
There are many signs that the marijuana industry is going mainstream. People will often point to the amount of venture capitalists that are entering the marijuana industry. Other people point to the fact that so many news outlets are covering the marijuana industry – far more than ever before, and the coverage hasn’t been all negative like in the past.
Something that I have been waiting for is to see large non-marijuana businesses start advertising directly to marijuana consumers. I posted a question on my Facebook a couple of days ago asking which company would be first to do so, and the conversation that the post created was awesome. People offered up multiple companies, and some people offered up examples that they felt showed that non-marijuana businesses have already been advertising to consumers.
However, the examples didn’t satisfy me because I didn’t consider them to be full attempts at advertising directly to marijuana consumers. One example that was offered up was Jack in the Box, which has definitely had advertisements with situations that are suggestive, but weren’t 100%. If you consume marijuana, you probably relate to some of the commercials, but the commercials don’t come out directly asking marijuana consumers to frequent Jack in the Box. I want to see a marijuana leaf, or smoke, or something that is undeniable proof that it’s a marijuana consumer based advertisement.
It looks like we may have seen our first attempt at such an advertisement. If there are others out there, I apologize, but this is the first one that I’ve seen that fits the bill. You can see the advertisement below from Spirit Airlines:
I think now that Colorado has rolled out marijuana sales, and more importantly the sales numbers remain staggering, more and more large non-marijuana businesses will find it advantageous to try to advertise to marijuana consumers. The demographics that make up the marijuana industry are similar to many other industries, and advertising reps will recognize this. For a long time these types of businesses avoided marijuana consumers because the industry was illegal, and in a lot of ways, left a lot to be desired for businesses that were worried about their images.
Those days are gone now though. Marijuana is being legally sold in one state, about to be sold in another state, and the marijuana industry will continue to grow at a neck breaking speed. Advertising reps for large non-marijuana businesses mainly care about two things – eyeballs and dollars. Why do companies advertise during the Super Bowl, or purchase billboards along freeways, etc? Because a lot of eyeballs are going to be focused on that event or billboard, and with so many eyes looking at the marijuana industry, I expect many businesses to try to harness this largely untapped consumer market. If these companies do it right, they will be rewarded with large piles of money.
It’s a great time to be in the marijuana media world. I know I’m certainly hoping that The Weed Blog will land some of these type of advertisers. Munchy food companies, eye drop companies, sandwich bag and turkey bag companies, and many other companies will be trying everything they can to fight for customers from the marijuana market. How would you feel about companies that advertised to marijuana consumers? For instance, are you more likely to use Spirit Airlines to travel to Denver versus other airlines? I know I’m personally going to only use them when I travel to Denver to reward them with my dollars, and I’ll likely do the same for any other company that puts out advertising targeting marijuana consumers!
