CannaInsider interviewed Jamie and Pika Stearns, the husband-and-wife team behind Croc&Plover, a Boulder-based branding agency. The Stearns have each worked with many of the leading brands outside of the cannabis industry, like Coca-Cola, Target and Disney, and are now working with the cannabis industry. They also serve as mentors at CanopyBoulder, where they help startups there with brand strategy, naming companies or products, developing marketing strategies, designing logos and developing packaging.
Jamie suggested that the industry needs to move beyond simplistic branding strategies like the leaf and that companies should see themselves as lifestyle brands and not simply cannabis products. He recommends tying to tie the brand to the problem the initial product is attempting to solve or to the unique story behind the entrepreneur. He also suggests that companies should adopt stock packaging and then create a custom structure once the product has traction in the market.
Pika warned against entrepreneurs getting too personal with their initial branding and their logo, which often aren’t effective, and to instead find experts to help build the brand effectively. She pointed to Leafs By Snoop as an example of a brand doing a good job of differentiating itself, while Jamie praised IVXX, which is the extracts brand of Terra Tech (OTC: TRTC), for its minimal design, its elegant packaging and its website.
Listen to the interview or read the transcript “Expert Designers Give Tips to Make your Cannabis Brand Stand Out”: http://www.cannainsider.com/cannabis-brand-designers/
