This is a copy of the November 25th edition of our weekly Newsletter, which we have been publishing since October 2015.
Friends,
As the American cannabis industry builds out state by state and as we see the emergence of several national platforms, we are beginning to observe some of these early leaders think more about the branding of their products and their dispensaries. One of the benefits to the pending acquisition of the U.S. assets of MPX Bioceutical by iAnthus Capital, according to the company, is that it will be able to use the “Health for Life” brand across the entire platform, filling a prior void as the company had different dispensary names across all of the states in which it had won licenses or was developing acquisitions. While some of the multi-state operators, like MedMen, which uses its corporate name for branding its dispensaries, and Green Thumb Industries, which is using the “Rise” brand for its dispensaries, others, like Acreage Holdings, don’t yet have a unified dispensary brand.
A unified dispensary name is an important first step in building a brand. Imagine if Starbucks had decided to maintain different store names in each of its markets! With the large white space for both consumer product brands and store brands in the cannabis space, the companies are starting to put some thought into dispensary branding. Curaleaf, which only recently changed its corporate name from PalliaTech to match its dispensary brand, made a smart move this week in our view. The company debuted a line of hemp-based CBD products that will be available across the country, even in markets where medical cannabis isn’t yet permitted. We also note that Trulieve, currently operating solely in Florida, bought a single dispensary in California that it will rebrand as Trulieve in an effort to extend its brand into the broader market. While there is no national market yet for cannabis products due to federal illegality, multi-state operators would be wise to think about common branding of their retail stores/dispensaries and even their proprietary products.
The move by Curaleaf to extend its brand to the adjacent CBD market is especially interesting to us because we think the rapidly changing landscape in North America may soon provide an opportunity for some of the Canadian licensed producers with global aspirations to get their name into the U.S. market, even if their products won’t be permitted to enter. With the passage of the pending Farm Bill into law hopefully, we expect to see some of the leading Canadian LPs form alliances with U.S. operators or even start to build their own CBD from industrial hemp businesses, a move that would set up them up for export into the U.S. in the future as the laws change. In the early stages of a national and global cannabis industry, companies should be working on building their brands wisely.
Sprout makes the world’s most robust CRM and marketing software for the industry that helps cannabis companies increase revenues and profit margins by engaging their customers, creating brand awareness and driving online and in-store orders, allowing cannabis brands to acquire, retain and grow customers. Built over 11 years, Sprout’s technology platform has been used by big brands and retailers such as GNC, Harley Davidson and many others. Today, Sprout has dispensaries and cannabis brands across eight states and expanding.
To learn more about Sprout, who is a client of NCV, visit the page of the company and click the green Get More Info button.
New Cannabis Ventures publishes curated articles as well as exclusive news. Here is some of the most interesting business content from this week:
- Aurora Cannabis Closes $290 Million Latin American Acquisition
- Canopy Rivers to Loan $40 Million to JV Partner PharmHouse
- Exclusive: Florida Medical Cannabis Leader Trulieve Projects $214 Million Revenue in 2019 and Begins National Expansion
- Gotham Green to Invest $32 Million in U.S. Cannabis Company
- Harvest Health & Recreation Finalizes $70 Million Florida Medical Cannabis Acquisition
- Health Canada Threatens to Revoke Cannabis Licenses of Agrima Botanicals
- TILT Holdings Raises $119 Million and Expects to Debut on the CSE Next Week
- Exclusive: Why MedMen Revised its $120 Million Capital Raise
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Sincerely,
Alan & Joel
Note: Subsequent to publication, Acreage Holdings indicated that it has begun to roll out a unified dispensary brand, The Botanist, with locations in Baltimore and Buffalo.
