The past few years have been pivotal for the cannabis industry. With the legalization of recreational cannabis in many states across the U.S., many businesses like Curaleaf, a leading medical and wellness cannabis company, have had to redefine their brand in a highly competitive market.
No longer niched in medical cannabis, Curaleaf approached us to create a more personable and accessible brand identity; one that would appeal to comfortable cannabis users and hesitant newbies alike. Their team found our Venice location compelling (we’re at the epicenter of the cannabis boom) and entrusted us to develop an overarching brand, a website refresh, and a strategy to unify their presence in their 14 operational states.
Our Approach
Pinpointing the Target Audience
From a strategic perspective, we questioned the notion of marketing to Millennial and Gen Z audiences as most cannabis brands are doing. Instead, we saw a greater opportunity to push to underserved audiences such as “Zennials” (aged 36-42). We felt there was a rich opportunity in appealing to this group, as well as their close predecessors Gen X, who might not feel comfortable walking into a dispensary. We focused our strategy and design around this Zennial target, crafting a message of trustworthiness that worked side-by-side with Curaleaf’s heritage as a medical health provider.
Democratization, Demystification & Destigmatization
Tapping into the Zennial and Gen X market proved to be an ownership opportunity for Curaleaf, positioning them to become THE recreational cannabis brand for these underserved groups: a brand welcoming and open to all. The idea of democratization emerged as a central focus; we infused the brand message with the notion that anyone can come in, ask questions and get the answers they need to make safe, wise cannabis decisions, without fear and without apprehension.
As education and personalization became hallmarks of the new brand, it was important to help audiences understand the way different cannabis products work, acquaint them with Curaleaf’s “budtenders,” and help them choose the product that will work best for them. Over time during our discovery, we developed “Ask us anything” and “there are no stupid questions” as flagship brand statements.
All these efforts to democratize, demystify, and destigmatize cannabis culminated in Curaleaf’s new tagline: “Cannabis with confidence.”
Challenges
In crafting a brand that would work across 14 states, one of our biggest hurdles was navigating varying state laws around cannabis. For example, we couldn’t use the words “remedy” or “safe,” and, most challengingly, we were unable to talk about any specific outcomes of cannabis. Instead, we focused the message around comfort, education, and personalization.
Visually, we loved the idea of illustrated cannabis patterns as a consistent design element for the brand, but states laws vary on the topic of showing realistic cannabis imagery in marketing. After extensive research and sketching, we settled on semi-abstracted patterns that satisfied Curaleaf’s goals and abided by different state laws.
Working to destigmatize a product with an illegal history comes with a lot of baggage and associations: while there was no legal reason not to use the phrase “getting high,” for example, or showing an image of someone exhaling a cloud of smoke: we had to walk a fine line in accurately representing the product without scaring off potential customers.
Creative
We began our creative process with color: we looked to nature to find the perfect, sleek Evergreen, and paired it with a palette of bright, approachable colors drawing from nature. For typography, we chose a chunky, warm serif font for headlines and a contemporary, inviting sans serif for subheads and body copy.
Using our tagline “Cannabis with confidence” as a point of departure, we developed a brand awareness campaign combining black and white, documentary-style portraiture with statements like “cannabis with comfort,” “cannabis with passion,” and cannabis with joy” to create intimate portraits of Curaleaf customers. Using the word “cannabis” like this as an action, as a part of everyday life, helps further destigmatize the product and connect with a wide range of people.
Finally, we created two cannabis patterns to be used across materials for an eye-catching and consistent look: one is a fine line illustration of a cannabis plant, the other a Matisse-style abstracted depiction of cannabis leaves. Both can be used in all brand colors and, when audiences see them, they know they’re looking at Curaleaf.
These elements came together in a brand bible, a website refresh, store designs, and a number of marketing materials. With their modern and approachable new brand, Curaleaf is positioned to own their target demographic and help people all over the country enjoy cannabis with confidence.
