Challenges & Goals

In the highly regulated cannabis category, there are few opportunities for brands to distinguish themselves through advertising. Brands often call themselves “premium”, but in the nascent legal market, it remains to be seen what that means to consumers (other than expensive).

We know Flowr grows one of the best products on the market, BC Pink Kush. So, while the product was gaining serious momentum through positive reviews, recommendations and word-of-mouth, unaided brand awareness was low in a very competitive space. It was time to reach more customers and drive sales while establishing Flowr as the top premium cannabis producer in Canada.

Insights & Strategy

When it comes to cannabis, you simply never know what you’re going to get.

Whether legal or illicit, the inconsistency is extraordinary. When you order online from the Ontario Cannabis Store, for instance, each product only comes with an estimated THC/CBD range. BC Pink Kush’s main competitors have estimated THC range/bands of 9%. Going from 15% to 24% THC would mean two entirely different experiences – even if you roll the same size joint of the same strain from the same brand.

People don’t excuse this in any other product category. Imagine ordering a 12-pack of beer and one beer was 3% ABV and another was 9%? Or your latte was twice as caffeinated as yesterday? You’d never buy from that brand again. This is the kind of inconsistency you would expect from the illicit market, not from a premium legal producer.

Some of our audience wants super high THC, some of want moderate THC. Still others want low THC. But no one wants a surprising amount of THC. They want to choose products that give them a high that meets their expectations - that are consistent and reliable. That’s why a tight range is so important. They don’t know it yet, but we believe that checking for a tight range will someday be more important to them than average THC percentage. Our approach? Establish this behavior in cannabis culture in Canada.

Execution

We shared this entirely unique message through film and photography, telling our audience that Flowr’s BC Pink Kush is Grown to Tighter Tolerances, ±2.5%.

From their state-of-the-art indoor growing facilities in Kelowna, we know that the combination of Art & Science is how Flowr does it. So, it’s how we decided to prove it. We used hardware that screamed precision with an artistic style that screamed Rembrandt art, all in Flowr’s iconic underground style. We shot a hero video with both 30s and 15s edits and multiple, beautiful key visuals that we used in print, multiple digital ad formats, in social and earned media. We also handled the media buy, which drove to a custom landing page we designed and developed, too (flowr.ca/precision). 

All of these activities had two intended effects: to increase brand engagement and to drive sales of BC Pink Kush.
 

Results & Impact

The results to date have been extraordinary. The beautiful craft of the film and photography in digital has led to click-through rates 4x the industry average (0.24% vs. 0.06% to 0.08%), which has helped drive significant traffic to the landing page and to licensed online retailers. That increase in traffic. Over 350% higher than expected. All this has led to BC Pink Kush claiming its place as the #1 seller in its category at the Ontario Cannabis Store.