THC-FREE NFL
Weedmaps ad pleads for less censorship, more direct discourse
In a new ad spot by Weedmaps, Brock Ollie—a life-size head of broccoli—can’t catch a break. Everywhere he goes, colleagues and acquaintances make immature jokes about how high he must be or how much he probably loves cannabis.
“The brand created the walking, talking veggie as the star of his own short film to make a point about censorship in cannabis marketing,” writes AdWeek. ”And executives chose the timing strategically, dropping the 90-second spot today just ahead of Super Bowl 56, a commercial extravaganza it tried—and failed—to buy time in.”
The takeaway
Weedmaps says they’re not being permitted to run the ad highlights a double standard. Cannabis is legal in some capacity in 37 states, and NBC airs multiple ads by both alcohol and sports betting brands. “We strongly believe that censoring content doesn’t prevent people from accessing the plant,” said Juanjo Feijoo, Weedmaps COO and CMO. “It just prevents them from doing it safely.”
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ARE YOU BUYING IT?
Canadian cannabis market share may surprise you
HEXO, Auxly and Village Farms earned the top three spots when it comes to market share in Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Saskatchewan between November 2021 and January 2022, according to data compiled by Stifel and Headset and shared by MJBizDaily editor Matt Lamers on Twitter.
The breakdown
- HEXO, which recently acquired Redecan, 48North and Zenabis, has 10.3%
- Auxly, with brands like Back Forty, KoLab and Foray, has 7.5%
- Village Farms, known for its Pink Kush strain by Pure Sunfarms, has 7.1% of the market
- Tilray, Canopy and OGI have 7%, 6.7% and 5.9% respectively
The takeaway
“Tilray, Canopy and Aurora—all of which were described as ‘The Biggest Cannabis Company in the World’ at various points over the past few years—are now outside of the Top 3 in Canada by market share (at least according to this analysis),” tweeted Matt Lamers. “Remarkable.”
LFLY DOES NYC
LFLY starts trading on NASDAQ
Leafly has officially started trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LFLY as of yesterday via a SPAC with Merida Capital Holdings, according to a release posted by New Cannabis Ventures.
In the past year, Leafly has:
- Accelerated revenue growth and gross margin
- Introduced new features for brands subscribers
- Updated its iPhone and iPad apps with online ordering capabilities
- Made strategic new hires, bolstering its executive team
The takeaway
“Backed by substantial funding, tremendous advancements in cannabis legalization and e-commerce tailwinds, we are relentlessly focused on investing in our technology, talent, and content to execute our growth strategy and create value for all stakeholders,” said CEO Yoko Miyashita in a statement.
BLAME CANADA BIDEN
Biden blamed for tumbling cannabis stocks
Soaring consumption rates, quintupling revenues and increasing demand for regulated cannabis still hasn’t buoyed cannabis stocks, which have fallen significantly since US President Joe Biden was elected, reports Financial Times.
By the numbers
- The total world market for medical and recreational cannabis hit $37 billion in 2020, according to Prohibition Partners
- In 2014, regulated sales in the US were less than $100 million, according to Viridian Capital
- The average US-listed cannabis stock is down by more than a third since early 2021
- The Canadian cannabis index is down by about 50% since early 2021
The takeaway
Many anticipated federal reform to follow Biden’s election and Democratic control of the Senate. That has not been the case, with Democrats disagreeing about how cannabis reform should unfold, and has halted institutional investment and discouraged interest in the early stage growth sector.