Building Community Within Cannabis - Branding Bud Live Episode 12
THE SUMMARY
In an industry defined by fragmented state markets and increasing competition, what common goals drive cannabis business leaders to work together? Is there a clear consensus on what needs to change in cannabis? How do we build and nurture supportive business communities? Check out the conversation we had yesterday with Adelia Carrillo and Parisa Mansouri-Rad on "Building Community Within Cannabis".
THE CO-HOSTS
David Paleschuck, Adriana Hemans
THE SPECIAL GUEST
Adelia Carrillo & Parisa Monsouri-Rad
THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
David Paleschuck
Welcome to Branding Bud Live, the live stream that’s 100% THC and 0% WTF. Every week we speak with business people about the business of cannabis. I’m David Paleschuck, founder of Branding Bud Consulting Group and author of “Branding Bud: The Commercialization of Cannabis”, the first book on cannabis branding. I’m joined by my co-host Adriana Hemans, a marketing executive with over 8 years in the cannabis space. Hi Adriana!
Adriana Hemans
Hi David. Thank you for that intro. I’m so excited to co-host the show with you. We’re bringing amazing guests from across the cannabis ecosystem to share their perspectives. What makes our show unique is that we focus on building a community - and we encourage audience participation. It’s not just about us talking, it’s about all of us building something together. So feel free to drop your questions and/or opinions in the chat, and in a minute, we’ll share them too.
David Paleschuck
Thank you, Adriana. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We have a lot of hot topics to get into today. In an industry defined by fragmented state markets and increasing competition, today, we’ll be talking about "Building Community Within Cannabis". Specifically, we’ll be discussing:
How do we build and nurture supportive business communities?
What are the most effective tools in building and leading communities?
How important is brand while building community?
We also have audience participation activities as well. We’ll throw a stat up on the screen, and you can test your industry knowledge. We’ll be sharing a few stats with you today, we think you’ll find interesting, so please stick around for the entire show
I’m very excited to chat with our guests today. That said, we’ll be chatting with Parisa Rad, and Adelia Carrillo, Co-founders of The Blunt Brunch. Welcome Adelia & Parisa! Just to give everyone a little background on our guests:
Parisa, also known as “the marijuana momma”, named top ten women in weed in 2021 by Women & Weed Magazine, cannabis mom, executive and advocate.
Adelia is the Chief Marketing Officer/Co-Founder at EventHi, an online ticketing platform for cannabis-related events, and is also the Co-Founder of Blunt Brunch.
Adriana Hemans
Welcome. Tell us about yourselves and how the two of you came to know each other and work together?
Adelia Carrillo
I'm originally from the consumer electronics industry. I was planning on building a whole career in that industry. I love technology and innovation. And I thought that was my going to be my life. Life obviously pulls you into its own journey. And I ended up having some pregnancy complications, which led me down a path that reunited me to cannabis. I consumed cannabis when I was younger, but it was definitely recreational use. And as I went through this pregnancy complication, it really transformed my life from a medicinal aspect, it opened my eyes to so much more that it could do. And by seeing how much it changed me, not only physically, emotionally but also as an individual. I wanted to go into an industry that I was connected with and felt passionate about. And so that led me to cannabis. I had a first company which was a digital media news network. Building a company is hard. So after about seven and a half, years of building that company, I ended up closing it and took the CMO position at EventHi, which is an online ticketing platform catering to the cannabis culture. So we work with event organizers, event goers and brands. And then COVID happened hitting our business very hard. We are a national company working with event organizers and that that that almost closed our business, but we decided to change things around and pivot and during we decided to move to Arizona, where I reunited from meeting Parisa online friend to an actual friend and then I'll let her take it on there and show what evolved from that.
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
Thank you for sharing Adelia Your journey is just super special and you're somebody that I've respected a long time in the industry. So it is an honor to be able to be business partners. As Adelia mentioned about her past, you know, it's a very personal attachment to cannabis for me as well. I started my journey in the cannabis industry because my daughter at the age of 14 was permanently damaged by opioids and placed into palliative care, which essentially means there's no cure for her condition. Her stomach is permanently paralyzed from the prescription opioids, so as a desperate mom, I was just looking for some resolution to her chronic pain and nausea. And we found cannabis. Thankfully, fast forward seven years later, this not only transformed our advocacy into business ventures and opportunities, but also as a pathway to advocate and connect women in the industry. And that's been a real passion for me. So alongside pediatric cannabis, I would say, women empowerment and creating space for other women in cannabis has been a driving force for me for the last seven to eight years. As Adelia mentioned, to bring you up to speed in 2020, she moved to Arizona where I reside. And yes, we connected just over this, you know, casual brunch, we're like, we need to get together introduce you to some of these Arizona ladies. And, you know, we'll just get everybody together for a brunch. Who doesn't like brunch? And it was amazing the energy that we had at that table that day was just like, a breath of fresh air. We could be blunt and honest about everything that was going on during COVID, and more. And it was just so refreshing to not have to be in a networking scenario where you have to pitch your best self and, you know, kind of put on this persona. It was like, oh my gosh, let me be vulnerable with you guys. Right now. Let me tell you what's really going on. And surprisingly, everybody else is feeling these same experiences. And, you know, we were just bonding, and it felt so good. We're like, we have to do this again. And that's how The Blunt Brunch was created.
The concept was to remain intimate because that was where we can really be vulnerable and unshared. And it wasn't all negative. Like when I say vulnerable, it's like, you know, we were also celebrating each other's wins and accomplishments that week, and, and then we found as we evolved, like a topic for each brunch, and so we would come with the topic already planned. And we just found so many breakthroughs happening and relationships being built that we decided that we needed to grow it on a larger scale, so that other women and other cities could also experience the blood French, per their request. By the way, we were getting hit up from everywhere. So we opened up the opportunity for other women to host Blunt Brunch socials. We call them our co-hosts, and they host events in Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, Las Vegas, and New Mexico - all being hosted by other women, and allowing them an opportunity to not only lead their communities by hosting these events, but even make revenue for themselves by selling sponsorships and tickets and that sort of thing. So really empowering these women to be true leaders in their community and giving them an opportunity to monetize off of what we built.
David Paleschuck
That's very cool. The way you describe it, makes it sound like a franchise to me.
Adelia Carrillo
I've never used that term lightly. There's a lot behind the word “franchise”, we don’t want to get into legal mumbo jumbo here.
David Paleschuck
Understood. As mentioned before, Parisa, you’ve been voted “Top Ten Women In Cannabis”. How does personal brand play into company brand, as you build community?
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
I'm also president of 420 Collections which I'm proudly wearing our logo here today. It's a women-owned brand and now dispensary and retail, manufacturing and grow facility as well in New Mexico. So we've expanded outside of Arizona. I'm very excited to be leading communities and different facets of this exciting industry.
David Paleschuck
Let’s talk about that for a moment. How does how does personal brand come into play as you build within the industry.
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
It was kind of funny, getting into the industry. I branded myself as the “Marijuana Mama”, just by virtue of sharing my experiences as a mom using cannabis and giving it to my daughter to use as a medicine. And so just, you know, being on Instagram and Facebook, sharing our journey, connected me with so many people and building an online community via branding myself was really where I probably was in these opportunities to be named “Top Women” or whatever, was such an honor. I think branding plays a monumental part of that, you know, being able to be recognizable and relatable.
Adriana Hemans
As we jump into the conversation of building community … Why is community important? What is it about community that we as people desire and need?
Adelia Carrillo
You know, this is a great question. So building community has really on like, honestly always been a very important role to me. But it became an even bigger role as I got connected to cannabis. You know, every cannabis business that I have built or been a part of, has had community in their own mission and values, especially EventHi and especially Blunt Brunch. And why is community important? Well, you know, community unites us, that's plain and simple. Being part of a community can make us feel as though we are part of something even greater than ourselves. And there really are so many positive aspects that we as people desire, no people enjoy giving and receiving support from each other being of influence provides a feeling of empowerment, and influences positive change. Sharing within communities stimulates innovation and growth and connection as humans, and it allows us to build relationships and give each of us a sense of belonging. So it really comes to us coming together as a collective, giving people a chance to feel inspired, solve problems, share humor, vent their frustrations, but also as precise said, share their achievements. And that's exactly what we built within our own community at The Blunt Brunch.
Adriana Hemans
It makes sense.
David Paleschuck
Earlier, you spoke about intimacy. You spoke about the size of the events that were local events. It's interesting to talk about tribalism and feeling connected. Feeling part of something, both large and small. Perhaps even starting small and growing into a movement. I have a slide here that points to branding and how it’s changed over the decades. I think this relates to tribalism AND branding and wanted to share it with everyone.
Here’s a quick overview of how brands have changed since the 1950s. When you think about the 1950s and 60s, it was really about convenience and efficiency. Think mass-production and modernization. It was really about miles per gallon. In the 1970s and 1980s, brands became more about how they made us feel. So it wasn't miles per gallon, but rather, it was miles per hour. It was how our hair felt blowing in the wind of a convertible car, not necessarily the efficiency of that car. As we got into 1990s and through 2010, brands were about inclusion and exclusion. They were about social status. Creating groups by what we wore and who we spent time with - although it was always who we spent time with; but now from a quick glance, we knew if somebody was our tribe or not. Currently, humans are in a phase where this has evolved into beliefs. Yes, we now consume brands that amplify or extend our beliefs. Whether it's, Patagonia, Tesla or Seventh Generation, there's so many brands now we could talk about that people buy, because in consumed because they believe in them.
I think it's really interesting because these are the patterns of communities. These are ways that brands effectively convey their promise and sell products to consumers. Is it different creating community than creating a product and a consumer base? Within these communities are sub-communities that make up the larger movement. From individual needs to small groups of concerned friends and family to larger forums and associations until it becomes a movement, a trend, something important to us all. These are how communities are built; how brands are built; and how problems are solved.
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
Really, I liked that little timeline. That was cool.
David Paleschuck
When you think about brands, and about people, and about how we're all connected and what's meaningful to us, and why, and what drives us. People nowadays are more conscientious of where they spend their dollars, and they want to get behind brands that actually resonate with their values. The role of community has become more important since the 90s. Maybe even more important since the pandemic (2020). People felt isolated during that time, so the need and desire to connect has become more important than ever.
Adriana Hemans
Parisa Do you have any, like examples of, you know, brands that are doing a good job building community or have sort of, like, put that as part of their evolution and coming forward and finding people that will be their customer base who also share their same values?
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
My 420 Collections is a perfect example of that. Our platform has been designed around a give-back program. We give back 25% to 15 group homes. We help men and women who are suffering from homelessness, and mental health issues, and we help rehabilitate them. So that's been a big staple for our brand 420 Collections. And really built that into the branding as far as giving back and using the platform as education, to build the community of people that would care about these individuals. And it's been amazing the love that we've received from the cannabis industry, as in comparison to other industries, there are so much more open to dealing with addiction and mental health. I feel like those things are more prevalent within our industry and we're really, really sensitive to that. So thankfully, we've received a lot of love from our community. A big shout out to Blunt Brunch which has done a great job of branding.
David Paleschuck
Your events create touchpoints that allow you to cater to your clients in unique ways. How do you leverage your in-person time with your attendees?
Adelia Carrillo
So this has been pivotal offline. And online. You know, one of the things that we really learned coming from the EventHi perspective is, especially when the pandemic happened, we had to help our event organizers learn how to build community online, because they were so driven and focused around in person events. And so during that time, as a company, it also allowed us to look in and really understand the importance of online communities. We were able to experience virtual lives like 3D virtual worlds have these events, we've had live streams that were fundraising events with entertainment, there was educational courses that were happening. And with that component, what we learned is not all of that's going to fit every community, you really need to understand what your community wants, and resonates with, and then that's how you'll be able to build the activation or the experience you want virtually. And then when it comes to in person events, you know, it has its own need, you know, we're seeing from a bigger picture, we're seeing all different types of events happening throughout the US. And literally you are going to find your tribe and everything we've seen from jazz and cannabis to a sushi last sushi and doobie event where you roll your own sushi, and you roll it you learn how to roll a joint as well. Cool. Yeah, exactly. But then you're also seeing now brands, we're seeing a lot of brands, look at events, in person events as a marketing tool to, you know, get in front of them, you know, we're so restricted in advertising and cannabis. And by getting a hosting an event around your brand, getting the right consumer to be there and attend, you can educate, they can feel it, they can sense it, they can enhance all the senses around it to really connect and understand your brand. So we're really seeing a power of events, not just online, but in a virtual standpoint as well.
David Paleschuck
Because you're in multiple states and multiple markets, do you see different topics being discussed relative to the immature versus mature cannabis markets?
Adelia Carrillo
Definitely. So we are in 48 states and cannabis is not legal in 48 states yet. So a lot of those that are not that don't have any recreational or medicinal programs, yet we're seeing education, we're also seeing an interesting one, which is, which you know, take it as it is, but it's how to make money in cannabis, or they're still using the terms green rush get involved in the green rush. So it's interesting how they're tapping into that, that kind of approach. And in those kinds of states, and then the California markets like, obviously has been around doing events for a very long time, we're now also seeing a difference in cost points in ticket prices. California is going a little bit lower now in ticket prices compared to New York or New York is able to, you know, do increased ticket prices compared to what California used to be able to do. So there's a lot of different changes that we are seeing throughout each of the different states, whether it's the experience, whether it's the cost, size, whether it's the audience size, it all definitely varies from state to state.
Adriana Hemans
Looks like everybody is warmed up in the chat. So why don't we go ahead and do our first round of audience participation. And this is a stat that came from a UCLA study, and I'll give you all the background on the study itself.
What % of communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal cues?
A. 54%
B. 67%
C. 81%
D. 93%
Adriana Hemans
This study is very often cited, but I think to really understand what they were We're looking at it deserves a little bit more context. This was they looked at different pillars of communication words was one of them. But the other parts were vocal elements, meaning your tone of voice, the pitch of your voice. And then nonverbal elements like how you're standing, your body language, your expression, your eye contact, to figure out like, how people were being influenced by the speaker, and what percentage was words? And what percentage were these other non-word components? I see a lot of guesses for D, this is a super famous study to sell people have probably stumbled across it in their in their research before,
David Paleschuck
I went through each one of the numbers, I got to D, and started to think, Well, does that mean 7% or a portion of 7% are verbal cues? Which got me to thinking if that is true, I should shut up more and just leverage my other 93%. What do you think Adelia and Parisa?
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
I mean, if I go towards the 93% I'm like, Wow, no wonder in person events are so important. Right? Wow. I don't know. I'm leaning towards C or D too. But I mean, I have to say, we're still very effective with communication like verbal. And important, you know, we need it still.
Adriana Hemans
Let's reveal the answer.
Adriana Hemans
D. 93%
David Paleschuck
Parisa, do you find real world events to be more productive and satisfying than online events? Can you communicate more effectively in-person?
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
I definitely feel like I can communicate better in person and really get to know somebody on a deeper level. But I don't want to say online is just there's no value there. I mean, look at this huge community that I've built on Instagram, and all the people that I've been able to meet and connect with online. So I definitely think that there's value involved. But if I were to choose one, I would definitely choose an in person event over an online just because of, you know, being able to really enjoy the person and get to know them on a deeper level. I feel like that that intimate connection, is there in person more.
Adriana Hemans
Adelia, you do a lot of virtual events, too. Is it possible to have that immersive experience in a virtual setting?
Adelia Carrillo
You know, I think creating that atmosphere again, it can be very tough. Kind of going back to when looking at what we've seen at EventHi with those experiences that I shared about earlier. And in the pandemic. It did show that it was vital. But how we've been able to really implicate it implement it here at bump branch. We saw that in person events, we incorporated what we call Blunt Conversations, which we shared a little bit about earlier. These are conversations that are important to us as women and topics that we may not be able to have in front of our team members or male counterparts. Just because they might be a little bit more vulnerable or just certain topics that we personally would just want to share within our own tribe. And so we saw that being very valuable. And we saw and listen to our audience that was outside of those, those in person events, and we're like, we need to do something, we need to bring this virtually, we need to see if it has that same impact. And so we started launching Blunt Conversations weekly, online. It makes it accessible to anyone, but especially to our Blunt Brunch community online. And they get access to these women and get to gain so much value and insight and perspective around these bunk conversations. And we diversify it by bringing different women each week. So one month, it could be all about impostor syndrome. But each week, you are gaining so much value from a different individual who has different insights, experiences and knowledge. And again, it has become so powerful by bringing that online.
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
And I have to point out from all over the nation. That's the beauty of the online just like us, right now, we're in different regions, and we get to be together with all these amazing viewers. So we really can't count out online, you know, economics, not everyone can afford to fly across the country. And not everyone has mobility. So it's like it becomes more inclusive. And that's an extra festival. I love to that point that someone pointed out about, you know, folks with disabilities or health concerns like, my daughter can't go out to regular events since COVID. You know, she has come compromised health issues. So online is awesome for those folks who need an alternative option. Yeah.
David Paleschuck
And here we are, we're bringing it to them.
Adelia Carrillo
Exactly. David.
David Paleschuck
Parisa, how important is “brand” in the cannabis equation? Or in this case, the cannabis community equation? Blunt Brunch has such a punch! It leverages both alliteration AND rhyme. Gotta love it!
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
I mean, I think that's what makes your event stand out from someone else's, right. And that's how you attract the right audience and customer base, whether you're selling a product or an event series, like blood brunch, or you're selling product line, like with 420 Collections. It's all about reaching that correct that that audience that you know, is going to like what you have to sell, right? So for us, we want to connect with other executive women. So our branding is such to attract those business like women in the space. So I think it's imperative if you want to get your brand out there. Branding is everything!
Adriana Hemans
Partnerships are so important, especially in cannabis, I feel like compared to other industries, it's so relationship based. And it's all about trust. I want to kind of take us down a little tangent just for a minute, but it's related.
Which of the following elements is NOT one of the 4 components of brand equity?
1. Loyalty
2. Awareness
3. Logo Design
4. Perceived Quality
Adriana Hemans
This was from a book that was published in 1991 by a professor at UC Berkeley, Dr. Acker, that defined what brand equity was, which was something that people didn't really talk about in 1991.
David Paleschuck
So the test taker in me to be honest with you looks at this and says, loyalty, awareness, and perceived quality are all non-tangible, yet logo design seems tangible. I don't know. Adelia Parisa, what are your thoughts?
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
I'm with you. All of those logo design seems least important, but play an importance and branding. But you want to logo you can identify who they are. But it wouldn't come down to the other items. I think I'd go it's it just seems different.
Adriana Hemans
Yeah, one of these things. All right, let's reveal the answer. The answer is C. Logo Design.
David Paleschuck
Indeed, the answer is C. Logo Design. Thank you so much for joining us. This was a great conversation about community about you know, consumers about again, every week, it just amazes me how different cannabis consumers can be what the needs are, that really span across humans. You know, they consume cannabis. But thank you so much for joining us. We love your perspectives and your energy. Keep doing what you're doing.
Adriana Hemans
And we love your nonverbal cues too!
Parisa Monsouri-Rad
That was fun.
David Paleschuck
And that’s our show for today. We’ll be back again next Thursday, February 2nd at 11a PST / 2p EST where we’ll be chatting with Sara Gullickson, CEO at The CB Advisors, a consulting firm providing business guidance for cannabis license applicants and current license holders. We'll be discussing “The Ins & Outs Of Cannabis Licensing”.
Adriana Hemans
If you miss us in the meantime, you can re-watch today’s episode, or any of our previous episodes, on our LinkedIn page, Branding Bud Live, or on our YouTube channel. There are links in the chat, so give us a follow and register for next week’s event.
David Paleschuck
Please don’t forget to check out cannabis’s best-kept secret at www.brandingbud.com
Bye bye!
Adriana Hemans
Bye bye!