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Illinois-based Cresco Labs, a multistate cannabis conglomerate, has become the first company in the industry to place advertising on Spotify.
The deal—which includes programmatic buys, in-app digital banners, native and connected TV ads—potentially opens the door for other weed brands searching for mainstream marketing avenues in a tightly regulated environment.
Audio streaming services represent “a major opportunity for brands to reach large audiences in a targeted manner,” according to Cory Rothschild, Cresco Labs’ national retail president.
Spotify is particularly attractive given its 551 million users and 220 million subscribers.
“As we try to normalize and professionalize cannabis, Spotify is a tremendous platform that has credibility with consumers plus massive reach,” Rothschild told Adweek.
Through a spokesperson, Spotify pointed out that it has already accepted “cannabis-related” advertising “in a restricted capacity for several years.” Gummies, oils and topicals maker cbdMD has advertised in the top-rated The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, for instance.
Since hemp and CBD products are legal across the U.S., they’re not subject to the same ad restrictions as THC-laced products or their retailers. Most publishers and platforms draw a line between the two—CBD and hemp are generally allowed, while THC is not—but Spotify puts them under the same banner.
‘Wellness,’ not weed
Cresco Labs’ deal, which will span several months, promotes the company’s Sunnyside dispensaries, aiming to draw new and existing customers to the brick-and-mortar locations and ecommerce site.
Being a first-of-its-kind media buy, the brand worked closely with Spotify on the content and imagery of the messages, always sticking points for weed advertising, per Rothschild.
The campaign, shepherded by Cresco’s creative agency Sister Merci, could identify Sunnyside as a dispensary but could not use the words “cannabis” or “flower” or other common descriptors in the category. Sunnyside’s THC-spiked flower, tinctures, edibles and other wares are called “wellness products.”
