One of the more positive business narratives to emerge amid the COVID-19 pandemic has been the fact that the government has deemed cannabis businesses essential, further legitimizing cannabis as a powerful CPG player.
We caught up with Lisa Hurwitz, the Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Grassroots to learn more about the state of the cannabis industry, how marketing strategies have shifted amid COVID-19, and what excites her most about the future of the sector.
Check out some highlights below:
On the Essential Business of Cannabis
“Cannabis being deemed an essential business has further legitimized the industry. When and where there was a stigma in cannabis, the fact that the government is now deeming it essential has reduced those barriers of entry for a lot of new people.”
On Cannabis Versus Traditional CPG
“The biggest challenge and difference with traditional CPG is that cannabis is not the same product in every market because it has to be grown in the state in which it is sold. Creating consistency around brand is both a really big opportunity but also a much bigger challenge than traditional CPG.”
On Innovation
“The speed to which we can drive both marketing innovation and product innovation in this category is really unparalleled and I think it makes it incredibly exciting for marketers or CPG folks like me.”
