As California prepares for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use and after seven US states legalize cannabis in some form in 2016 (four of which passed ballot initiatives legalizing nonmedical marijuana), the North American marijuana market of legal cannabis becomes one of the fastest growing markets, posting $6.7 billion in revenue just in 2016. The industry is on track to grow exponentially to a staggering $20.2 billion in sales by 2021, in what is being described as the “Green Rush”.
With legalization extending beyond a few key states, the face of cannabis is changing as well. California, the sixth-largest economy in the world, passed Proposition 64, thus making a large part of the West Coast a legal enclave for recreational pot users. And that’s where the newly rebranded product by the Sonoma Cannabis Company comes from. Working with its marketing partner, Berkeley-based agency John McNeil Studio (JMS), the company specializes in producing premium cannabis oils extracted from their farms in Sonoma County.
The team of over 120 ambitious thinkers from JMS who are “focused on building brands through the power of creative solutions and the quality of their execution”, present a premium cannabis product called simply Aya, which aims to please a new way of affluent, informed, and culturally savvy consumers, while creating a new market category and position Sonoma Cannabis Company as a brand leader.
The company’s president, Sam Edwards, described how with AYA the company enters a new market category – premium products such as vaporizer pens and cannabis nectar, which are responsibly extracted from the Sonoma County farms whilst using sustainable farming practices: “There’s a new and emerging market for cannabis, and an evolution of the medical cannabis consumer. Dispensaries such as Harvest in Northern California or Cannabal City Collective in Southern California are already catering to the demand of consumers who want a higher-end product.”
Although, the sale of recreational marijuana will not go into effect until January 1, 2018, the company offers 100% organic, naturally concentrated cannabis nectars that are sustainably grown in California’s Sonoma Valley with respect for the land and a commitment to our community – with 3 key elements: Quality, purity, and honesty, while being grown using just four ingredients (Earth, water, sun and sky). The agency comes with a brand identity and imagery that reflects all these qualities with four different nectars that shall allow its users to get inspire, awakened, relaxed, or fall into slumber.
With absolutely no pesticides or chemicals, the high-end cannabis option AYA seizes evolving market opportunity, and places the company in the right spot in a new world, where cannabis is legalized and sought after by a more discerning and demanding consumer. The rebranding by JMS is certainly doing the designers — Jana Heyera and Kirill Mazin — justice, as the packaging with elk on the cover was already described as “Mona Lisa of the ‘elk-dom’”.
Credits:
Agency: John McNeil Studio
Client: Sonoma Cannabis Company
Designers: Jana Heyer/Kirill Mazin
Writer: Scott Leeper
Creative director: Gerald Lewis
Project manager: Elisabeth Schwarz
Producer: Bill Dougherty