DC’s Great Cannabis Opportunity.
The cannabis industry in DC is both transitional and growing rapidly. Marijuana has only been bordering “technically legal” for about 10 years and brands have yet to define a clear identifying voice that aligns with their audience. The opportunity is simple: who will be the leading brand of each market segmentation?
There’s four cultural groups weed users fall into:
Medicinal Wellness “ Weed for Need”
Creative Stoner
Moderate Partaker
The Glorified Plug
Collage of DC Dispensaries
THE FOUR WEED PERSONAS
WEED FOR NEED
Practitioners use cannabis to ease pain and reduce symptoms of chronic illness. Users stray away from words like “high” and instead use language to describe bodily sensations and symptom relief. Brands in the category should align with medical wellness and never to blend with other groups.
MODERATE PARTAKER
Partakers use cannabis to detach from the demand and pressures of corporate reality. Curiosity led them here, maybe they heard it helps with anxiety symptoms, either way they have questions and brands need answers. Brands should feel personable, informative, and moderate. Education describing taste, experience, tools, and strains create a sense of safety.
CREATIVE STONER
Stoners use cannabis to experience and perceive the world around them (or inside them) in funny, beautiful, unusual and enlightening ways. Users in this category connect the practice to authenticity, expression, and nonconformity. Brands should embrace color, novelty, and surrealism.
GLORIFIED PLUG
Smokers use cannabis for various reasons and often have been practicing long before it became technically legal. This group is private and transactional. Here there’s no desire to idealize the experience, users value consistency and loyalty. Brands in this category shouldn’t try to sell an experience, instead should focus on quality prices, quality product, and straightforward purchasing processes.