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Campaign Canada reports
Why cannabis retailer Stok’d ran ads for its neighbours
The “Next to Stok’d” campaign by Angry Butterfly was a way to advertise the brand on platforms that don’t permit cannabis advertising.
Who: Stok’d Cannabis, with Angry Butterfly for strategy and creative; Nimble Content for production (directed by Erica Orofino); Recess Post for post-production; Jigsaw for casting; Pirate Sound for audio; and Stryker Media for the buy.
What: “Next to Stok’d,” an ad campaign for the four-location cannabis retailer that cleverly adheres to the restrictive Canadian laws around cannabis marketing by winkingly advertising a bookstore, nail salon, and an electrician.
When & Where: The geo-targeted, 21+ campaign ran last month using paid digital posts and pre-roll, with some radio and TSAs. Both Stok’d and Angry Butterfly had to wait until after the campaign wrapped for fear Google or Meta would get wind and block it (see below).
Why: Canada’s very strict laws around cannabis marketing—you can’t show products, people, paraphernalia, inside a store or talk about effects etc.—have made it tough for retailers to build their brands. (They’ve also been cited as a contributing factor for the underperformance of the industry since legalization in 2018.)
But even when brands follow the law, both Meta and Google have their own strict rules, and refuse ads that are cannabis related—which is of course extremely problematic when age-gating means digital is the best option for targeted advertising.
With those challenging limitations and restrictions, Stok’d was still looking to build some profile. Angry Butterfly came up with a creative workaround that could drive awareness while also following all the laws and rules.
How: Rather than show ads for Stok’d, Angry Butterfly advertised real businesses situated near Stok’d locations. For the video spots, actors playing the business owners deliver carefully crafted pitches loaded with cannabis double entendres and wordplay high-jinx, befor a closing message explains the connection to Stok’d and pays off the weed puns in an IYKYK kind of way.
“Looking for the dopest nails in town,” says the NuNail’s owner. “Whether you are feeling a hit of something blazing or more of a chill vibe, we’d be happy to hook you up.”
In the slightly trippier ad for Cliffside Village Books, the owner asks: “Ready for your mind to go places you’ve never been? Find high quality inspiration here, at Cliffside Village Books… next door to Stok’d Cannabis.”
A third spot features Spectrum Electrical in Niagara Falls, which wired a Stok’d store.
“Let’s get you lit,” says Enzo from Spectrum Electrical. “Roll by Stok’d cannabis and see my work up close in person.”
The same idea was used for the “covert” out-of-home and radio ads.
“We haven’t officially broken any laws or rules,” said Angry Butterfly’s chief creative officer, Erin Kawalecki. “We are promoting a bookstore, a nail salon, etc. We just call out their neighbour for the CTA, and find a shared language that, in isolation, works for each store on its own.”
While they presumed the ads would get by Google and Meta’s filters, they weren’t positive; they didn’t want to talk about the campaign at first, for fear the two platforms might catch wind of the Stok’d trickery and block the ads.
“When we were presented with the idea from the Angry Butterfly team, we were both excited and nervous, but we loved the concept and the playful and entrepreneurial approach was a perfect brand fit for us,” said Lisa Bigioni, CEO and co-founder of Stok’d, in a release.
What’s next? There’s nothing planned at the moment, and they need to see what happens once they reveal their how they advertised on digital platforms without the platforms knowing it. “We do expect Google and Meta to chime in at some point,” said Kawalecki. “But we have purposely waited on communicating this story to the press until the majority of the media has run.”
And we quote: “Once we learned more about how it would work, we realized it was an incredibly innovative way to promote our stores. Our neighbouring businesses loved the idea too. After all, more traffic to our stores is good for everyone.”—Stok’d CEO Lisa Bigioni.
More at
https://www.campaigncanada.ca/article/1862723/why-cannabis-retailer-stokd-ran-ads-its-neighbours
