Seattle cannabis company launches nation’s first pot billboard campaign
Aug 6, 2014, 5:40 AM | Updated: 5:40 am
Billboards promoting Dama Cannabis products began appearing Tuesday in Seattle, in the nation's first pot marketing campaign. (New Leaf Enterprises)
(New Leaf Enterprises)
Budweiser is getting some new competition in the advertising world from a bud of a different kind, as a Seattle-based cannabis company launches the nation’s first-ever pot billboard campaign.
The first of over 15 billboards promoting Dama Cannabis products debuted Tuesday at several locations around Seattle in Queen Anne, West Seattle, Sodo and Rainier Valley.
“This is the beginning of a new industry,” says Dax Colwell, Co-President of Seattle-based New Leaf Enterprises. “This is marketing, this is what’s going to happen in this industry. And so we are just being the first to put it out in the public eye.”
The billboards are part of a broader campaign to promote the company’s marijuana infused oils and products. While they’ve been sold in medical marijuana dispensaries, the company plans to expand to recreational retail outlets over the next six months.
The ads look more akin to something you’d see for a beer company or Starbucks. One depicts a bearded young man on a camping trip, depicting what Colwell calls “Pacific Northwest lifestyle moments for recreational marijuana.”
“We’re being respectful because the campaign is the first of its kind,” Colwell says. “They’re lifestyle ads that depict the good times that people have had with cannabis.”
In addition to the billboards, the company will fly an aerial banner above CenturyLink Field next Friday night to coincide with the Seahawks pre-season home opener against the San Diego Chargers.
The company also plans to fly a 3,000 square foot banner over Hempfest next weekend, the huge annual event that draws several hundred thousand to Seattle’s Myrtle Edwards Park.
Colwell predicts far more cannabis companies will begin aggressively advertising in the coming months as Washington’s new marijuana market matures. Just last Sunday, Seattle-based Leafly placed a full page ad in the New York Times advertising its online marijuana guide.
“This is going to be a competitive market and so now is time to put our name out there and start the marketing,” he says.
