If people like Don Draper helped create the foundations of the modern advertising industry, then the people from Adistry are creating the foundations of the cannabis advertising industry. Shut out of the world that Draper built, the cannabis industry has set out to create their own advertising networks.
“We built our own digital network of publishers that display our ads off of our network,” Daniel Cox, the CTO of Adistry said.
Adistry is a full service digital advertising agency for the cannabis industry. Think of them kind of like Sterling Cooper, only they’re located in Longmont instead of New York, and their clients all sell marijuana. If you have a cannabis product you need to advertise, they’ll do all the creative and distribution work, while making sure the company’s advertisements stay on the right side of the law.
Much how New York’s Mad Men had to invent the modern advertising industry, companies like Adistry are having to cope with the unique problems surrounding the advertising of cannabis.
“We’re completely nationwide, and there are these restrictions about who can advertise where, and for what. Then there’s all these legal gray areas, confusing what you can and cannot do. We’re also in Canada, where it’s even worse,” Adistry Co-Founder Meghan Larson said. “But compliance is where we shine.”
The cannabis industry has been cut out of most traditional forms of advertising. Television is out, since the airwaves are regulated by the FCC, a federal body that has yet to clarify their stance on cannabis advertisements. A Denver-based ABC affiliate got close to airing an advertisement for a vaporizer that didn’t even mention the word marijuana or show anybody using the substance. That advertisement was pulled just before it was set to air.
Even the Internet is a minefield for the cannabis industry. Google’s AdSense network doesn’t allow cannabis advertising, for example, and most other established digital marketing networks have similar bans. The gray regulatory environment means established companies tend not to want to touch the industry.
“There are very few options and a whole lot of limitations for cannabis companies who want to advertise,” Larson said. “So we started our cannabis advertising network; grassroots style.”
While a regulatory gray area hangs over the industry, complicating things, the industry must also contend with the laws that do exist and are clear. For example, ads must not be visible to people under the age of 21, or be visible outside of places where medical or recreational marijuana are legal. An advertisement for a Denver-based recreational dispensary, therefore, cannot show up at an IP address across the border in Kansas. The list goes on.
Having just launched in March, Adistry is brand new, and is attempting to advertise a product that sold close to $700 million in its first year being legal — and that was just in Colorado. As more states begin to allow medical and recreational cannabis sales, navigating the convoluted regulatory environment around cannabis advertisements is going to become a skill set in high demand.
Who knows, maybe we’re watching the next Madison Avenue being built. In Longmont...
