As a growing number of people embrace cannabis, the California Department of Cannabis Control wanted to make sure folks knew how to find licensed dispensaries selling regulated products. You know, the good stuff. In partnership with Fiona Hutton & Associates we created the Real CA Cannabis campaign to educate consumers on the dangers of unregulated cannabis and make it easier than ever to find licensed retailers statewide.
Nearly 60% of California adults consume cannabis, but most don’t know illegal dispensaries exist—let alone how to spot them. We needed to create a compelling and wide reaching campaign that equipped cannabis consumers with the knowledge and tools to shop exclusively at licensed retailers.
Our mission: Make this government project sound and feel like anything but. With fresh yet familiar aesthetics, a grounded and relatable voice, and cultural references ranging from classic rock to 2010s pop, we created a campaign that felt at once new and nostalgic.
We wanted to turn the Real CA Cannabis seal into a symbol synonymous with high-quality, trustworthy, and regulated products as quickly as possible, so we rolled out a massive multimedia strategy including billboards, digital ads, influencer partnerships, radio spots, and more to get Real CA Cannabis in front of millions of Californians statewide.
We built the campaign site to not only provide key background information on Real CA Cannabis, but also quickly point users to our licensee search—the tool we built specifically for this campaign so Californians can easily find legal dispensaries in their area. Our intuitive licensee search features every licensed dispensary and delivery service in the state and allows users to verify that a shop is legit even before they leave the house.
With over 200 million impressions, nearly 7 million video views, and 5 million engagements, we saw a lot of positive reactions to the Real CA Cannabis campaign. Real CA Cannabis represents an exciting and potentially transformative step towards a more transparent, regulated cannabis industry statewide. With elevated public awareness around regulated cannabis and a faster, easier way to find licensed dispensaries, Californians have more control over the cannabis they put in their bodies than ever before—and licensed retailers are finally getting the shine they deserve.
We’re beyond excited to have played a role in the movement to make sure every cannabis consumer has access to regulated products they can trust, and we’re optimistic that this campaign will be a stepping stone to create a more equitable and thriving legal marketplace throughout California.
