Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
California's legal cannabis market, opening for business on Jan. 1, is expected to quickly grow to be the largest in the nation and worth more than $5 billion a year.
County voting on Proposition 64 that led the state here – to legalizing sales for recreational use – can offer insight into how medical marijuana dispensaries will market themselves, according to research from UC Davis.
"The way that communities vote and the values they have are going to have an impact on how this industry's going to evolve over time," said Greta Hsu, a professor at the UCD Graduate School of Management and lead author on the paper, soon to be published in the journal Organizational Science.
Hsu draws her conclusions from the experiences of Washington and Colorado. She and her co-authors from Yale and Emory universities examined county voting patterns in the 2012 referenda that legalized marijuana sales in the two states and how medical marijuana dispensaries responded.
In communities where the majority voted against such initiatives, medical marijuana dispensaries maintained a more traditional approach, accentuating the therapeutic benefits of marijuana as an alternative medicine.
However, where the majority voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana sales, medical marijuana dispensaries adopted marketing strategies that de-emphasized the medical orientation and sought to attract recreational customers.
The researchers analyzed information, reviews and descriptions of more than 1,000 medical cannabis businesses, using WeedMaps.com, a crowdsourcing website that is considered the "Yelp of cannabis" for dispensaries and other retailers. The researchers developed a coding system for the language in order to track trends across the two states.
"Some of these dispensaries, when you look at them, they emphasize medicine a lot, and they emphasize their ties to the local community," Hsu said. "Others just emphasize convenience and price."
Marketing recreational vs. medical marijuana
Some clusters of dispensaries were more conservative in their marketing, with statements like: "We aim to educate our patients about cannabis treatments and other alternative health approaches to supplement their medicine."
Despite legalization's substantial disruption to their industry, these businesses continued with their original identity focused on therapy and the patients, Hsu said. They tended to be in counties where the majority voted against legalizing recreational marijuana.
Dispensaries that embraced the new recreational market took more risk by advertising to a broader, emerging consumer class, which has been bolstered by a growing tourism industry.
Supporters for these cannabis businesses emphasized the benefits to the local economy, public health and social justice, casting marijuana as less harmful than alcohol. Dispensaries with this more recreational-oriented marketing tended to be in counties that voted in favor of legalizing recreational use.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Cannabis marketing in other states offer insights for California
Author: Brad Hooker and Julia Ann Easley
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: John Carl D'Annibale
Website: Davis Enterprise | Yolo County, California
County voting on Proposition 64 that led the state here – to legalizing sales for recreational use – can offer insight into how medical marijuana dispensaries will market themselves, according to research from UC Davis.
"The way that communities vote and the values they have are going to have an impact on how this industry's going to evolve over time," said Greta Hsu, a professor at the UCD Graduate School of Management and lead author on the paper, soon to be published in the journal Organizational Science.
Hsu draws her conclusions from the experiences of Washington and Colorado. She and her co-authors from Yale and Emory universities examined county voting patterns in the 2012 referenda that legalized marijuana sales in the two states and how medical marijuana dispensaries responded.
In communities where the majority voted against such initiatives, medical marijuana dispensaries maintained a more traditional approach, accentuating the therapeutic benefits of marijuana as an alternative medicine.
However, where the majority voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana sales, medical marijuana dispensaries adopted marketing strategies that de-emphasized the medical orientation and sought to attract recreational customers.
The researchers analyzed information, reviews and descriptions of more than 1,000 medical cannabis businesses, using WeedMaps.com, a crowdsourcing website that is considered the "Yelp of cannabis" for dispensaries and other retailers. The researchers developed a coding system for the language in order to track trends across the two states.
"Some of these dispensaries, when you look at them, they emphasize medicine a lot, and they emphasize their ties to the local community," Hsu said. "Others just emphasize convenience and price."
Marketing recreational vs. medical marijuana
Some clusters of dispensaries were more conservative in their marketing, with statements like: "We aim to educate our patients about cannabis treatments and other alternative health approaches to supplement their medicine."
Despite legalization's substantial disruption to their industry, these businesses continued with their original identity focused on therapy and the patients, Hsu said. They tended to be in counties where the majority voted against legalizing recreational marijuana.
Dispensaries that embraced the new recreational market took more risk by advertising to a broader, emerging consumer class, which has been bolstered by a growing tourism industry.
Supporters for these cannabis businesses emphasized the benefits to the local economy, public health and social justice, casting marijuana as less harmful than alcohol. Dispensaries with this more recreational-oriented marketing tended to be in counties that voted in favor of legalizing recreational use.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Cannabis marketing in other states offer insights for California
Author: Brad Hooker and Julia Ann Easley
Contact: Contact Us
Photo Credit: John Carl D'Annibale
Website: Davis Enterprise | Yolo County, California
