Source: Burger King
Has 4/20 become the official munchies marketing holiday?
As legalization spreads across the country and cannabis becoming less of a taboo, more marketers this year partook in 4/20, the unofficial national celebration of weed.
Campaigns around the day started appearing in 2015. Pepsi, Chipotle and Totino’s Pizza Rolls were among the larger brands launching past social media executions. This year, many fast food chains and food brands again played to the “munchies” theme.
Among the tweets:
- Burger King: “spicy chicken nuggets are here. just in time for 4/20. how are you firing up? #FireUp420.”
- Carl’s Jr.: “Thought it was Friday for a second bc all I read was “weed takeover.”
- Denny’s: “while it’s trendy to implement new 420 menus, denny’s has stayed ahead of the game by simply having…our menu.”
Retailers prepared a number of deals for the occasion. Dos Toros, a burrito and taco specialty chain with locations in New York City and Chicago, offered a secret code good for free guacamole on 4/20. Ben & Jerry’s launched an all-new ice cream taco called the CHILL-aco.
Outside the food category, Lyft’s “Don’t Smoke and Drive” campaign gave passengers $4.20 off their fare in Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, OR. The Body Shop held its annual online hemp sale.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine U.S. states and Washington, D.C. Medical marijuana is legal in 29 states.
In a survey of nearly 5,000 customers by Eaze, a cannabis e-commerce platform, slightly more than half (52 percent) said that recreational legalization has made it easier to talk about using cannabis and 80 percent planned to celebrate 4/20 in some way. Forty-four percent of women said they are open about cannabis on social media, compared with 38 percent of men.
“With legalization alive, people are more comfortable speaking about their own usage and advising their friends who are canna-curious,” John Downs, director of business development at The Arcview Group, told Adweek. “It’s not so much of the formation of a new market [but a] transition from this illicit quasi-illegal market to a legal market.”
- Lyft x Super Troopers/Don’t smoke and drive – YouTube
- Californians are owning it. Legalization is the reason. – Eaze
- With 4/20 Approaching, Marketers and Consumers Excitedly Explore the Budding Marijuana Industry – Adweek
- 4/20 Saw ‘Full On’ Marijuana Marketing – Live Trading New
- This year’s best & worst fast food and brand tweets for 4/20 – Thrillist
- Best specials for 4/20: We’ve got a ‘high’ priority list for marijuana fans – USA Today
- 4/20 Roundup: How Brands Are Marking Marijuana’s Increasingly Mainstream Holiday – Adweek
- Lyft Partners with Super Troopers to Keep Smokers Out of the Driver’s Seat – Lyft
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Has it become less risky to run marketing campaigns around 4/20 and using cannabis-themes in general? What advice would you have for mainstream restaurants and retailers exploring such campaigns for 4/20 2019?
Poll
BrainTrust
Anne Howe
Principal, Anne Howe Associates
Doug Garnett
President, Protonik
4/20 campaigns should be tongue-in-cheek and carefully targeted to specific demographic groups, lest non-users and teetotalers find them offensive. Over time, as more states legalize marijuana, these campaigns will move more mainstream.
Attention to munchies from brands on 4/20 is an easy opportunity. I’d like to see more attention given to useful promotions like Lyft offered. At the very least it keeps the roads a bit safer for a day!
This year there were a variety of brands participating with a 4/20 campaign, and there was plenty of trending talk on social media.
Rich and I were interviewed this year by Marijuana Venture, a magazine for professional cannabis growers and retailers that Forbes describes as going beyond “bongs and thongs.” The article was called “Retail Design Crash Course.” It was a first for us, but it won’t be the last as this industry continues to become part of the mainstream. And Main Street.
The old adage is that if customers are talking about something that impacts brand equity, the brand must be part of the discussion. Class action activity aimed at increasing the dialogue need not be a tail that wags the brand dog. Caution is advised in aligning with every ripple and wave. Being bold and true to core values demonstrates confidence and is a better use of resources.
Regardless of your political perspectives, this injection of new retail/CPG opportunities is already huge. And huge internationally. Any retailer can offer promotions, especially if your products can be complementary with this category.
This is a fad that will live barely beyond the legalization pushes. So it’s slightly funny now (although my alma mater in Boulder had to outlaw all 4/20 celebrations because of the problems they caused).
Yet, the choice to target with an issue like pot can have a very serious downside. We should remember that Burger King’s mis-guided belief that they would thrive by marketing only to young men allowed Wendy’s (with smarter marketing) to rise to become the #2 fast food chain. In part, Burger King’s ads (and the creepy, child molester looking king shown above) offended young families who were probably 40% of their income.
Target marketing has power to help OR to hurt. Companies would do well to respect the downsides of targeting as well as it’s important opportunities.
A 4/20 campaign should be positioned very carefully so as not to embrace the use of any drug, but instead to encourage safety and planning of responsible behavior.