featuring Sam Hollander, Alice Lee, Dan Baril, Jeff Ragovin, and Micahel Blanche
From June 8 to June 10, 2021, Cannabis Marketing Association will host the second annual virtual Cannabis Marketing Summit. The Cannabis Marketing Summit is the premier online event for senior-level marketers responsible for the marketing budgets of licensed brands in the cannabis industry. However, all are welcome and can benefit from the Summit’s content and networking! The Summit will evaluate the current state of cannabis marketing and teach about the practical tools, tactics, and data that produce effective strategies and campaigns for cannabis brands across the country. Register today!
Cookies and IDFA Regulations: What Cannabis Marketers Need to Know Now with Sam Hollander, Chief Digital Officer at Enlighten, Alice Lee, Co-Founder and COO at Pheno, Dan Baril, VP Strategy at Data Skrive, Jeff Ragovin, CCO at Fyllo, and Michael Blanche, Co-Founder at Surfside will be featured at the Summit on June 9 from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm MT. Learn more about their session below: The below answers were written by Sam.
Why is what you are discussing at the event interesting and important?
The IDFA enables advertisers to track users’ activities across different apps within the iOS operating system. The iOS 14, already released (April 2020), will require app publishers to ask users to enable IDFA tracking via a prompt that gives users the choice to “Allow Tracking” or “Ask App Not to Track.” For some brands, IDFA was the basis of their advertising programs and allowed them to precisely target users across apps. Without the IDFA, publishers may find it difficult to demonstrate the success of their ads, and advertisers may have a difficult time understanding the ROI of their mobile advertising strategies. Third-party cookies are placed on desktop and mobile web browsers. These are being removed by all major browsers. (Safari and Firefox have removed them already, and Google Chrome plans to do so by 2022.). Browsers and mobile operating companies are positioning these updates as being driven by consumers’ growing demand for privacy. Consumers do indeed seem to care more about their privacy with every passing day, with data showing that 85% of US internet users are concerned about their privacy, and 76% of consumers are concerned about how tech and social media companies use their online data. So what are the strategies cannabis companies should be thinking about as these changes start to take effect?
What does this group bring to the cannabis marketing space that sets you apart?
All four panelists and the moderator have combined 60 years of adtech, martech, and data experience. Two of the panelists have started their own cannabis tech companies. The moderator laid the foundation to start his own cannabis technology company and was given funding and brought on as a Chief Digital Officer for one of the largest cannabis retail and marketing companies.
Our mission is to bring a positive perception to cannabis and its consumers. What is your favorite consumption method and why? Tell us a little about your relationship with cannabis.
I have been a cannabis consumer for several years and prefer edibles and vapes. I never understood the power of cannabis until my father-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The doctors gave him 6 months to live. My wife, working through her family’s business, (the largest privately held multi-state operator in the country) started to do research on cannabis consumption and brain tumors. Ultimately, this led to my father-in-law taking Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) and extending his life by 4 years. This combined with a lack of available platforms for cannabis advertisers to activate digital marketing compliantly led me to jump into cannabis.
The goal of the Summit is to evaluate the current state of cannabis marketing and learn about the practical tools, tactics, and data that produce effective strategies and campaigns for cannabis brands across the country. Why is this is important?
Consumers expect a degree of personalization and engagement with the marketing they interact with. The tools and methodologies marketers leverage to track and measure campaigns are becoming extremely complex and quickly transforming. How can markers leverage data compliantly to deliver targeted and engaging messaging that resonates? How do the upcoming changes to tracking capabilities (the IDFA and cookie) change the marketing landscape? How do marketers need to adapt to prepare for these changes while still remaining authentic and educating consumers? This session aims to outline the powerful use of data for personalized and engaging targeting while also bringing awareness to privacy and security matters surrounding data collection and tracking. Cannabis marketers will hear about the impending changes in ad tracking while discussing data privacy and maintaining an authentic and personalized approach to speaking with consumers.
What is the future of cannabis marketing? What are your predictions for the next year?
The Safe Banking Act will pass and decriminalization will occur. Decriminalization will lead to a major sea change. This coupled with New York legalizing cannabis will lead to a major shift in advertising and marketing. New York is after all the marketing and advertising capital of the world. Expect brand value to increase, consolidation of brands and major tech platforms (Facebook, Google, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter etc.) and broadcast companies (Audacity, iHeart, CBS, NBC, FOX, Turner etc.) to finally adopt cannabis advertising.
Buy your Early Bird ticket before prices go up at midnight on May 25 MT to hear marketing pros like the above speak at the Cannabis Marketing Summit, here!