Exploring Cresco's Cannabis Canvas: Insights from Dana Mason

In this hopefully enlightening episode of Cannabis Man, I sit down with Dana Mason, the VP of Wholesale Marketing at Cresco Labs. We dive into the diverse world of cannabis brands under Cresco's umbrella, including Good News, FloraCal Farms, High Supply, Mindy’s, and more. Dana shares her unique perspective transitioning from the alcohol industry to the cannabis sector, highlighting the marketing nuances and challenges in both. Discover the ingenious 'value-tier' system pioneered by Cresco, offering consumers top-notch products like High Supply for outstanding value and premium experiences with brands like FloraCal Farms. In our News Joint Wrap, I discuss the latest cannabis legislation updates in Illinois, along with my personal reviews of High Supply's Rainbows and Cherries popcorn flower and FloraCal Farms' Tropical Punch flavored Live Rosin gummies. And have you heard about the THC-infused seltzer waters making waves in Chicago? Tune in for a compelling blend of industry insights, product reviews, and legislative news!

Transcript

well hello there and welcome back to the Cannabis man podcast thank you so much
for clicking on the show I'm your host Don Kleppin and I created this show if it's your first time here to take a
journalistic look at all things cannabis lot has been changing over the last few years in the Cannabis landscape both in
the United States as well as around the world very exciting time for cannabis enthusiasts like myself and uh if you
don't know me I'm a broadcaster in Chicago I do news on 7:20 a.m. ug radio
you can hear me on that station I was doing business on there this morning during the Bob Sarat show I also do
traffic for iHeart media you can hear me on radio stations around the Midwest and I took my broadcasting and my knowledge
of of podcasting I I ran the Steve doll podcast Network for a while which was an amazing learning experience uh for me I
absolutely love those guys as well uh definitely a podcast worth checking out if you haven't yet the Steve doll
podcast with Brendan and dog those guys are amazing and I learned a lot when I was working with them and running that
podcast Network and so I took all of that as well as my personal experience and interest in cannabis I've been a
user for about 15 or so years a little more now started when I was about 18 so
I guess I'm about 18 years now of a of a user uh and I've had some uh breaks in
between I am a fan of of Tolerance tolerance breaks that is every now and again uh I've got another one of those
coming up uh I'll talk a little about that later in the show I'm also going to
as I typically do share with you an interview with an industry expert this week I'm speaking with Dana Mason of
Cresco Labs now I'm sure you're familiar with Cresco Labs if not by that name
then by one of the many Brands under their umbrella which includes High Supply good news Flora Cal Farms I
talked about some of the flower I've tried of theirs recently they have a whole host of brands that are bringing
excellent products to the Marketplace they operate here in Illinois and other states around the country and Dana is
going to share a little with us about the philosophy behind cesco's products as well as how they conduct their
business some interesting products coming down the line and her own personal story of getting into cannabis
and uh kind of how that goes so I always love bringing you industry expert interviews I like to talk with people
who are either working for cannabis companies or researching cannabis products like doctors and researchers
professors at universities I also talk with policy makers people who are elected officials or appointed ones that
are now in charge of making these cannabis laws and policies that we all are dealing with state by state I'll
also talk with business owners who are creating new products and experiences to enjoy and and have some fun with and
that is one of my favorite things about the Cannabis industry in the space right now there's so much excitement and so
much movement uh and Innovation people all over the country are working on
things and bringing products and services to Market that uh people like me who have tried cannabis for years and
who know it from the flour and even infused Edibles things like cookies brownies the typical stuff there is a
lot of really excellent and Innovative stuff coming down the line I've got
something coming to the Chicago Market uh later on that I'll tell you about this episode very exciting news on that
front too I also do the news joint wrap where I wrap up some news stories that I think are worth bringing to your
attention as well as uh my strain of the week I like to kind of review a product that I've been trying this week and I've
got another uh strain to tell you about that I haven't tried before and I look forward to sharing that with you as well
if you haven't already go ahead and hit the like button leave a rating or a review for the show however you might be
listening to this I really appreciate the people who have done it already you're the best if you haven't uh
listened to the show before if it's your first time go ahead and make sure you become a subscriber you can scroll down
to the show description notes and click on support the show it'll take you to the subscriber page and once you become
that I'll send you a shout out in next week's episode you'll get a thank you email from me because this is a oneman
operation and any support that I can get doing this is very very much appreciated
and I do appreciate the support that I'm getting from listeners as it is I love everyone who's reached out to the show
with ideas for guests or topics or just telling me how much they enjoy uh what I
talk about and stuff that really keeps me going it means a lot to me so thank you so much for for being a part of that
and thank you for listening so let's roll into this next episode of the Cannabis man
podcast
this is Tommy Chong and you're listening to the canop
broadcast alrighty welcome back and let's roll right into the news joint wrap this is a wrap of news stories that
are in and around Illinois and it's all curated for you by Illinois newsj
joint.com you can think of it as the joint you can hit for all your Illinois Cannabis News and reviews and let's
start with an article from my good friend Jason Brown who started Illinois news joint he has an article headlined
here Illinois breaks cannabis sales record for inate residence this was
published last week Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announcing last week the Cannabis sales
totals for November which set a new record for instate resident sales
at5 m457
29374 November's totals are keeping Illinois on track to eclipse last year's
total of $1.5 billion in sales even over that Jason goes into some of those
numbers in a bit more detail you can uh look into that if you're interested more at illino newsj joint.com let me get
into another article here published by Jason this was just a few days ago ID
the department of revenue for Illinois drafted administrative rules for cannabis taxes now I'm sure we all
perked up upon hearing the taxes of cannabis part of this it's the latest issue of the Illinois register these new
proposed and adopted rules mainly address the Cannabis cultivation privilege tax for certain types of
transactions between licensed cannabis cultivators and licensed cannabis
infusers so these taxes are not really on the back end when you and I go to the
dispensary and pick up these things these taxes are more to do with the
transactions between those who cultivate cannabis products and those who Infuse
other products using those initial products so the new rule makings provide
for additional recordkeeping requirements for infusers as well as addressing the tax treatment of cannabis
and cannabis concentrate transferred from cultivators to infusers there are
other items addressed including definitions taxes imposed returns and
payment of taxes infuser information returns and books and records as well as
cultivator registrations if you're interested you can dive more deeply into
this story as well at Illinois news joint.com and this one is what I thought
you'd be very interested in Governor JB pritzker signed a cannabis transporter bill into law now this was published on
Friday I believe Governor pritzer signed into law Senate Bill 1559 which waves
annual license fees for existing cannabis Transportation organization license holders from January 1st of 24
through January 1st of 27 and prohibits the Department of Agriculture from accepting new applications for cannabis
transporting organization licenses from this year 23 through January 1st of 27
now the big takeaway from this bill though at least as far as I'm concerned because I have mentioned on the show
before listener about how interested I am in when Illinois will give the green light so to speak to cannabis delivery
operations I've been saying since the show started that this was not far away and clearly we are close closer than
ever to it I expect some of these operations to be up and running by next
year by 2024 but for right now the big takeaway for this bill is that the
Cannabis transporter organizations license holders anybody who's applied for those licenses there is a hold on
any new operations until 2027 that means to me that there are
already plenty of applicants for licenses to transport cannabis and they believe that the market will be
saturated in terms of needs being met in layman's terms what we should expect is
that there are enough delivery operations that by next year hopefully
all of us who will want someone to deliver these cannabis products from dispensaries to our homes hopefully all
of us will be able to have someone do that for us you can dive more deeply
into that Senate Bill 1559 or read about the excellent reviews
of different products as well as news stories and events coming up or that happened related to cannabis in or
around Illinois you can find all of that at Illinois newjoin
docomo the week and I'm recording this a bit later in the day than I normally do listener this about 1:30 in the
afternoon on Monday of December 11th I've got my coffee here normally I like
to cut myself off of caffeine by typically I would say noon but it is
currently today it is my wife and I's six-month wedding anniversary we are
both celebrating by going to a Brazilian steakhouse later in Chicago Fogo to shonne I'm sure you've heard of it uh if
not definitely owe it to yourself to try that out whenever you get a chance as much meat as you can possibly handle uh
more than that and I've decided that I think a little extra coffee to make sure I'm uh up later uh to enjoy all of these
festivities for our 6month wedding anniversary I would like to do that so cheers to you a little extra caffeine
why not uh just keep this day a little jazzed you know what I mean but more importantly I wanted to
share with you my strain of the week and this week I am eming a Cresco Labs
product this is from their High Supply brand of flour and I got the strain
rainbows and cherries and I really have been enjoying it I get the popcorn when
I typically go for high Supply not just High Supply but really any brand of flour these days and I do that because I
find that there are often better deals available if you are willing to go for
the popcorn which the only distinguishing factor between popcorn and regular flower is that the buds are
smaller they take popcorn buds a little bit uh closer to the stem so they don't
get as large as some of the gigantic flower nugs that you may have seen some of these way weigh an eigh of an ounce
or a quar of an ounce all by themselves popcorn they're smaller buds but it's
the same flower and just because of that weird physical change a lot of companies
offer them for better prices and so that's why you'll normally see me getting some popcorn buds when I'm at
dispensaries and uh this was no exception when I was at the Wrigleyville Sunnyside to pick up these rainbows and
cherries now I wanted to tell you I have been writing down some of my feelings as
I go through these and my notes on rainbows and cherries are a smooth smoke
holding its substance together in the mouth I felt a little weight to that air
almost a minty finish and a clean lemony taste on the inhale I started making
note of my feelings 15 minutes 30 minutes on into this you know Journey after I em bibed a great daytime smoke
is what I felt in rainbows and cherries uh there are some days when I'm working
a lot throughout the day that I will wait until the evening uh to to smoke or
em or at least the late afternoon and then there are other days when I'll smoke in the morning if I don't have a ton going on or if I you know I'm just
feeling a certain symptom that I'd like to you know get some alleviation from or whatever uh there are days when I'll
still smoke in the morning but I think more often than not these days I'm an afternoon evening smoker but that being
said rainbows and cherries I found makes for a great daytime smoke bit Spacey in
the mind but my thoughts were fairly clear but I I found it to sort of be like as if my train of thought had a
busted transmission uh meaning like my thoughts were stopping and starting over
and over again they were clear but it was like I couldn't get much further than a couple of steps down a thought
pathway before I ran into like a gate or some kind of you know barrier and then I
was going to have to work my way around it or wait for the engine to kick on again for my next train of thought sort
of like a path filled with puddles I kept needing to uh move steps forward
then sideways then backwards to kind of get around those that was my experience
with rainbows and cherries very pleasant Buzz behind the forehead I noticed and then it spread to my body about 30 to 45
minutes in felt tingly in my face my legs and my back very pleasant it wasn't
anything like rubbery it wasn't wobbly but it was just kind of tingly and it was very enjoyable and then about an
hour in I was definitely baked just wanted to watch a movie or play a game
which I am quite sure that I availed myself of later that day so that was my
feeling on rainbows and cherries this batch contains 24.4 s% of cannaboids uh
mostly thca it was harvested July 25th and and
packaged September 21st I found it to be fresh enough it didn't dry out on me too
badly and I wanted to tell you listener that if you haven't been going to your
local Sunnyside dispensary uh and and I'm not saying this just because Dana Mason is coming up later in this show I
am serious about this we talk a lot about Illinois cannabis prices on this show I've talked about it a lot I I know
plenty of people are dissatisfied with the level of Illinois cannabis prices I
always bring up the the threshold between quality and price point in terms of weed I've talked about other state
markets like Colorado Oregon Michigan these other state markets that kind of
open the floodgates and let anyone become a licensed dispenser and then you've seen already not that long from
the date of that these markets opened you know for Colorado were 10 years from
when they went legal with recreational cannabis and already as I I've said on the show it didn't even take 10 years
they have asked their unions there have asked for a moratorium on new dispenser licenses why because nobody is making
any profit in Colorado who is cultivating cannabis products now when a
state Market allows anyone to become a dispenser it's a race to the bottom
because there's no incentive for a high quality product the incentive is to make
something as cheaply as you can and try and get people to buy your stuff versus
the competitor across the street and your profit margins are very very slim you're basically just making stuff
cheaply and hoping that people will buy it because it's the cheapest but you're really not making any money from that
and more importantly there's no incentive to make business owners create high quality product here in Illinois I
feel like we have successfully ridden that line and we're right at at this point now or we're about to be in the
sweet spot where every other state would like to be what I mean by that is this
we have high quality products on stor shelves here in Illinois but the price
points have been falling steadily for much of this year certainly the last six
or seven months I go to a dispensary at least once a week sometimes maybe you know it might take a little while longer
maybe I go once every two weeks but I'm certainly there a couple of times a month and I have been keeping an eye on
prices because like everybody else I'm looking at my bottom dollar I'm looking at my bottom line and times are tough
out there I think we're all feeling a little bit squeezed groceries and gas prices and everything else is a little
higher than normal so I don't have as much to just kind of freely spend on cannabis as I might like that being said
have you seen some of the high Supply deals that are offering an ounce of
flour 28 G they offer an ounce of flour sometimes for as low as
$125 now there are people I understand who may be driving to places like
Michigan like Oregon maybe you're in another part of the country or the world and you're able to get a much better
deal than that let's say on the black market or whatever that's fine good for
you I'm happy for you for myself and for the rest of us who as I've said since
the show started should be buying legal because we want legal cannabis to succeed and if you want it to succeed
and we all should then you need to be buying legal now I understand why people
were avoiding doing that as the the price point made it a nonstarter maybe your dealer your plug that you've known
for 15 years is giving you a way better deal than what you found on Illinois stor shelves I'm telling you that the
best black market deal that I was getting even even to this point what I
could get on the black market would the lowest would be would be $150 an ounce
and this is not from somebody that I don't know these are from very close acquaintances whom I've been buying from
for years these are people that I can expect the best possible deal that they can give me because they will give it as
low as they can they won't even worry about making a profit on what they sell me they'll just give it to me in order
to break even $150 an ounce was the best that I could get maybe you can find
something better maybe that again maybe that 120 number doesn't mean anything to you but I'll tell you for me and I've
seen this a few times in the last few months at the Wrigleyville sunny side which again believe me you don't
necessarily think of Wrigleyville in Chicago to be a place to go to get great
deals or cheap stuff you know normally price points can be a little bit higher
in that area so the fact that they are offering on sale High Supply ounces of
popcorn flour for 120 bucks to me that is a big green flag that says hey the
price point has fallen Beyond even to where now it may actually be cheaper to
go to your dispensary and buy an ounce there but not only are you getting an ounce you're getting the label on the
package from a reputable distributor somebody whose products have been
checked over by the state to make sure there's no bacteria that there's no mold
or anything weird in this and not only that you can get exactly what you're looking for rather than just having to
choose between whatever your dealer has you can go and get whatever product you
want from the store shelves so I I wanted to bring that up because to me this is a major victory this is a huge
huge celebratory moment we've been waiting for this for 3 and a
half years we've been waiting for this since Illinois cannabis became recreationally legal we've been waiting
for this moment where legal prices for cannabis were going to be equal to or
even less than black market prices and the real sweetness for Illinois is that
we got here and we seemed at least so far to have preserved our high quality
of the Cannabis product on the shelves so that is something that I think Illinois should be taking a Victory lap
over as we see these other states trying to kind of slow it down and basically
saying these business owners saying they're not making any money and the consumers saying that the products on
stor shelves are now garbage low quality Illinois I believe is hitting that sweet
spot where the prices are low for consumers low enough but they're still high enough to incentivize high quality
products on dispensary shelves that is where I believe we are maybe you disagree with me and by all means reach
out to the show at cman podcast on Instagram and X or the Cannabis man
podcast on Facebook or you can email me host Canabis manp podcast.com let me know if you think that I'm right if
you've noticed some good deals and if you're loving the quality of Illinois cannabis or you think I'm wrong and I'm
I'm way out of left field here either way I love hearing from you and I would be happy to uh know what you think about
this but in the meantime I'm going to embibe in a little bit of this rainbows and cherries strain lovely daytime
sativa from our friends at high Supply and Cresco Labs
cheers H yes yes sir listener if you noticed a
different noise when I hit that that would be because I am trying a new product from dap uh George Bria I
interviewed him before who started the company he's created some great little devices that make dry herb vaping a
little more accessible a little easier and trying to kind of remove as George
says the the problem of combustion when consuming cannabis uh as George pointed
out he got fed up with not being able to taste the smells that he was getting
from the cannabis strains that he would try and embibe he said that he was always disappointed when the Cannabis
would be burned by the flame of a lighter or however you might light it so
he started developing these uh vaporizers and their newest product is
called the woodwind and it's got a very cool look it looks like kind of just a little pen and the classic dap caps are on it and
to me this really is a suitable replacement for like a Dugout for a one hitter the ability to just go ahead and
pack this and then light the cap up heat it up so that you can inhale wherever
you are and embibe but you don't have the smoke you don't have the burning smell you get a better taste and you
know if you haven't tried dry herb vaping your flower stretches quite a bit further because you're not burning it uh
in whatever bowl or device you're using to smoke out of when you use combustion
you burn the plant matter that's just the nature of it when you're dry herb vaping you're toasting it you're not
burning it into Oblivion you just toast it and you can go on and continue to use
the flour some people I know keep the flour and roll it up into blunts with some concentrates or with some Keith or
whatever you might like other people use it to bake if you bake Edibles like brownies or cookies you can take the
weed that you have Vaped that you have smoked but through a dry herb vaporizer and you can keep it when you're done
with it and once you have enough you can then bake a batch of brownies or cookies or whatever so it's almost like you get
to use the same weed but twice it's it's really amazing and this is a totally un
unpaid advertisement uh I'm not you know a sponsor here I'm not affiliated I just love the work that George is doing and I
think if you're interested at all in exploring dry herb vaporizers as an
alternative to combustion you got to check out dyat because they're really making great stuff there and I'm going to talk with George about these new
Woodwinds coming up soon I also want to mention something I've been eming in this week are some Flora Cal live rosin
gummies now I have never tried any live Rosen gummies this was my first experience with it and it was my first
time trying any Flora Cal ibles as well I went with the tropical punch flavor
it's listed as a hybrid between sativa Indica 10 gummies with 10 milligram of
THC each and I was really fascinated to find out a little more about the process
of making live rosin gummies now I went to sunnyside's website and they offer a
little description they've got a cool little uh comparison article which shows some differences between live resin and
live rosin and reading the live Rosen portion they say it offers a more pure
refined representation of the plant by using a solventless ice waterer
extraction this unique process collects the same ratio of cannaboids and Turpin
that the original plant offers live rosin extraction is more intensive and time consuming than live resin
extraction but the end result is a more complex nuanced flavor profile a smoother consumption experience and a
cleaner more robust edible they mention that live rosin does not use chemical solvents so it's considered a more
natural clean product and they offer this final line think of your usual THC
experience as watching a movie on TV but live rosin is like watching it in a 3D
movie theater and I got to say I'm I'm mostly through this pack of 10 gummies
that I've tried here I've got like three left but I've been taking them just one at a time throughout uh the last week or
so I have mostly been taking these at night and I've really enjoyed the Pleasant that comes from them it's a
nice head feeling uh the body high is pretty good too again nothing too extreme it's not like my legs are
rubbery or anything like that but it's just a nice pleasant tingly Buzz through the head and body and then I found
myself kind of just jetting off to sleep it it normally just sends me right downward but I did try one of these the
other day in the middle of the day and I found that it made for a very pleasant
daytime Buzz uh I just played some video games I watch watched some stuff and it really made the day a pleasant
experience it was a nice sort of uh you know day drinking kind of vibe and not
so much that I was put off of doing whatever I wanted to do it's not as though I was inebriated it's not as
though uh the gummies kept me from doing anything I wanted to do it was more like they just added a nice as I said kind of
tingly uh under Vibe uh to the day and and I really enjoyed these I'm definitely going to pick up some more I
want to try some of their other flavors but I got to tell you I wasn't sure what to expect with this live rosin
experience but when they talk about the solventless water extraction and how that leads to a more nuanced flavor
profile I got to say I'm not I'm certainly not like a small yay I'm not somebody who is able to detect you know
hundreds of flavors in in one compound but I will say these gummies these
florical tropical punch gummies did taste better and different than most of
the gummies I've tried Mindy which I discuss a little later in this episode with Dana uh Mindy's are great they are
high quality they're a classic I I still love Mindy's but there is a difference
between these florical live Rosen gummies and The Taste and texture of
your Mindy gummies so something that is definitely worth trying out if you haven't tried live rosin stuff I I
definitely do find it to be worth it a little bit pricier than just your average gummies but again you know I
think it's worth it it's just like we talk about with a lot of these cannabis products you know part of the fun uh and
excitement of this time of of legal movement and all of this Innovation that
we're seeing part of the fun of this is that we get to try fun new things and
people are innovating and they're making new products and experiences for all of us to try relating to cannabis so yeah
if you feel like turning the party up a little bit this weekend go ahead and head to your local Sunnyside get yourself some of these Flor Cal Farms
live live Raz and gummies I can definitely vouch for the tropical punch like I mentioned but I'm excited to try
some of their other flavors and if they uh if they lean more heavily to uh indica or sativa you know I'll probably
try one of their sativa ones but either way these I think are definitely worth checking out and I got to say I'm just
impressed with this florical Farms brand the flower I've tried and now these live
Ros and gummies they're marketed as a premium brand and as Dana talks about later in the episode uh Flor Cal started
in 2014 it's founded by Karen and Drew Duval and they grow cannabis in
accordance with nature they set up shop in the hills of Sonoma County and they say the couple has dedicated their
studies their time and all their efforts to the craft of cannabis and I got to tell you again this is not a paid
endorsement but it's just my own experience there is a premium effect
here you know when you go to a nice restaurant or when you try something that is a better experience than what
you're used to you notice that and if you like it you know if it's if it's worth it to you to pay that little extra
for the premium then you're going to go back to it and I got to say just for my money I will be going back to flor Cal
Farms for their flower I love that astropop sativa and I really enjoyed these tropical punch live Ros and
gummies as well welcome back listener my guest today is someone who is going to
tell us about a company that we're all very interested to learn about it's one
of the largest publicly traded cannabis companies operating in different states
and is doing a lot of great things right here in Illinois I know you're familiar with their brand of dispensaries Sunnys
side I've certainly mentioned uh The Sunny Side that I go to in Wrigleyville all the time big fan of what they do
there uh I've gone to the River North location as well and I've never had anything but great experiences and uh
they boast some of the uh the one of the highest portfolios in terms of cannabis
brands that they sell uh some of these Brands I know you're familiar with those include Cresco High Supply floral Farms
which I've been talking about recently really love that premium brand of flour the good news and wonder Edibles along
with Mindy's and remedy as well and here to tell us all about Cresco labs and uh
some of the things that they work on and what we can all get excited about in the future is the vice president of
wholesale marketing for Cresco Dana Mason welcome to the show Dana hey thanks for having me good to be here
thank you for coming on and and did I have that right uh you know the brands of Cresco and your your title with them
vice president wholesale marketing that kind of thing nailed it got it all right great okay cool I usually I like to
check that after hitting record for some reason as opposed to beforehand but uh I
don't know it's just something that I do but uh anyway thank you for jumping on I appreciate it and I I've been looking forward to talking with you for a while
I just uh I do frequent the Sunnyside in Wrigleyville all the time and I I'm a
big fan of Cresco products I I've usually uh I've definitely gotten a ton of Mindy's uh me and my wife uh love
partaking and those and then the Flor Cal Farms uh I just was able to try some
of those for the first time and I absolutely love them so I just kind of want to ask uh you know how did you get
into you know working in cannabis and what's it like working at Cresco yeah so
answering the first part of how did I get into cannabis so I'm someone that's built my career career um within the
marketing space so I spent a few years at neelen right out of college um really
learn learning marketing insights I was always on site so worked across a few different cpg categories um from there
actually went back and got um my business degree at University of Chicago
Booth um and then from there I went and worked at Miller course so a lot of my background has been in really
traditional cpg structure um but always had my eye on the Cannabis
industry and when you think about what it means to be a marketer marketing really is understanding and meeting
consumer needs and the fact that there was this whole industry that was just
being built that has such a really interesting and Dee rooted culture um
behind it I always say it's kind of the marketing dream to be able to build that and there was something really really
exciting about the idea that my success as well as my failures so all of the
trials as well would help to contribute to building an entire industry and
learning along the way so as someone who's always been incentivized and interested in the ability to build and
learn um while simultaneously helping people to find the products that speaks
um to them and is right to them it really aligned very very well with um
everything that you get within the Cannabis industry dayt day and then as you think about Cresco cesco's Mission
since the beginning has been all about normalizing and professionalizing cannabis and I think
that there was something that always just really spoke to me within that because as you build an industry there's
so many different ways to do it and it was really important to me to be working alongside people in a company that
really believes in building the industry the right way so it's been great
that's that's awesome uh great story I appreciate you sharing that and and uh lot of lot of cool things that I want to
touch on in there um I I totally agree with you that you know there a there's
few spaces as exciting as the Cannabis one right now just because of a the existing culture that was there and sort
of the um momentum that you know has for years been building to push this toward
a more legal and normal um you know part of society part of day-to-day life and
and so I I know people are hungry for that and then you know the the way that you were you know kind of talking about
normalizing it and and making it professional as you say that's that's kind of along the lines of of why I I
started this show itself is because I when it was legalized here in Illinois um I I just noticed that the
conversations were so much more about the pop culture Stoner jokes and like
the um the the low brow kind of punchlines about you know cannabis and
and and what the caricatures of a Stoner was like as opposed to the you know talking about the possible medical
benefits or the quality of life improvements that that it can offer and and so that is sort of why I wanted to
start having these conversations with people like you because talking about it in this way and and making products like
Cresco does um and and having such a professional approach that seems like a
really grassroot Root's way of trying to end the stigma and and bring this to the
light in a way that that alcohol is um you know and and other substances that
we kind of lean on in our day-to-day yeah absolutely couldn't have said it better myself and on that note you know
I I do I think it's really interesting in your case having worked at Miller Kors as you mentioned and doing marketing for them do you you must think
of this in terms of or or I guess do you do you see similarities between the alcohol industry and and and what
cannabis is doing or in terms of marketing you know is that similar for you in your approach um what's the what
is what is your approach in terms of like how to speak to Consumers of cannabis and is that at all similar to
to Consumers of alcohol yeah I think the things that are similar to alcohol are one just the regulations and the
responsibility that it requires that is required to be a marketer in any one of
those Industries especially if you think about the age gating and making sure that you are being very responsible and
thorough within um everything that you're doing to make sure that you're speaking to the appropriate people and
that you're not inadvertently um speaking to people that are not of age
to be consuming these products so taking that responsibility seriously is something that I definitely learned um
from working within the alcohol industry that we're a that's able to carry over
um on the other side of the coin I think the other biggest similarity to alcohol
which isn't untrue for other cpg categories as well is just the passion
for the um industry I was always Blown Away um in my previous the previous
brands that I worked on before coming into cannabis at how passionate people are about different brands as well as
the category itself and it's unbelievable how much you see of that within the Cannabis industry even though
it really has been a short lifespan compared to many other Industries um
when you think about legalization as a whole um so those are
other parallels that they come to life in different ways um but certainly very similar now where it's different so
everything similar to alcohol as well as other Industries is it always starts with the consumer what are their needs
how are they leveraging the products um throughout their daily lives or are maybe what parts of their daily lives um
are not being met their needs aren't being met by the industry currently um
that we can look to fulfill so that approach is still very similar um to
what you see in other Industries what's unique is the different Market um
regulations as well as how quickly this is changing um for the consumers as well
as the regulations as well so within other Industries often you're thinking
about all of the regional Dynamics um and different demographic Dynamics as well as you're looking to fulfill that
consumer need but within cannabis you're not only trying to understand those
Dynamics but also dealing with the reality that some states only permit medical use which is a very different
need than the states that permit both recreational as well as medical usage so
balancing that out as well as well as the different regulations and how everything can come to life in each
market sure yeah that that makes sense and and I appreciate you laying it out you know a lot of great points in there
as well uh on the last one you know operating in in multiple different states you mention uh some states are
medical only um here in Illinois it's it's adult wreck and medical and you know obviously we have uh an expanding
state-by-state Market here even though it's still kind of a patchwork thing um more and more states are taking the
plunge and and and allowing cannabis in some form um all the time and so I guess in your
experience like what what is it uh in terms of operating in Illinois for instance what is that uh marketing here
where it is adult wreck and medical what's that like versus a state that's
that's Medical Only just in terms of how you are building these Brands and how you're looking to kind of sell it you
know it's what's you how do you is there any difference between Illinois cannabis consumers and and those in other states
let's say yes so I think the first step is really thinking about um what the primary role of each of Our Brands are
so for example our remedy brand tends to be very wellness and medical driven so
in our medical States you see a larger presence of that brand because there's a larger portion of that consumer that is
looking for brands that are specifically Medical in nature that are really on the
nose with this is my ailment what's the best way to help my self to feel better
um for medicinal purposes um then for some of our Brands it may have a little bit more dual functionality so for
example Mindy since you mentioned that really the everything behind that brand is it was founded in partnership with
the James Beard award-winning Chef everything that Mindy's does is really
meant to deliver on its promise of being the world's best pasting edible that is certainly true um for a recreational
consumer but that's also true for a medical consumer just because the reason that someone is using that product might
be more for medical purposes it doesn't mean that they want to have to sacrifice
The Taste or the premium nature of that particular product so again it's that
consumer need is the same it's just the way that it's used and the way that it manifests itself might be a little bit
different Market to Market and the education of how and when to use um might also look a little bit different
knowing that um how it's sold and who's purchasing it um has a little bit of a different need there yeah that that
makes sense and and I get that I think that's a great point I mean even if as you said even if somebody's using this
medically that doesn't mean that they want it to taste like crap and and Mindy certainly uh does not you know Mindy's
is the best as as I mentioned it's every flavor of theirs uh I I I always you
know I've ran through all of them and and we there's always a Mindy's container around our house so I totally
agree with you are the best and it's they the Cresco has a lot of great Brands and you know you mentioned uh you
know when you were talking earlier kind of about uh the excitement and what different brands uh the even though the
Cannabis space is newer legally than alcohol is the enthusiasm for certain
brands and the brand loyalty uh is is still you know big and Cresco has I
think some of the brands to which people are really excited uh for and to which
they're very loyal for instance High Supply I feel like whenever I talk with people they're always uh happy with the
price point and the quality of the high Supply um Buds and and I mentioned
florical Farms as well I I think that you know I personally I found my
experience to be like it was sort of a premium Bud because everything that was
sort of advertised or what I was expecting from like a heavy indicia like jealousy or like a happy sativa like
astropop um I I I felt it uh Stronger you know it wasn't there was nothing faint or or subtle about like the the
advertised symptoms or or the turpins or anything so I I guess in terms of of
establishing these Brands and and that kind of excitement you know um where do you what is Cresco what's the philosophy
in terms of like you know is you have alcohol which has some 100 Proof stuff
or or let's say you've got you have your light beers you have your ipas your
targeting different demographics there um what's cesco's philosophy in terms of
establishing products which are targeting different demographics in that sense what do you look for in terms of
you know establishing that brand loyalty at different tiers yeah absolutely so if
you think back to the Cannabis industry even as short as five six years ago
price steering was kind of at the beginning of it and there weren't that there wasn't that much price
differentiation when it came to Brands so if you think about all other industries that tends to be one of the
first places that people differentiate knowing that there's consumers that are willing to pay more for a more premium
experience as well as consumers that say Hey I really want to make my dollar go
the farthest give me the absolute best value so Cresco was really the first to
come up with a price tiered system with the launch of high Supply it was one of the first value Brands within the Canada
space and since the induction of that brand it's always been about the best
bud for your buck so it really is about how do you make sure that we continue to
give our those consumers who are looking again to make the most out of their
dollar without having to sacrifice for Quality so really thinking about who that consumer is what we speak to on it
and making sure that live to that process so for example on high supplies you won't see a ton of massive marketing
campaigns against that brand and that's intentional to make sure that we are truly taking out all the cost of the
brand to make sure that that value is really passed down to the person that's
buying it um and then on the other end so then of course you have um Cresco in
the middle as your mainstream brand but then we did notice that there was also an opportunity for a more premium brand
simultaneously we met Karen and Drew Deval out in California who founded floral and we really saw that everything
that we believed a premium brand should be existed within floral so through a
partnership and we still work for the company are deeply involved launched floral Nationwide so it was a California
brand that we chose to take into other markets that really is all about that
crafted um experience to get you that Ultra Premium quality um within Vape as
well as Edibles we use rosin as a more premium process as well so um it allows
us to reach different consumers through different price points while also satisfying what quality means at those
different price tiers for the each of these specific consumer group right on yeah that that makes sense and and I I
hadn't thought of it the price teering way that you kind of spelled out there I I do think that Cresco was successful in
that cuz like I said I do think that the high supply for instance I think that definitely has resonated with uh a lot
of the consumers out there at least the ones I'm speaking to here around Illinois uh I I I just hear such you
know positivity associated with that all the time and it's it's it's very cool and some of the other ones you're
talking about as well florical and Mindy's and good news and remedy all of these are you know they're they're uh
meet different needs for different people and I think that people appreciate those options I think that's
one of the things I know I was always excited about when cannabis became legal and and when different states were doing
this the the options that were going to become available you know instead of just needing like for myself you know
instead of being uh limited to whatever my dealer had at the time you know and it was just like okay I'll I'll take
I'll take that you got blue dream again okay cool I I guess I'll take it because that's what I have to take but the the
ability now to go into dispensaries and as you said you know it's professional and it's it's normalized and to be able
to go into a place like a sunny side uh I still get so geeked every time I go in there just to talk with Bud tenders and
look at the different menus on the wall and get excited about new products that are coming down these options are what
is part of of anyway what is making this whole movement so exciting and and on
that note I know I don't want you to you know reveal anything that's ahead of time but you know what are what are some
I guess other products or maybe brands that Cresco is looking at into the future uh that they're going to bring
consumers or at least that the company's thinking about anything that you can talk about I mean just in case uh you
know people want to get excited about something new yeah I think the thing that we're always looking at um really
in strong partnership and led by our cultivation team is new strains for sure
I think that's always one of the first things that we're looking at is how do you continue to bring back um some of
our favorite land race um strains that people are familiar with um that might not be specific um just to our brand but
that are truly embedded within cannabis culture as well as mixing that um along
with crusco owned or crusco proprietary strains that are truly unique to our
portfolio and being able to use strains as a way to help bring cannabis into
many many different use cases um as well as day parts so really thinking about it
that way um and then when you get into some of our manufactured products so of course more strains um within our Vape
portfolio um as well but also different flavors um within our good news brand is
also always something that we're thinking about and just continuing to figure out how we can drive um new news
that's kind of what I'll say on all of that so always looking for it and finding the easiest ways to expand yeah
yeah that that makes sense I think obviously people are always psyched to talk about new strains I think that that's a great Point as well as flavors
of Edibles like with good news you mentioned and that I think people are always looking forward to you know look
to hearing about those kind of things uh you know Dana uh related to marketing
I'm curious you know since you're you're talking about you know brands that are you know and products that are
manufactured inhouse at Cresco as well as you know cultivations that maybe you see outside of it uh you know like
floral for instance that you that Vibe with the way that Cresco does things and that maybe you then bring into the to
the umbrella of Brands I'm kind of curious do you like do the cultivators come up with the names for these new
strains or are there any that somebody like you in marketing um are able to to
come up with have you ever come up with any name for these strains are you going to do that in the future pitched ideas
we tend to have our cultivators be the one to name our strains again really to help ensure that we're maintaining the
Integrity of the plant and keeping the culture of this industry whole is our
cultivators are the ones that are putting the plants in the ground they understand the heritage of each of the
strains so to ensure that that isn't lost within the names and that the names are truly speaking to what this strain
is We Trust our cultivators to be the ones to actually do the naming for that
very reason just to make sure that we're not getting too much into marketing um
jargon but really helping to preserve that these are OG cannabis Growers and
making sure that they are leaving their mark on these streams as well as the people who are putting the plants into
the ground right right I think that's a great point and and think that that sort
of authenticity that that commitment to it I think that that's part of what stands out about Cresco and I do think
it's probably something that is also resonating with people um it it is
genuine and I think that you talk about getting to into the marketing with stuff I think that you know people can sniff
that out especially you know like OG whether they're Growers or just users of cannabis I do think that you know there
is a uh there's a there's a a BS meter you know there's definitely a sense of like okay okay was this you know is was
this the griller who made this or was this was this a marketer that that came up with the name of the product so I think that's a cool um it's cool that
Cresco is has that in mind and you guys kind of let the cultivators do this uh one last question for you Dana I just
want to you know Illinois is a state that people always um talk about in terms of multi-state operators you know
this uh Cresco along with some other competitors you know got their start
here too uh what would you say as as somebody who in marketing we've talked a lot about different philosophies Cresco
has but in terms of its competition you know what is what makes Cresco unique if
you could sum it up you know in the best way what do you think that makes Cresco unique compared with some of the other
large cannabis companies operating out of Illinois yeah so one of the things that I'm proudest about is kind of what
I said in the beginning to why I joined Cresco in the first place which is that
mission to profession aliz and normalize cannabis and I think something that's always just really impressed me and
something that's been important to me is I contribute to the success of the company is making sure that everything
we're doing is not just meant to benefit the company but it's meant to benefit
the industry and I think that you've seen that come to life in a few different ways but since we were just
talking about high Supply again one of the first to launch a value brand but
cell being able to sell Cate and sell through our Sunny Side Stores um some of our competitors launching similar Brands
but the fact of being able to celebrate of yes we are the ones to start that and maybe the competition for us is
increased but overall that is a really positive win for the industry that
there's more variety at a more affordable price point for people to be able to enter the industry on which is
really exciting so being able to take that lens in everything we do and not get those distracted by well what are
they doing what are they doing um but really thinking about it through the mindset of is this going to be the best
thing for the industry itself and are we moving things forward in the right way
when so many times in business it's so tempting to do things that might be the
easy way um or what everyone else is doing so I think that's something that's
always been really important to crossco since it's founding continues to be true that has allowed us to differentiate and
really to within the world of marketing to ensure that that consumer is always first um because again it's all in the
spirit of trying to expand the category and to help normalize and professionalize it great points again
and and well said and I I think you've been successful uh as well as the rest of the team at Cresco Labs uh in in
doing just that creating brands that the consumers are responding to and different price tiered systems that uh
you know help loan themselves to to that identity and and that you know the giving consumers more options uh to
explore and continually get excited about this uh cannabis industry which is all new and and just growing um but also
leading it forward in the right direction I think Cresco is is doing that and I think uh Dana Mason you are
you're contributing to that as well so uh listener um do go out to your sunny
side if you haven't been recently and give a look at uh if you haven't tried any of the great brands that we've been talking about definitely uh do yourself
a favor and go check them out uh and you won't regret it Dana Mason uh vice president of wholesale marketing for
Cresco thank you so much for stopping by today and talking cannabis with us we really appreciate it thanks for having
me it was great talking to you you too bye bye bye and there you have it listener I want to thank again my guest
Dana Mason of Cresco labs for jumping on here such great insight into the
marketing of cannabis as well as how unique her perspective is you know listener if you've been listening to the
show from the beginning you know how many times I've compared the alcohol industry and prohibition you know back
in the 1920s I've compared that to today's cannabis prohibition as well as
the experience of taking something from the Seedy underbelly of criminality and
moving it into the light of day of the acceptable legal marketplaces where you
can buy it at a storefront and there are ways of checking products for quality
and stuff like that I think it's so cool that Dana did some marketing work for alcohol and that she's now here in the
Cannabis industry and she can take that experience of marketing those kind of products and bring them here uh and I
loved what she was talking about in terms of the price points and I've got to give Cresco credit the price tier
system that Dana was talking about in terms of value assignments like high
Supply is kind of like the Bud Light of cannabis AB then you have floral Farms
which is like the premium the top shelf stuff like your patone tequila or your
100 proof whiskey they are establishing different value and price tiers for
cannabis products the way that we have had for alcohol for a long time now and I think that's great I think that if
you're in the mood if you've got a friend in town or you've got you know some celebrating to do and you feel like
spending a little more money to get a premium product of cannabis by all means you should be able to do that but if
you're like me and you're somebody who's smoking day after day week after week and you need to make sure that your
supply is up to snuff but you're maybe not able to grow it yourself or you don't you know want to or whatever
having the value price system of the high supply for instance gives you the
ability to as I said maybe go buy an ounce for 120 bucks but know that it's
still great quality product that you're not buying dried out swag you're actually going to be able to go home and
enjoy this stuff but you're not going to be you know kicking yourself for spending too much money I think that
what they're doing in terms of establishing that value tier I think it's an excellent framework for cannabis
products moving forward and I hope to see it become popularized and just that
sort of thing happen throughout the country so cheers good on Cresco and thank you Dana Mason for joining show
and sharing your perspective on all things cannabis and some really great marketing tips in there as well one more
thing I had for you this week listener this is an exciting development around Chicago this article was published just
yesterday December 10th from when I'm recording this and this is an axios Chicago article published by my friend
Justin Kaufman a fellow alumni of WGN Radio he uh headlined from Justin reads
Chicago liquor stores are selling THC infused drinks not will be they are this
is right now THC drinks are hitting the shelves at Chicago liquor stores due to
as Justin says a legal loophole why it matters Chicagoans are able to pick up six packs of THC seltzers outside of a
licensed dispensary as local business owners cash in on the Buzzy beverage Trend Justin also says THC Seltzer brand
wink wynk has secured a deal with Luis glunt a beer distributor active in Chicago for
over 100 years that distributor has helped stock the drinks in several Chicago liquor stores including Benes
and Garfield Justin quotes Phil McFarland a warehouse beverage company's general manager of THC beverages saying
as a guy who came through the craft beer wave this feels very familiar to me he
goes on Phil McFarland does to say in 5 years or so this is going to be as
pervasive Ive and accepted as craft beer has become if you haven't heard of it
wink has been around since 2021 but had a hard time Cashing in at local dispensaries so the company reformulated
its drinks to use hemp derived THC making it legal to sell in liquor stores
under the 2018 farm bill this bill is continuing to pay dividends listener you
know if you've listened for a while that when my wife and I were on our honeymoon on Maui over the summer
I was able to buy cannabis products there thankfully because I could register as a medical patient but also
because of the farm bill there were many more cannabis shops CBD labeled shops
that were selling very low THC percentages under. 3% that's what they
need to be in order to be in the legal threshold under that farm bill but because of that bill which by the way
has been extended for another year because they normally refresh these every 6 years this one they found no
reason to refresh it so we get another year at least of the 2018 farm bill and
because of that we along with other people in other states I know Minnesota is doing this as well THC infused
beverages that are hemp based are legally sold now in liquor stores around
Chicago I will leave it there I will share the axios article as I always do with the other articles that I mention
on the show and you should definitely read the rest of it and uh give Justin Kaufman a little tip of the cap if you
feel like it the guy does great work over at axios and this is exciting I'm definitely going to go out to some
liquor stores and get myself some THC infused beverages uh the holidays are coming up faster than I think any of us
is comfortable with so uh I'm definitely going to be going out and getting some sixpacks of those those can be found as
we said outside of dispensaries just look for that wink Wy andk brand there
uh but also there are going to be some other ones you know in in time while this farm bill is still allowing hemp
derived Beverages and other products we're still going to be able to use them whether THC is legal whether cannabis is
fully legal in your state or not if it falls under that 3% THC threshold it is
protected under the farm bill because of their hemp provision so it's a very exciting thing I love that Chicago is
doing this uh the THC beverages that I've tried the ones I tried on Maui as well as the ones in other states like
California and Michigan and all that I've really liked what I've tried so far and I look forward to trying these and
picking up some of those in Chicago liquor stores as well that's going to wrap it up for me this week I really
appreciate my guest animason and I appreciate you for listening be sure to check out those articles I mentioned at
Illinois news joint.com and go ahead and keep an eye out at your local Sunnys side for some of these deals they've
been having this rain bow and cherries deal that I got as well as the uh
$120 for popcorn ounces that I told you about that is not a once in a while
thing that's not like a a one-time thing either I expect these to continue and I
expect to see more and more of these in the coming months and years as like I
said we reach this sweet spot in Illinois cannabis of high quality and
lower prices than we're used to seeing so very exciting time and happy holidays to you I appreciate you listening if you
feel like giving this holiday season go ahead and scroll down and leave a nice rating or review for the show as I
mentioned this is a oneman operation any of that uh positivity really helps it
helps the show stand out on platforms like apple or Spotify or wherever you're
listening ratings and reviews help let them know to recommend the show to other
people and of course if you're interested become a subscriber to the cannabis man podcast so you never miss a
new episode and you find out what I'm talking about week to week any subscribers do get a shout out their
name credited in the next episode as well as a big thank you email from me because uh it's very much appreciated I
love the support and I love the listeners who have been engaging with the show since this started on April
20th of 2022 and uh we are rolling onward as this cannabis Journey
continues for all of us so lots to be excited about and and be thankful for as
we're rolling through this holiday season so thank you very much for everything you're doing keep going and
uh we'll talk next week on the Cannabis man podcast
bye-bye cannabis man is 100% originally crafted by myself Don kleppen original
theme music written and composed by Yu Kim AKA
Goodson
a



English (auto-generated)

All
From Cannabis Man Podcast
Recently uploaded
Watched