With the US accelerating toward the emergence of national brands, we’re seeing a bifurcation between the multi-state operators (MSOs) and the state-specific brands. In this week’s Top Ten Hottest list, powered by Pioneer Intelligence’s consumer engagement Heat Index rankings, we slice the data to see which MSOs (with operations in at least 4 states) engaged their customers most effectively across all three marketing pillars (social media, earned media, and website activity) to promote their pre-rolls. Data was collected for the month of February.
Pioneer measures consumer engagement of over 575 cannabis brands in the market by analyzing over 275 data points across three pillars of marketing activity. More information on Pioneer Intelligence, including the brands tracks and their methodology can be found here.
Trulieve, a powerhouse in Florida, with a single store in Connecticut, a single store in California, and a new store opening in Northampton, Massachusetts, squeaks in to qualify as an MSO. Considering their marginal multistate footprint, their placement on this list shows that Trulieve is effectively building a national following.
On their heels is the bellwether Curaleaf, with dispensaries in 15 states. But their ranking reflects their branded products which is impressive considering the range of other pre-rolls on their shelves. (In Oregon alone they sell pre-rolls from Deep Creek Gardens, Belushi’s Farms, East Fork Cultivars, UKU, Dyme Brands, TJ’s Gardens, Epic Family Farms, Good Smokes, Gud Gardens, Rebel Spirit, Meraki Gardens, and the Oregon Cannabis Collective.)
Landing in the 3, 4, & 5 spots are all brands with a celebrity profile. Al Harrington’s Viola brands takes the bronze, followed by Berner’s Cookies brand, and well, we all know the person behind Willie’s Reserve. This is a strong showing for celeb brands that indicates tastemakers truly do influence consumer engagement in this category.
Pioneer Intelligence leverages data to benchmark marketing performance of consumer-facing cannabis brands. Built by a group of experienced and passionate marketers and data scientists, Pioneer helps industry stakeholders better understand how communications strategies resonate with audiences. In early 2021, Pioneer launched its first products, a suite of marketing performance scorecards. These reports present actionable data across three focus areas: social media, earned media and web-related activities. More information can be found on the company’s website, https://pioneer.buzz
Disclaimer: Pioneer currently has more than 550 brands in their active pool with another 250 brands in their pipeline. Pipeline brands require six months of data before being added to the active pool. Lists of both active and pipeline brands can be found at pioneer.buzz/brands. If you would like to request your brand be tracked by Pioneer, please email [email protected].
