At the onset of the Nevada adult-use market, Las Vegas held the promise of being the great gateway for millions of travelers to explore cannabis in a town known not to judge or to tell your secrets. Operators aspiring to build a national brand or retail chain moved quickly to set up shop or partner with license holders. So it’s no surprise that Pioneer’s list of January’s ten hottest Nevada brands is dominated by multi-state operators vying to be the next Coca-Cola or Grey Goose of the cannabis market.
Methodology
In the event this is the first list you’ve seen from our content partner, Pioneer Intelligence, here’s a quick background. Pioneer Intelligence is a marketing performance analytics platform, focused on the marketing activities of US cannabis brands. Pioneer measures awareness and consumer engagement. They analyze over 275 data points across three main pillars: social media, earned media, and website activity. They then create values for each brand, using a 1000-point proprietary scoring system. For deeper market intel, check out their weekly nationwide heat index.
Our breakdown
Curaleaf isn’t playing around when it comes to creating a buzz about their products. They hold the #1, #3, and #6 spots with their eponymous flagship brand, Select, and Grassroots, respectively. This strong showing demonstrates the power of building a brand portfolio–the Grassroots acquisition in 2019 gave Curaleaf an opportunity to penetrate the Illinois and Pennsylvania markets but also leverage the acquired brand back across its existing footprint. (Curaleaf held the #3 position in Pioneer’s nationwide heat ranking.)
Kiva Confections made a strong showing in their home state on our California top ten and nabs the #2 spot in this week’s list. These showings assert that you don’t have to be a public company to build a national brand and passionate consumer following. (Kiva held the #1 position in Pioneer’s nationwide heat ranking.)
Green Thumb Industries, which is also building a formidable brand portfolio, landed in the #4 position with Rythm, a flower and full spectrum extracts line, and took the #9 spot with Dog Walkers, a .35 gram pre-roll marketed as the perfect size for a smoke when you’re out walking your dog. Me and my dog agree with their claim.
Willie’s Reserve, the pioneer in celebrity cannabis brands (produced by GCH Inc.), hits the charts at #7. Tyson Ranch followed at #8 and is the sole original Nevada brand on the list. Possibly the news of Iron Mike returning to the ring last year and admitting he had smoked up before his bout boosted the brand’s consumer engagement in January, but as the Champ also admitted to smoking $40,000 worth of his weed a month, they will need to boost production to keep up with the demand. (And having hung out with Mike, this may be an underestimate.)
Mary’s Medicinals, part of the BR Brands family that includes Dixie, Beezle, Defonce, and Rebel Coast, comes in at #9 and Valhalla Confections rounds out the list of Hottest Brands in Nevada for January. Stay tuned next week for Oregon’s hottest edibles!
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].
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