On Tuesday, Boulder-based Wana Brands hosted an elevated happy hour to celebrate the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Denver and build on their “Summer of Quick” campaign to promote their new line of fast-acting gummies.
The event featured the launch of three new Wana Quick Fast-Acting Gummies, the company’s best-selling quick-onset products that offer a Delta-9 “smoker’s high” experience in addition to the rapid onset of effect within 15 minutes of ingestion.
Over pizza and Snowmelt Seltzer, industry insiders enjoyed the first gathering since Wana launched its initial round of Wana Quick gummies in February 2020 — just before Colorado Gov. Jared Polis shut down the state in March.
In addition to the Wana staff, representatives from Denver-based staffing firm Vangst, retailer Good Chemistry, and various media outlets helped themselves to Wana’s latest flavors of gummies as they caught up with old friends and made new industry connections. Earlier in the day, Wana hosted budtenders for breakfast burritos and presentations that would help them educate their customers about the company’s products.
The new all-natural Wana Quick options come in 10 mg servings in a 100 mg package. The new flavors — Sativa Colorado Sunrise, Hybrid Appletini, and Indica Island Punch — join the existing Wana Quick 5 mg flavors, including Sativa Peach Bellini, 1:1 Strawberry Margarita, Hybrid Lemoncello, and Indica Pina Colada.
In keeping with the theme, guests received swag bags that included a quick-dry towel and water bottle featuring the Wana logo as well as a baseball cap and poster commemorating the All-Star Game.
As part of its Summer of Quick promotion, Wana has tricked out a truck to act as a moving LED-lighted billboard advertising its Wana Quick products. “Try Happy Hour Without The Hangover” is emblazoned on the side, and a giant QR will tell those who scan it how to find one of its mobile happy hours.
Wana is partnering with retailers to host mobile happy hours from a van it picked up in California at the end of June. They roll out a lawn, set up barstools and Adirondack chairs and offer happy hour promotions of its products to customers. The company also partnered with Denver-based Juicing Tree, which concoct mocktails to serve to customers.
“People hang out for 15 to 20 minutes and learn about Quick,” said Joe Hodas, Wana’s chief marketing officer.
The company has created micro websites where customers can enter to win prizes and discover where the van will be hosting happy hours. A separate microsite is designed to educate budtenders about Wana’s products. It covers everything from the company’s sustainable packaging to the science behind the fast-acting technology. After taking a short quiz, budtenders can enter to win a $500 Southwest Airline gift card.
While traditional edibles are digested through the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in a long-lasting, intense body high, Wana Quick is made using Azuca’s fast-acting thermodynamic individual molecular encapsulation technology. This delivers Delta-9-THC to the bloodstream to produce the same kind of effect experienced when smoking flower. Quick products lasts just two to four hours.
“They deliver the same lighter head high you get when you’re smoking a joint without the actually smoking,” explains Mike Hennesy, Wana’s vice president of innovation.
