Shayda Torabi Howell

The H.R.2598 - #PREPAREAct of 2023 has a new cosponsor | #cannabis | Bill Name: PREPARE Act of 2023 (Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-prohibition Adult-use Regulated Environment Act) Introduced By: Representative David P. Joyce (R-OH-14) on April 13, 2023 Current Status: Introduced in House, gaining support with 5 cosponsors as of May 21, 2024 Latest Development: Representative Max L. Miller (R-OH-7) became a cosponsor on May 21, 2024 What's this about: The PREPARE Act aims to establish a commission to study and develop a comprehensive framework for federal regulation of #cannabis. It seeks to create a regulatory model similar to those used for alcohol, ensuring effective oversight while addressing the unique aspects of cannabis.

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BRĒZ might be the single most intriguing startup in CPG right now. The South Florida based brand (pronounced 'breeze') makes social tonics microdosed with cannabis and mushrooms. THC, CBD, and Lion's mane are all in the mix. “Microdosed mushrooms in a can”. But the liquid is only part of the reason Brez is so fascinating. A few things that stand out: --- 1 / Extreme transparency Founder Aaron Nosbisch posts business results monthly to all social platforms. Revenue, growth metrics, conversation rates, CACs, AOVs, etc. Even net profit margin is posted publicly. Brez just completed its first full year of operations and business is booming. $5.4m in sales p12mo. Incredible. 2 / Unique business model The vast majority of Brez products are sold online. This is an anomaly in the beverage category due to the fact it's ridiculously expensive to ship water direct to consumer. Brez is well equipped to navigate this channel due to two key advantages: productive unit economics and strong performance marketing capabilities. 3 / Uncharted regulatory environment Brez is operating in a confusing legal landscape with contradictory messaging from multiple arms of the US government. The FDA actually investigated the brand earlier this year. Brez passed the compliance check with flying colors...and Aaron posted about the whole thing publicly. Phenomenal. --- I haven't tried the product yet so can't speak to it directly but have to say I LOVE what this team is doing. Few things people are thirstier for these days than transparency, and the Brez team is delivering in spades on that front. Well done Aaron Nosbisch Avin Kline Nick Shackelford #cpg #cannabis #mushrooms #brez #fda 

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😁 Do you, too, want to be this psyched each Tuesday when Wilfred Maina's insightful analysis of each week's top #cannabis news hits your inbox? 🚀 What are you waiting for?! Wilfred's World Weekly #Weed News has launched, and there's no slowing this slightly sarcastic, #cannabisindustry-loving rocket down. 📫 Subscribe by following the link below, entering your email and choosing 'News Updates' (and other topics, if you like). https://lnkd.in/eNbbtB-p ⚡ This newsletter is powered by NisonCo PR, SEO and Content Marketing

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Here are five ways to improve your marketing process for a CPG product (like cannabis) without spending more money: 1) Actually develop a marketing process. Do you have an SOP for onboarding a new store? For launching a new product or strain? You probably should…. 2) Establish and maintain a feedback loop. Are you talking to retailers after product is delivered to hear what’s working, what isn’t, and why? Why not!? 3) Educate retailer staff with an info sheet inside cases of product. (Ok, this costs $.02 per…. But you get the point.) How are you ensuring retail staff knows the finer points about your product? 4) Systematically evangelize your product thoughtfully on social media. 1000 non-follower consumers seeing your post is a HUGE win. 1 non-follower b2b contact seeing your post is a HUGE win. While there is a small time investment here, if you are authentically working in your business everyday, your content (and your excitement about your product) should come out organically. Not harvesting the marketing benefit from that energy is a huge mistake. 5) Regularly audit and improve merchandising and placement in retail locations. Do you even know how your product is displayed in stores? Do you know how it’s listed on in-store menus? Do you think it could be displayed better/larger/brighter/closer to the register/etc? 6) Improve existing label and packaging messaging. You don’t need to spend more on your packaging to make it better. More importantly, (and this is its own separate post) packaging is often the START of a consumers marketing journey. It should be working for you after the sale, to get the next one. It’s how customers learn about your brand, its history, its value prop, or its how they connect to you online in order to do so. Consumers often buy for the first time on a whim. They buy again and again for a reason. Is your packaging illustrating that reason? Have you A/B tested different verbiage / imagery / layouts with your team or trusted friends? Have you run packaging designs by retail partners you are close with to get a sense on what they think will work? Each of these things is free. And yes, becuase I know some of you trolls out there will be rearing to bring it up: these things do take time, and yes, arguably, time is money. But nothing listed above is a budget item. None of it would break your bank. They would take effort, brainpower, and close cooperation. But more than anything, good marketing is a practice of consistent monitoring and iteration. The world is changing and so are consumers. Competitors are fighting for your marketshare. Each of the things I listed above requires ongoing maintenance. Ongoing care. Ongoing innovation. The SOPs never stop improving. The feedback loop never stops looping. The retailers will always need educating. The online world will always provide new eyes. The product can always be displayed better. Packaging messaging can always be more impactful. That’s the hard part.

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Cannabis Brand Proliferation:  Clean-up, Aisle 2 It doesn’t matter if you are a retailer or producer:  Competitive and internal dynamics will inevitably lead to you stocking an excessive number of SKUs leading to overlapping brands and bloated inventories. The best way to fix this is by rationalizing your product portfolio, via: --> Identifying the underperforming SKUs --> Culling them according to financial and strategic criteria --> Optimizing your business practices to ensure this problem doesn’t return My SKU rationalizing efforts have delivered a 14x ROI behind new cost savings, reduced inventories and renewed brand competitiveness. This should be you. Send me a DM to discuss how we can clean up your underperforming brands and SKUs #complexityreduction #SKUs #brands #cannabisindustry #cannabis #MSOS #LPS

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The cannabis companies that ‘WIN’ in 2025 and beyond will have these five things in common: 1) They understand the scale that they are trying to achieve and their entire operation is appropriately focused based on that scale. -Local companies need to market and connect locally (in an extremely authentic way) while focusing on profitable, sustainable revenue streams that are mostly consumer driven. -Statewide companies need to do the hard math and modeling to understand what realistic growth means for them. Set specific growth targets based on achieveable modeling. Too many statewide brands operate, market and spend like a national brand, and it will cost them in the end. -National brands must focus on lean profitability and maintain a highly targeted approach to their spending, despite a world that may seem like it has limitless customers. 2) They don’t try to do it all. Developing mastery and economies of scale in specific sectors, while building strong partnerships in the rest of the market, is the model for success in the years to come. The great companies from 2025-Federal Legalization will seek out expansion via truly strategic partnerships (and careful aquisitions) while the mediocre companies attempt to do it all themselves. The largest, best capitalized MSOs will be buying up statewide and regional businesse with lean, focused, positive-cashflow operations, which solve specific problems in their infrastructure. 3) They are building a business that is designed for the New World of Cannabis, and the Era of Commercialization. -We aren’t trappers anymore. -Hitting licks can only take you so far. -Weed is a CPG product. -THCA is sold openly online and in gas stations. -D9 Bevs and Gummies are sold in some of the deepest red states. -Weed by mail is probably here to stay. -Mushrooms are legal in various cities and states. -Consumer trust in a brand is the most valuable asset in the industry. No matter their scale, the companies that win in the next five years will integrate themselves into the new ways consumers interact with and purchase cannabis…. (Online, DTC, Low-Dose, Mixed Nootropic, Bev, Smoke Shop/Gas Station, Mass Market, Seshes, N.A. bars/lounges, add-on dispensary licenses) 4) They build continuous feedback loops with their customers. The great brands and companies that succeed into the 2030’s will have a deep, data-based understanding of their consumers at all levels. Brands must understand the buying criteria of the stores that carry them as well as the buying criteria of the consumers that drive sell-through. The very best will encourage a rewarding consumer engagement loop that directly influences operational decision making. 5) They just don’t quit. (In fact, they continue to innovate, pivot, and understand that at the end of the day, their business is change). A lot of cannabis operators will quit in the next five years. In all business, but especially in cannabis, sometimes it’s just about being there tomorrow.

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𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴. Beverage packaging is complicated for many reasons but mainly there are so many categories and options. Consider the list below. I could go on and do a diagram of just one of those categories with multiple subcategories. 👉 Non alcoholic 👉 Alcoholic 👉 Cannabis 👉 CBD Let's say a thirsty consumer knew they wanted something non-alcoholic. They also decided they wanted something healthy and low calorie but with a lot of flavor (not flavored water). Guess what, they would have walked right by the BEFORE version of the Zevia product. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗮❗️ The primary read on the BEFORE design overpowers the brand name and the consumer reads this first: 𝗧𝗘𝗔  𝗦𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗗  𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗘𝗔  𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗡 The words "SWEETENED BLACK TEA" means there is sugar in the product to most consumers. Then in smaller type. No Sugar Zero Calories Most customers won't even get to read the small type because they have moved on. The primary read on the AFTER design focuses on the brand and what the product is: 𝗭𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗔 𝗭𝗘𝗥𝗢 𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗔𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗔 Then it highlights the flavor of the tea with a beautiful graphic that makes the package have more shelf impact. Zevia, great job on the rebrand and packaging update. #cannabisbeverages #CPGpackaging #retailpackaging #beveragepackagingdesign

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As the cannabis industry matures, we are starting to get reliable data. This can help make decisions based on real sales figures and not predictions. 10 years ago, there was only one state with adult use sales (#colorado) and a handful of states with medical seals. Now there is 24 sates with adult use sales and an additional 15 states with medical seals. At the moment #california leads with total seals but #michigan leads with per capita seals. #florida leads in medical seals. #missouri with a relatively small population and only 17 months since they launched their adult-use market, is already in fifth place. Thank you Debra Borchardt from Green Market Report for the financial update. #cannabisindustry #cannabiscommunity #cannabisnews #cannabiseducation #cannabispolicy #cannbislaw https://lnkd.in/gc96gcCh

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If you're working with a ghostwriter to develop #thoughtleadership content in the #cannabis industry, these are super important things to keep in mind: 1. Find a writer who knows cannabis. I can't stress this enough. You will save an *enormous* amount of time and energy if you're working with someone who understands the nuance of this market and can help you avoid problematic or inaccurate content. 2. You HAVE to spend some time with the writer up front. As ghostwriters, we pride ourselves in the quality of our work. But we are NOT mind readers. We need to spend some time with you to understand your values, your voice, and the details behind your work. After that, we're off to the races. 3. Develop a system for idea dumps and resources. Perhaps that's a Google Drive, Slack Channel, Asana -- but you should keep all your content topics and photos / documents / etc. in ONE place to help your writer stay organized and produce better results. 4. Trust your ghostwriter's content strategy. You know your topics best, but if you're working with an experienced ghostwriter, they'll understand how to format and where to pitch/distribute content for maximum impact. At Tomaselli Media we specialize in thought leadership and targeted PR for cannabis and purpose-driven brands. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eDNBpZvx And shoot me a DM if you're an exec looking for a greater presence in this space.

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Hey #cannabisindustry, The WeedWeek newsletter is up: -- Deputy resigns at DCC as pesticide questions mount Link and lots more in the comments

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Hey #cannabisindustry, The WeedWeek newsletter is out! -- Dems field first pro-legalization presidential ticket. Link and lots more in the comments

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New Mexico Cannabis Is there evidence within the sales data of the larger storefronts flexing and scaling? Here are three illustrations to validate the hypothesis: 1️⃣ Average REC Sales are ⇧ over $3,000, with an increase of +10 stores, when comparing OCT '24 to JAN '24. How can this be? Consider that the top 20 NM REC storefronts have increased % of total REC sales from 21.1% in OCT '23 up to 23% in OCT '24. ***Taking a look at stores that reported > $200k in monthly REC sales: In JAN '24, there were 22 storefronts that delivered $8.35mm in REC Sales. By OCT '24, that figure has grown to 24 storefronts delivering $9.37mm, an increase in REC Sales of 12.2%.*** 2️⃣ How are larger stores gaining share? By lowering prices and offering frequent and steep promotions. Statewide Monthly REC Sales in OCT '24 are up $2.7mm from JAN '24. However, this required an additional 131k of REC Transactions, which equates to much smaller retail margins in OCT '24 v. JAN '24 --> the AOV on these incremental sales is a paltry $20.61. 3️⃣ Stated another way...Average Daily REC Sales/Storefront (677 units) has only increased $48 in OCT '24, compared with JAN '24. To derive this additional $48 in daily REC Sales requires an increase of 4.28 REC Transactions/Day...valuing each incremental REC Transaction at only $11.21. January typically requires less price reduction and discounting, as demand cools exiting the holiday season. This is evidenced by a drop of 4.4% in REC Transactions in JAN '24, but with AOV easing off only 3.9%. Larger retail operators with <small> positive cash flow can absorb this in their long game; smaller operators struggle in the short term and cannot survive the long game with retail baskets ($) that have been in steady decline. #newmexicocannabis #cannabisdata The Data Heard

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This is such an important study that really highlights the need for targeted prevention strategies. By legalizing tobacco and cannabis, we are putting the youngest and most vulnerable members of our society in danger. This study by Ashlynn M. Ruleman, Stephanie L. Clendennen, Baojiang Chen, and Melissa B. Harrell found that reasons for tobacco and cannabis use differ significantly among types of multiple product users and exclusive users. This means we need to ensure that intervention strategies are not one-size-fits-all but more tailored and personalized. A message that resonates with one person might not resonate with another. #TobaccoUse #CannabisUse #PreventionStrategies

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Martha's Vineyard Is Running Out Of Marijuana There's trouble brewing in Cape Cod, where Martha's Vineyard is in danger of running out of marijuana. Local dispensaries are selling out of their product and are unable to order more, due to a quirk in the state's marijuana laws. While Massachusetts legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, federal laws make it illegal to tranport pot over the ocean - which is a problem since Martha's Vineyard is an island. It's led to a battle with the state's Cannabis Control Commission over whether it should be legal to transport marijuana on state waterways. States like California and Hawaii have dealt with similar issues. Should the federal government make an allowance here? Do you think the federal government will ever fully legalize marijuana nationwide?

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#Cannabis companies must *stop* sleeping on email. → B2B brands, I'm talking to you! ✨ Sometimes B2B brands don't see email as particularly useful or effective. But ESPECIALLY if you have a long sales cycle. And you need time to develop authority and trust. Email is critically important to stop fighting the algorithm and platform restrictions, and make regular touchpoints with your ideal consumers. (And by the way, the average email ROI is $36 for every $1 spent!) If you're ready to move into higher lead conversions... Our team at Tomaselli Media is here to help! https://lnkd.in/ee_QXhW9

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B2B advertising in the cannabis industry poses unique challenges due to platform restrictions and the need for education among multifaceted customers. It requires a comprehensive understanding of the market dynamics and a strategic approach to effectively reach target audiences. In this interview, we delve into the challenges and opportunities of B2B advertising in cannabis, exploring innovative strategies and insights from industry experts. LeafLink serves as a unified platform for managing wholesale ordering, financial services, and logistics in the cannabis industry. With a focus on streamlining operations and connecting businesses, LeafLink's B2B advertising platform offers brands the opportunity to enhance visibility and sales on a national scale. We sit down with LeafLink's Sr. Director of Ads, Kate Biggs, to uncover insights into their advertising strategies, the effectiveness of B2B ads in reaching purchase managers, and real-life success stories. #cannabisstories #cannabisinterviews #Leaflink #B2BCannabis #Mycannabis https://lnkd.in/dMXPz4zj

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You know what really grinds my gears? Sending the same old tired-ass promo email to every customer. I just received another generic cannabis email. You know the type - all high THC percentages and crappy AI images with a heavy dose of ambiguous language (i.e., captivate your senses) and strain names all about the shock value. Newsflash: Your customers aren't all the same. So why treat them that way? I'm willing to bet <5% of your customers actually gave a shit about that "exclusive strain" you just emailed about. (oohhh...burn.) Here's 5 ways to stop boring your customers: 1. Ditch the "high-THC" obsession — educate on EVERYTHING cannabis has to offer (while battling miseducation and stigma) 2. Swap the cheesy AI-gen photos for real pics of your team (and/or products if regulations allow) 3. Tell a story, your story (people buy from people, not bot-generated emails) 4. Segment your list (newbies ≠ connoisseurs) 5. Speak to specific needs, not your inventory surplus (ACTIVELY listen to your customers → create content based on your findings) The result? ✓ Skyrocketing engagement ✓ Plummenting unsubscribe rates ✓ Customers who actually give a damn It's not rocket science. It's treating customers like humans, not walking wallets. Challenge: Look at your last promo email. How many customers do you think actually cared? Be honest. PS...sorry, not sorry if I came in HOT on this one. Shitty email + absolutely ravenous and hangry = a BAD combo

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Texas Gears Up for Landmark Cannabis Bills in 2025 Texas lawmakers have begun prefiling bills ahead of the 2025 legislative session, proposing reforms to legalize marijuana for adults, expand the state’s limited low-THC medical cannabis program, and implement new restrictions on hemp. These early proposals mark the beginning of what could be a pivotal legislative period for cannabis in Texas, as the state only holds legislative sessions every two years. Heather Fazio from Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy noted that it is expected to be a consequential session, with state cannabis laws currently seen as complicated and ineffective. Lawmakers are proactively addressing these issues, indicating the serious consideration of cannabis reforms in the coming legislative year. #TexasCannabisReform #MarijuanaLegalizationTX #LowTHCExpansion #TexasLegislature2025 #CannabisPolicyChange

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