How Dad Grass lit up the market with low THC joints and responsibly buzzed positioning

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🥂Hello and happy new year!

Today’s brand is Dad Grass: a organic hemp flower DTC brand that’s challenging perceptions of cannabis culture.

If you, like my boyfriend, are asking, “Amanda…Where on earth do you find these companies?!” I came across DadGrass in EatBigFish’s Challenger’s to Watch 2023.

I was hooked by the sexy packaging and stayed for Dad Grass’s deviation from the standard growth-over-profitability playbook:

DTC playbook:

• Accept funding before product market fit

• 📈 hire a ton of employees

• Invest only in direct response advertising, no brand building

Dad Grass:

• Bootstrapped - we love to see it!

• Lean team: DadGrass have 14 employees, according to LinkedIn

• DadGrass looks like it’s investing in both, at least from the outside (a 60/40 split is the split that studies show works, or 70/30 for premium brands)

With VC dollars drying up, we’re now starting to see the tide go out on these companies: Many DTC companies like FIGs, Allbirds, Smile Direct, Warby Parker, Honest Co., Hims are seriously underperforming in the stock market. Dad Grass is private so we can’t compare - but I think this will be an interesting company to watch.

Dad Grass appears to be the exception, investing in creative collaborations, running a lean team and hacking culture to drive growth. Remember: Businesses that invest in brand will be more successful in the long run. They can charge more, make stickier customers, and run more effective creative campaigns. That means not expecting every single dollar invested to have an immediate ROI.

Pass the grass - let’s dive in 🌱

Three brand-building moves that Dad Grass nail

🌱#1 Positioning DadGrass as the alternative to street weed 🌱

Dad Grass are on a mission to “bring back the casual smoke” with a suite of low-THC products. Unlike the category of cannabis, which on the low end contains 27% THC, Dad Grass contains less than 0.3% THC. Dad Grass nails product by identifying a gap in the market and positioning low dose THC products as responsible, not weak. I think the best propositions are set up as answers to problems.

The problem in this case could be summed up as: street weed is too dang strong these days. Enter: DadGrass.

#2 Developing a brand personality that’s clear about what it wants

Most brands don’t go far enough in defining their personality. They publish a tone of voice and instructions for how to use a logo, but lack feeling - and it shows, with cookie cutter marketing that lacks imagination. The gap between strategy and creative is common, but the reward if you can make the leap is high. Personality is one of the most important levers to pull in brand strategy. What does your brand want?

Dad Grass’s personality can be felt whether you’re watching a mood film or reading a product description: a cool, laid back dad chillin out. What he wants? To keep his head right and his soul light.

All this creative work isn’t just for fun: it’s in service of a job to be done: shift perceptions of cannabis culture. DadGrass’ sizzle reel makes you feel something. It’s a celebration of a cool, always-prepared, responsible dad. The packaging looks like a pack of cigarettes that you might have actually found in your dad’s drawer: the perfect mix of retro cool and responsibility.

Elements I love:

• the grainy brand film that feels like a home video

• retro-ish packaging - reminds me of Old Bay or Old Spice

• the goofy dad pics

#3 Making brand friends to influence people

When you’re a startup, every dollar counts. Dad Grass appear to be making theirs count through buzzy collabs with musicians, mountain magazines, and riffs on cliches (candy hearts for Valentine’s day, cigars to celebrate births) to get in the news cycle and introduce more people to DadGrass.

What I like about this: it’s creative. Dad Grass could have bought a ton of Meta ads & called it a day. Instead, what they’re doing is what I’d call audience development: finding audiences, building content strategies around their interests and needs, and growing their engagement with your brand over time.

The beauty of this strategy: the marketing itself is memorable and clever enough to work as brand marketing: even if someone doesn’t purchase Dad Grass immediately, it’s still valuable.

DadGrass x Mountain Gazette

In March of 2023, Dad Grass partnered with hip mountaineering mag Mountain Gazette to launch a ‘mountain safety’ kit that doubles as a ‘dad stash’ to stow your spare Dad Grass products.

Love the creativity here.

DadGrass x Valentine’s Day

For Valentine’s Day, Dad Grass riffed on the old cliche of gifting candy hearts and launched Weedhearts: another ‘dadstash’ decoy for keeping DadGrass goods under wraps.

Dad Grass x George Harrison

For 4/20, Dad Grass collaborated with late Beatle George Harrison’s estate. This is a masterstroke - I’d love to know the story behind how Dad Grass pulled off this collab. It’s well executed & was well received, with coverage in Vice, Rolling Stone, and Billboard.

This is a perfect example of how brand stories can be planned, executed on and designed to spread and be talked about.

Tactics to love & learn from

What I love about Dad Grass? Their positioning and personality actually give them more and better ideas for how to reach their target audience. A strong brand strategy is a springboard 🕺, not a straightjacket.

Get moody 🤔. Mood films can and should spark a feeling. Dad Grass’s brand film use a simple and effective formula: flick through retro dad photos, crank some rock ‘n roll, and reminisce about your good old dad. Do you have a similar source? Somewhere you can reliably turn to for inspiration? A reliable source is better than any one idea. Go get yours.

Make friends in high places 👯. Brand collaborations are strategic choices. Notice how Dad Grass create occasions and collaborations for the hip male audiences that Dad Grass want to meet. Who or what should your brand be ‘friends’ with in order to reach the audiences who need to hear about your product?

Reverse engineer the headlines that will land you in front of your target 🎯. Sometimes it’s easier to work in reverse. Think about what your target audience reads, listens to, and what they talk about. What’s your version of a Vice x Dad Grass x George Harrison headline? Pick three disparate items that link your target audience and start generating headline ideas.

Thank you so much for reading.

A small ask: Loving something? Not loving it? Too much info? Not enough? Hit the smiley’s below and let me know!

👋 Until next week,

Amanda

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