Cannabis Branding with Generation Z
Many brands are headed the wrong direction when choosing a brand position and marketing to Gen Z. There is a popular narrative in the cannabis investment ecosystem claiming cannabis is replacing alcohol. While this notion is true for some demographics, it is not true for most customers. In fact, only 15% of potential cannabis customers will prefer to use it in a social or party setting.
Brands are erroneously labeling their products as ‘social’ or party-friendly products because they assume they will capitalize on the alcohol-to-cannabis shift. Sopht Drink surveyed college students between 2023 and 2024 to identify Gen Z’s real usage patterns and sentiment towards various drugs and alcohol.
You can download our report for cannabis here.
The report details the demographics, customer profiles, product preferences, usage patterns, reasons for repeat purchases, and in-depth advice for product ideation, branding, and marketing approaches.
The purpose of our research is to improve the specificity of branding and marketing to Gen Z in this industry. Indeed, young people are simply using cannabis more, but not necessarily to party. Cannabis is mostly used alone or on downtime. There are also several different cannabis user personas brands should be aware of. Some are more social and others are more solitary. Knowing your target customer and persona will help you make more nuanced branding and marketing decisions, getting to the heart of why young people love safe dosages of cannabis.
Here are the top findings from our research including other forms of euphorics:
Alcohol is Still the most popular form of intoxicant.
Cannabis is the second-most form, slightly more popular than nicotine.
Flower is more popular than edibles
Vapes are 3x more favorable to edibles
45% of Gen Z has tried magic mushrooms once.
The most valuable lesson to learn from this research is the value of making informed branding and marketing decisions. Doing research ahead of time prevents costly mistakes like rebranding failures or ineffective packaging design.
Sopht Drink produces custom research campaigns for high-quality and innovative products, from lifestyle products such as cannabis to clothing brands and technology companies. Get started with your research today!
Email Sophia Layton, ceo@sophtdrink.com with any questions or ideas.