B2C New Promotional Plan and Marketing Materials for Product Launch to New Markets

As a B2C company, we have a primary focus of creating cannabis-root-infused lifestyle products for our consumers. Our initial product line focused on balms and lotions, but we will quickly be adding new product to ensure the benefits of our products make it into the type of products people less likely to try cannabis products, already use every day (teas, honey, etc). When we created our original product offering, we had a consumer in mind and marketed accordingly. We believe our market has room to expand significantly and we need help proving this. We already have an idea of who we need to go after, and are working with another class to ensure our assumptions are justified. This research will position us to not only properly position our existing products to appeal to the stores and customers we want to serve, but also to understand future opportunities to attract and serve audiences we didn't consider. At that time, we will need to ensure our sales and marketing materials are a good fit for the new audiences, without diluting our brand. Here's some history surrounding our newest lifestyle pillar, and what potential it holds: We are looking to work with students to identify new opportunities to achieve our business goals as they relate to our lifestyle cannabis pillar. Unlike our other pillars, which are greatly restricted by cannabis marketing and advertising legislation, our lifestyle pillar uses cannabis roots to create balms and lotions capable of addressing a wide variety of health and wellness needs, and we are legally allowed to sell, advertise and speak openly about the benefits of our cannabis roots products. The brand is called Stigma Roots and the (very) preliminary website can be seen here: www.StigmaRoots.ca The competitive landscape for cannabis-infused topical creams is sparse; with most focused on cannabis creams that contain high percentages of cannabinoids like CBD and THC — restricting sales to cannabis retail shops and making advertising very difficult. However, this will change very quickly when LPs realize there's a revenue stream opportunity for their root waste. Fortunately, when it comes to the root-based products, only those with access to large amounts of legal cannabis roots will be able to copy our approach and recipes, and by the time they get their facility up and running, we will already be known by the entire province of Alberta. The reason I can confidently say that our brand will be known across Alberta (and potentially all of Canada) is because we have committed to a seven-figure traditional media spend across the province starting in March of 2020 that will stretch into 2022. Our goal is to capitalize on our Alberta-branding and first-to-market head-start to establish ourselves as clear leaders in the industry long before anyone else comes to the table. We will be selling through third-party retail locations exclusively in the first year - so our messaging will be educational in nature before driving to a retailer near them. We will likely stick to Alberta for the first 6 months. We have already begun to discuss this in-house, but nothing has been decided and everything, ESPECIALLY how general messaging and website UX needs to adjust to cater to unique audiences and new product offerings (without losing site of the overall brand), will be up for discussion as part of this marketing plan. We are open to feedback about areas of focus, as we would like our assigned person or team to preform a comprehensive analysis of our business. We have shared a few high priority goals and desired benefits below to help guide you: - Please describe the problems/opportunities you would like students to address with this project First of all, we have no problems here; only opportunities to grow! Our current opportunity revolves around attracting new customer markets and brand ambassadors for our products, and we will be advertising on a mass scale to both big, urban areas (Edmonton, Calgary) as well as the smaller, rural municipalities (Hinton, Sundre, Okotoks) Here's some of the specifics surrounding this project, and how you can provide specific suppport. : Providing marketing materials to cater to all identified customer profiles: We can provide the audience groups we currently focus on, and their product preferences. We are looking for help creating messaging and campaign assets designed to attract, inform and convert sales. CRM Messaging/Emails: Help support the path to purchase that guides our customers to the retailers of their choice. What can we provide as sales and marketing support that will drive sales and make it easier for retailers to bring our products onto their shelves, with an understanding of the brand support we are bringing to the table to drive return and new business to their store? We currently have a newsletter that touches on all of our brands - do you think we need to separate this one? Why? In-Store POS Display and Shelf Staging: We believe that these products will be an easy sell, but as a new product, attracting eyes and supporting the in-store sales team with materials that will make it easy to understand and accept our health and benefit claims would give us a huge advantage. CONSIDER: Different types of audiences will be shopping in different types of stores, so finding a way to connect to a few "types" of stores (seniors shopping beauty products, patients shopping for relief, cannabis enthusiasts shopping in a head shop, medical professionals, athletes, etc) Creative promotional strategies: If we manage to introduce our brand using traditional, 'spray and pray' messaging (national digital and radio ads), then where would new audiences most likely see us next — or even better, where would they like to hear about us to help them trust us enough to visit the website or go directly to a store? Researching potential partners and channels: Any opportunity for audience growth by identifying likeminded groups with messaging that aligns with or complements our own will be considered. How can we connect our message to one that already has a huge following? Any chance to piggy back someone else's momentum, that can be accomplished by connecting our message and creative, would be considered a big win! Social Media and Digital Asset Recommendations: What should we promote on social media (paid and organic) to drive interest and sales conversions? What should our website have added or changed to ensure the flow from other websites to ours is smooth and integrated? - Please describe the benefits (for your customers and/or organization) that you hope to achieve with this project We believe strongly that our products can help those in need. We are passionate about plant medicine and frustrated by the stigmas and misconceptions that have kept the healing power of cannabis from those who could benefit from its power, without the negative side-effects that plague so many alternatives. However, let us not fool you into thinking that our sole mission is to bring healing to the masses. We are a publicly traded business that is looking to establish a name for ourselves across multiple pillars of cannabis industry. We are in this to win this and sales are the sole determining factor for success. Our goal is to complement a massive media buy and savvy e-commerce platform with a marketing strategy that shows our suitability to service this new, emerging demographic of cannabis newcomers who would likely never set foot in a pot shop, but who will greatly benefit from our products. Successful outcomes includes an integrated approach to marketing materials (digital and traditional) that considers unique audiences, over-arching brand and competitive messaging, and takes them from first point of introduction, to final sale. Website messaging and assets Email Communications (support for retailers) In-Store POS and Staging Social Media Assets/Messaging/Ads Radio Ad Scripts Traditional and Digital Ad Campaign Creative Campaigns (concepts or executed assets) Any PR/Guerrilla/Experiential/Grass Roots ideas to help connect our brand to Alberta, capture attention or differentiate ourselves from alternatives.

B2C New Product Launches to (Potentially) New Markets

As a B2C company, we have a primary focus of creating cannabis-root-infused lifestyle products for our consumers. Our initial product line focused on balms and lotions, but we will quickly be adding new products. When we created our original product offering, we had a consumer in mind and marketed accordingly. We believe our market has room to expand significantly and we need help proving this. This knowledge will aid in a new approach to marketing, especially for our new product.  Our specific need is determine what competitors are also playing in this landscape and what our target market's perception is of these competing brands/products. This information will help us determine what key messaging will resonate with our target buyer.  Here's some history surrounding our newest lifestyle pillar, and what potential it holds: We are looking to work with students to identify new opportunities to achieve our business goals as they relate to our lifestyle cannabis pillar. Unlike our other pillars, which are greatly restricted by cannabis marketing and advertising legislation, our lifestyle pillar uses cannabis roots to create balms and lotions capable of addressing a wide variety of health and wellness needs, and we are legally allowed to sell, advertise and speak openly about the benefits of our cannabis roots products. The brand is called Stigma Roots and the (very) preliminary website can be seen here: www.StigmaRoots.ca The competitive landscape for cannabis-infused topical creams is sparse; with most focused on cannabis creams that contain high percentages of cannabinoids like CBD and THC — restricting sales to cannabis retail shops and making advertising very difficult. However, this will change very quickly when LPs realize there's a revenue stream opportunity for their root waste. Fortunately, when it comes to the root-based products, only those with access to large amounts of legal cannabis roots will be able to copy our approach and recipes, and by the time they get their facility up and running, we will already be known by the entire province of Alberta. The reason I can confidently say that our brand will be known across Alberta (and potentially all of Canada) is because we have committed to a seven-figure traditional media spend across the province starting in March of 2020 that will stretch into 2022. Our goal is to capitalize on our Alberta-branding and first-to-market head-start to establish ourselves as clear leaders in the industry long before anyone else comes to the table. We are also building a state-of-the-art e-commerce website with all the bells and whistles for an UI and UX experience that integrates with a future CRM capable of managing dozens, if not hundreds of unique audiences, campaigns and products. And therein lies our challenge: Who exactly are our audiences for these products, what do they value, how does it differ and how can I deliver it in a way that will show that keen understanding? We have already begun to discuss this in-house, and will begin production of the e-commerce website, as well as general, brand introduction creative messaging, in the early new year, but nothing has been decided and everything, ESPECIALLY how general messaging and website UX needs to adjust to cater to unique audiences and new product offerings (without losing site of the overall brand), will be up for discussion as part of this marketing plan. We are open to feedback about areas of focus, as we would like our assigned person or team to preform a comprehensive analysis of our business. We have shared a few high priority goals and desired benefits below to help guide you: - Please describe the problems/opportunities you would like students to address with this project First of all, we have no problems here; only opportunities to grow! Our current opportunity revolves around attracting new customer markets and brand ambassadors for our products, and we will be advertising on a mass scale to both big, urban areas (Edmonton, Calgary) as well as the smaller, rural municipalities (Hinton, Sundre, Okotoks) Here's some of the specifics surrounding this project: Identifying potential customer profiles: We would like help confirming or excluding some of the initial, assumed audiences for our products, and request recommendations for niches we may have missed, that have potential for good ROI. We can provide the audience groups we currently focus on, and their product preferences. We are looking for help providing new product ideas that can be recommended to these audiences as a natural add-on to their regular purchases, as well as to identify new audiences that are currently underserved and who are looking for products that do what ours do, so we can add them to our inventory. Market segmentation analysis: What do our new audiences like, need and prefer when it comes to literally everything about how we present and deliver our products, purchase process and messaging. Perhaps more importantly, considering the subject matter and the stigmas that surround anything to do with cannabis, is discovering the barriers that exist between our message and those who could benefit from our products. How do we differentiate our products? What educational approach has the best chance at success? How do we leverage this knowledge and why should we bother (what's the ROI on any strategic approach?). When it comes to the website, what do we need to do to convert a sale, get a newsletter sign-up or get them to share our message with their personal or professional network? If we copy the Amazon "People who purchased this, also purchased that" model, which products make the most sense to bundle or present as add-ons at point of sale? Which retailers have the attention of these new markets, and are any a good fit for our products? Creative promotional strategies: If we manage to introduce our brand using traditional, 'spray and pray' messaging, then where would new audiences most likely see us next — or even better, where would they like to hear about us to help them trust us enough to visit the website? Competitive analyses: What do our competitors have that we can't beat? What should we lean on to ensure new providers don't steal our market share or first-to-market advantage? Are we a better fit for some audiences than others? Should we supplement our efforts to compensate, or redirect our focus to specific markets. Researching potential partners and channels: Any opportunity for audience growth by identifying likeminded groups with messaging that aligns with or complements our own will be considered. Which CRM would make sense to manage these types of integrated campaigns/products/audiences? Pricing and Product strategies: Which products (type, application method, portion) should we be focused on? Which audiences will prefer which lines? And which products are we missing that are logical add-ons or jumping-off points for each audience? - Please describe the benefits (for your customers and/or organization) that you hope to achieve with this project We believe strongly that our products can help those in need. We are passionate about plant medicine and frustrated by the stigmas and misconceptions that have kept the healing power of cannabis from those who could benefit from its power, without the negative side-effects that plague so many alternatives. However, let us not fool you into thinking that our sole mission is to bring healing to the masses. We are a publicly traded business that is looking to establish a name for ourselves across multiple pillars of cannabis industry. We are in this to win this and sales are the sole determining factor for success. Our goal is to complement a massive media buy and savvy e-commerce platform with a marketing strategy that shows our suitability to service this new, emerging demographic of cannabis newcomers who would likely never set foot in a pot shop, but who will greatly benefit from our products. Successful outcomes include a market research report, informed by primary data collection.  We would like to understand our customer base through surveys and conversations with our present and future consumer to gather insights into buying behaviours, expectations, and experiences with us and our competitors. This data should inform a final report that outlines key messaging that our consumers have come to know, want and expect based on the current landscape, and what we will need to say to get those who have negative opinions of cannabis, to accept the healing power and proven results of this safe alternative plant medicine lifestyle product.

Strategic Social Media Platform and Content Recommendations

Here's what we would like to achieve via our work with your teams: 1) Evaluate both our existing accounts, and those of competing companies within each unique pillar of business to determine what type of posts receive the most engagement. 2) Determine what type of popular content researched in #1 (both subject matter, design style and delivery method) would be a good fit for each of our platforms. 3) Based on #1 and #2, evaluate our current inventory of social media platforms and make recommendations to add or remove any that you deem appropriate.

E-Commerce Website Design

We’re looking for UX/UI talent! Do you have a background or interest in user experience design or user interface design?  We’d love to see what you would create to facilitate the sales of our cannabis root-infused balms on our new website. Put yourself in the shoes of a user experience designer working for our company, and let us know the best way to cater to our wide range of unique customers as we educate them and encourage them to buy the best-fit products for their needs. What would you recommend as best practice to ensure we increase conversion rates, visual appeal, clarity, and overall customer experience? This can include page element and layout recommendations, adding interactive or animated features, changing the customer journey from this page, and/or completely redesigning the look and feel to ensure it is attractive to all our current and future clients. Our current website was designed in Wix and acts as a placeholder for our URL as we design and develop our new website. It can be viewed at: www.StigmaRoots.ca Outcomes Your challenge submission can be an interactive mockup, flat wireframes, a functional website, a photoshop file - whatever gets your vision across.  Submissions will also need to consider a recommendation for the following: E-Commerce Platform willing to work with a cannabis-related product CRM recommendations connected to specific goals and sales/communication funnels A content and inventory management system that is user friendly (able to be managed in-house) A website platform that doesn't restrict our ability to add on and manage, without the need for specialized education (WordPress is preferred) Please feel free to be creative and depart from the design of the current site if you choose, but submissions that take into consideration our branding (packaging, logo) will be assessed more favourably.