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Massachusetts-based cannabis conglomerate MariMed has broken ground in its home state—and for the industry broadly—by inking a deal as the exclusive weed sponsor at two popular Boston music venues.
The alliance kicks off within one week and spans the 2024 calendar year, weaving MariMed product messages into the live experience at MGM Music Hall at Fenway and Citizens House of Blues Boston.
The deal puts MariMed—which will promote its marquee flower brand, called Nature’s Heritage—on the same playing field with the venues’ existing mainstream sponsors: Jim Beam, MassMutual and Truly.
The move comes at a time when music and weed have become closer collaborators on the business side, bolstering their long-running informal ties and giving cannabis companies a coveted marketing platform in a tightly regulated environment.
“One of the biggest challenges in cannabis is that a lot of traditional advertising avenues are not open to us,” Jay O’Malley, MariMed’s vice president of marketing and research and development, told ADWEEK. “We have to find other ways to reach consumers, and music and cannabis are like peanut butter and jelly—they’re just meant to go together.”
Discussions started nearly one year ago, with the resulting agreement allowing the cannabis brand to rub shoulders with potentially 1 million or more concertgoers. Foot traffic is brisk at the venues, with MGM Music Hall selling as many as 700,000 tickets per year for its 150 shows, and the local House of Blues admitting up to 500,000 concertgoers for its 200 annual performances.
Busting stigmas
Aside from being a boon to MariMed, the sponsorship represents another step forward for the legal category, according to Karan Wadhera, managing partner at Casa Verde Capital.
“We think it’s definitely positive for the industry in building awareness and normalizing its place in society,” Wadhera told ADWEEK. “We also believe that cannabis offerings at live events are an inevitability—the fit is certainly strong.”
Cannabis sales or consumption are not allowed at either Boston venue, operated by entertainment giant Live Nation, which also had to give its blessing for the deal.
But the multilayered agreement puts Nature’s Heritage in both physical performance spaces, via media screens, QR codes, branding and ambassador activations, and on related digital channels through display ads on ticketing sites.
As part of the sponsorship, Nature’s Harvest can commingle its brand with logos from both venues—billboards have already gone up in high-traffic areas around town with taglines such as, “Rock & Preroll,” and “Like It Loud?”
The brand will heavily promote the deal in its dispensaries through store-level displays, outreach to budtenders, consumer ticket giveaways and other tactics.
‘Massive investment’
While MariMed wouldn’t give details on the cost of the sponsorship, it marks “a massive investment,” O’Malley, a Boston Beer alumnus, said. “It’s over our traditional spend, a bit out of our comfort zone, but we know it’s the right thing to do.”
It may be tough to measure the full impact, although there will be some concrete measurement for success, like a spike in Nature’s Heritage sales.
“Putting ROI (return on investment) against deals like this is a challenge,” O’Malley said. “It will come down to how well we can translate this partnership to retail.”
MariMed, already established as a savvy marketer, isn’t the only cannabis brand cozying up to the music world. To name just a few: Dispensary chain Jars Cannabis has sponsored the well-trafficked Movement electronic-dance festival in Michigan, with its own branded stage and immersive art installations; and edibles maker Wana Brands has partnered with Sofar Sounds, intimate concerts in unique venues around the country.
The marriage is “not surprising,” but “the quality of the brand tie-through is very important,” according to Emily Paxhia, managing director at Poseidon Investment Management. Recent examples have included Green Thumb Industries‘ fall 2023 concert called “The Miracle in Mundelein” in Illinois, which will return this September, as well as ongoing music-centric activations from brand Rythm and frequent music sponsorships in Florida from Sunburn Cannabis.
There will be more such collaborations as organizers look for new sponsorship dollars, per Paxhia and other industry experts. And MariMed’s deal could be a harbinger of things to come, with competitors likely heartened by the stepped-up interest from Main Street USA events and destinations.
“I want to see cannabis brands at TD Garden where the Celtics and Bruins play and at Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots,” O’Malley said. “It all puts cannabis on the map and helps take the stigma away.”
