Real California Milk Modeled Pop-Up After Weed Dispensary

Cannabis culture in California has become more normalized since the state officially legalized recreational marijuana use in 2018. The state has seen a growth in weed dispensaries, along with cannabis-themed pop-ups and restaurants where THC is the main draw. But a new pop-up in Los Angeles, marketed as a dispensary, didn’t offer customers weed or CBD—it only served dairy. California Milk Advisory Board, a marketing board of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, opened a dairy “dispensary” as part of a new strategy that encourages people to, well, consume more dairy. The group, which markets products with the Real California Milk label, opened the California Dairy Dispensary pop-up among real weed dispensaries on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice on Feb. 22. [article_summary section="1"] The daylong stunt, which was free and open to the public, was modeled after a traditional dispensary with a spread of curated, upscale dairy treats. The activation had “dairy docents,” brand ambassadors who offered guests items like prerolled ice cream “joints,” “strains” of different cheeses, flavor-infused yogurts and “microdosed” butters that patrons could drip melted, flavor-infused butter from CBD-esque vials onto popcorn. The activation also offered guests branded to-go bags filled with the items that were served. [kickout id="1"] California Milk Advisory Board worked with agency Deutsch LA to produce the activation, which stems from a campaign they launched in fall 2019 themed around dairy making people extremely happy. The campaign kicked off with a psychedelic ad titled “Enter the Golden State,” which depicts people eating products like yogurt and grilled cheese, and being taken to a euphoric state surrounded by heightened California environments that include talking squirrels and dancing bears. The campaign doesn’t acknowledge people who might not be able to consume dairy products for health-related reasons. The teams arrived at the idea of dairy enhancing one’s mood based on consumer research. Deutsch LA’s strategy team in 2019 conducted a study of 3,000 Americans (750 for each generation from boomer to Gen Z) asking them to rank 40 items like food, media and people as good or bad on a scale of 1 to 5. Dairy was “high” on the lists for each generation, according to Deutsch LA. [kickout id="5"] Michael Freeman, vp of advertising for California Milk Advisory Board, said the campaign is meant to show dairy’s “mood-enhancing quality” and address the “emotional connection” people might have with dairy, while also nodding to the fact that the state is known for other all-natural products known for enhancing one’s mood. “This particular activation takes it to the extreme. It capitalizes off cannabis culture in California,” Freeman said. “We’re mocking cannabis culture in a way, saying the only CBD you need is ‘California-based dairy.’ We think this was a clever way to make a point that if you want to feed your heart and soul, you don’t need drugs—how about a gooey grilled cheese instead, which is legal in all 50 states?” Reframing CBD as “California-based dairy” was one of multiple slogans California Milk Advisory Board used to riff off of cannabis culture and marketing. The group promoted the activation weeks before the launch with colorful out-of-home ads that also included phrases like “California’s best edibles” with imagery of cheese, “The mood enhancer that’s legal in all 50 states” with ice cream and “The only thing we smoke is gouda,” a sign that was also placed outside the entrance of the pop-up. [kickout id="2"] According to the brand, the six-hour stunt drew more than 500 people who RSVP’d via Eventbrite. The brand also tapped reality TV star Stassi Schroeder, of Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules, to attend and promote the activation with a sponsored Instagram post. The brand is monitoring the success of the activation through social chatter, but ultimately its goal was to spark reaction—positive or negative. Brett Craig, CCO of Deutsch LA, said the stunt was meant to spark reactions and that both teams knew polarization would be inevitable. “If you’re not stimulating any reaction then you probably haven’t done anything worth it. You have to accept your idea is worth remarking about; that’s better than being bland and down the middle,” Craig said. “Ultimately, we wanted to create some word of mouth and we wanted to be newsworthy. We wanted to create something you feel like you have to comment on.” [kickout id="3"] When California Milk Advisory Board announced the pop-up earlier this month, plant-based lifestyle publications like VegNews and The Beet, naturally, criticized the concept. And the pop-up on Saturday attracted a few anti-dairy protesters. For cannabis industry publication Ganjaprenuer, writer Cara Wietstock described the stunt as “tone-deaf,” reasoning that it co-opted cannabis culture without "any reference to the decades of prohibition and stigma experienced by cannabis patients and early entrepreneurs." [article_summary section="2"] As cannabis marketing still faces strict regulations, weed brands often have to get creative with their campaigns, foregoing marijuana slang for wording that aligns with lifestyle and wellness. Cynthia Salarizadeh, CEO of Salar Media Group, a cannabis industry-focused PR and consulting firm, said the California Milk Advisory Board needed to create something borderline controversial to stand out—and the attention created might benefit the cannabis industry. “Milk is hurting right now, which means they had to get creative. It’s flattering when anybody copies you and, from a marketing standpoint, I can understand what they did,” Salarizadeh said. “Was the stunt tone deaf? Sure. But I think it’s helpful for us, not hurtful. If anything, milk has provided us with a platform to raise awareness and talk about the hardships of all things surrounding the cannabis industry. We have to be some of the most creative people on earth.” Cannabis rights and reform activist Steve DeAngelo, co-founder and chairman emeritus of California-based dispensary company Harborside, also viewed the stunt in a positive light, noting the pop-up’s promo video captured an accurate look and feel of recent cannabis marketing in California. (However, he said the comparison of dairy as a mood-booster akin to CBD was inaccurate.) “I think it’s a great sign of public awareness of what a cannabis dispensary is. It’s widespread enough now that you have a milk organization willingly associating themselves with the sales of cannabis,” DeAngelo said. “The fact that they would consider associating their dairies with cannabis dispensaries marks a diminution of stigma, and the growth of a cultural shift as seeing cannabis as a positive element in our lives.” Salarizadeh and DeAngelo both said the California Milk Advisory Board should consider using their platform for good in the cannabis industry if they continue to insert themselves into cannabis culture. DeAngelo, who also recently founded the Last Prisoner Project—a nonprofit focused on criminal justice reform for cannabis prisoners—suggested the group could acknowledge that 40,000 people in the U.S. are in prison for non-violent marijuana-related offenses. [kickout id="4"] California Milk Advisory Board’s attention-grabbing campaign and activation occur as the dairy industry has seen a decline in consumption for more than a decade and nondairy milk alternatives continue to grow in popularity. Milk sales fell by $1.1 billion in 2018, according to a report from Dairy Farmers of America. Along with California Milk Advisory Board’s new initiative, recent notable dairy industry campaigns have included a revamped Got Milk? campaign in 2018 by the California Milk Processing Board. And dairy company Tillamook was recently sued by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which alleged their 2016 campaign engaged in deceptive marketing by promoting products as being supplied by small, family farms rather than industrial farming. [article_summary section="3"] Freeman and Jen Giambroni, director of communications for the California Milk Advisory Board, noted they also leveraged cannabis culture for the campaign as a way to present dairy as modern and still relevant. “We’re trying to leverage this modern idea of dispensary that people have a better understanding of now,” Giambroni said. “We know that some people [on the cannabis side] were a little disappointed in the messaging. But this was really about us leveraging this cultural moment and showcasing dairy products in this modern setting.” Freeman said the board will continue to roll out new initiatives for the campaign, but whether they include more “dispensaries” is to be determined. He said their long-term goal is to "tap into current culture to avoid being seen as old-fashioned" and to keep dairy in the modern cultural conversation.

Experiential Marketing

Instead of Cannabis, This California 'Dispensary' Served Dairy Products

Real California Milk pushes it as a 'mood enhancer'

Ian Zelaya

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Ian Zelaya