There’s a process to developing new markets and products and categories. Each case is unique, but there are general segments common to most and then you do the custom analysis from there and look to the future.
Since 1980 I did it with…
- “America’s most-hated food” (tofu) in the ’80s which begat today’s plant-based foods revolution
- Hemp foods (her first billion-dollar segment with millions of consumers and thousands of retailers) in the ’90s, now her only 100% legal segment
- Shelled hempseed in the ’00s, driving acres and profits in Canada, China, S. Korea, and beyond
- CBD (Medicinal Hemp Association) and smokable low-THCa hemp (Nobacco, an open-source tobacco replacement brand made with CBD or CBG flowers) in the ’10s then both became huge especially in Europe, and
- Information products such as CannaSearch Daily (10,000 posts/year on CBD + Hemp) and The Richard Rose Report in the ’20s, plus four books since 2000 all on hempseed foods educating the public for free on technical hemp subjects and emerging news and policy from a uniquely informed perspective.
As the natural food/wellness and cannabinoid markets both mature and evolve, parts will eventually merge. Foods such as gummies and canned beverages are already hugely popular CBD and THC delivery systems in both the regulated and unregulated markets. Liquor stores in Minnesota report low-dose THC drinks are a significant chunk of their sales volume.
While your career might have been to get people high, mine was keeping them healthy with food.
Today, I see a new category with one foot in both camps, food and ‘noids. –Richard Rose
The natural evolution will be to “wellness” foods which contain natural minor non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids (CBDa, CBD, CBGa, CBG, varins, and others) as well as some products that also contain clean delta-9 THC from hemp at sub-psychoactive levels.
Legal federally but not in each state, but the ones in which it is legal can be on mass-market shelves. Plus there is always online sales.
The product should contain omega-3 and complete protein from shelled hempseed, such as the first brand of it in North America, HempNut. Using better ingredients is part of the wellness positioning.
Which brings me to a great segue: why not use the only 30-year-old hemp food brand around, the “grandpa” of hemp foods no less?
HempNut would be a great consumer brand for me to resurrect for the right company. One already with distribution and sales network, such as one of Hain’s brands. Mass market, not the dispensary trade. Health food stores, convenience stores; with heavy concentration in each legal state, budget a big chunk for marketing expenses.
Gummie, Bar, or Beverage, then line extensions. An alternative to the typical super-sweet food, such as savory or unusually-good adult flavors.
Front panel mockup:
Get the Endorphin Edge™
Cannabis wellness doesn’t always mean getting High
It can also be Happy and Healthy, functional cannabinoids for peak performers
Balanced ‘Noids + omega-3 Endocannabinoid precursor
Relieves pain, reduces inflammation, increases endorphins, diminishes depression and anxiety, and improves mood daily
Product: HempNut Daily Wellness Gummy containing omega-3, CBG, CBD, and 2½ mg delta-9 THC from hemp. For mass-market distribution. The minimum psychoactive dose of THC in the absence of CBD is 2½ mg for THC-naïve people. Low dosing will also encourage an increase in consumption of units, eating two or three instead of just one. In 2 flavors of sweet and 2 of savory, because not everyone wants sugar.
Positioning: a Daily product, high in minors like CBG and other wellness ingredients like omega-3 and protein. Differentiation by integrity and quality, a white background package front panel to stand out among the garish competitors on the noids shelf. Targeting adults, especially older.
“Get the Endorphin Edge” “Get Happy and Healthy, not High”
History: HempNut, Inc. was the first best practices hemp food company in North America. It was started by natural food pioneer Richard Rose after pivoting from a similar operation using soybeans for years; he also founded the Hemp Food Association in 1998.
The hemp products the company introduced was in 1994, then it was the first to bring to market shelled hempseed (“Hempnut” in 1996, then in 2004 the industry adopted “hemp hearts” as the generic instead).
It had the first and only hemp product with an FDA-legal health claim for reducing risk of heart disease, and the first to have legal Structure-function health claims.
The timeless branding graphics were by a marketer who has worked with almost every natural food company over the years.
HempNut, Inc. closed when the market for hemp food died in the years 2001-4 due to a lawsuit against DEA. But today the segment has millions of consumers and thousands of retailers such as Walmart and Costco.
But there is only one 30-year-old hemp brand with a brilliant legacy still viable to pass on to the next generation: HempNut. Maybe to your company?