Case study / Brand × culture × category transformation
Weedmaps
Making an emerging category visible, credible and culturally relevant
Chief Marketing Officer, 2014
Executive summary
Build brand relevance and public participation around Weedmaps during a defining period of cannabis normalization, while connecting entertainment, creators, advocacy and live experience.
The challenge
What needed
to change.
The category was growing quickly, but stigma, regulation and inconsistent public understanding made conventional marketing insufficient. Weedmaps needed cultural credibility as well as reach.
The insight
The unlock.
Normalization happens when a brand participates in culture with confidence. The right artists, advocates, events, media partners and creative systems could make the conversation more accessible without sanding away the brand’s edge.
Campaign evidence
See the work
in motion.
Independent archive
The receipts
still exist.
Contemporary reporting and industry recognition preserve the campaign, its operating model and its measurable result.
NORML
Afroman Remakes Because I Got High to Support Legalization
NORML’s launch record documents the Weedmaps collaboration, its election timing and the merger of art, entertainment and activism into one campaign.Open original source ↗02 / October 16, 2014
Official Weedmaps audio archive
Because I Got High — Positive Remix
The surviving official release preserves the Afroman, Weedmaps and NORML collaboration even though the original YouTube upload is no longer available.Open original source ↗03 / October 16, 2014
Hypebeast
Afroman Remakes His Because I Got High Single
Contemporary coverage identifies Kat Smith as Weedmaps CMO and records her explanation of the campaign’s alignment with 2014 ballot initiatives.Open original source ↗04 / October 17, 2014
The Guardian
Because I Got High gets pro-marijuana remake
National coverage preserves the campaign image and confirms the collaboration among Afroman, Weedmaps and NORML.Open original source ↗
The value loop
How the idea
compounds.
- 01Culture→
- 02Participation→
- 03Public conversation→
- 04Normalization→
- 05Brand relevance
The outcome creates fuel for the next cycle.
The operating system
From idea
to execution.
- 01
Led brand and marketing across the Weedmaps ecosystem
- 02
Built Smoke the Vote as a civic participation platform
- 03
Created a high-touch Weedmaps presence at Capitol Hill Block Party during Washington’s normalization era
- 04
Developed entertainment integrations including Cherub’s Elevation series and artist amplification
- 05
Connected agency, label, creator, production and event relationships into a repeatable cultural network
Supporting evidence
What the
work shows.
- The original Afroman YouTube upload is no longer available, but Weedmaps’ official SoundCloud release, NORML’s launch record and contemporary national reporting preserve the campaign.
- Kat’s recovered October 15, 2014 social archive explicitly describes the Afroman and NORML work as a collaboration project and a legalization anthem.
- Eight recovered posts from October 2014 document coordinated amplification across Weedmaps, Afroman, NORML, Cherub and coverage from Rolling Stone, TIME, Mashable and The Hollywood Reporter.
- Hypebeast’s contemporary coverage directly identifies Kat Smith as Weedmaps CMO and quotes her on aligning the release with upcoming ballot initiatives.
- The work joined advocacy, music, creators, live events, production and brand stewardship instead of treating them as separate channels.
Surviving campaign film / October 2014
Elevated Sessions put artists, conversation and culture in the same room.
Created as an expandable entertainment platform featuring artists including Afroman and Cherub, Elevated Sessions shows the broader cultural system behind the Weedmaps work. The Afroman legalization anthem is preserved separately through official audio and contemporary press below.
Play the original filmWeedmaps campaign archiveWeedmaps Elevated Sessions