2024-04-06 01:04:00
Would you rather go to branded promotional industry events for 4/20 instead of whatever party might happen at Hippie Hill? If so, boy does SF Weed Week have a marketing-type lineup for you.
We cannot begrudge industries that try to juice up their slow seasons by creating events that hope to draw paying customers out. Spring SF Restaurant Weekfor instance, begins today and runs through April 14. SF Beer Week rolled out the barrel this past February. And now KRON4 reports that something called SF Weed Week is rolling up for its first-ever iteration from April 13-22, and may provide an alternative to the canceled Hippie Hill 4/20 event, at least, for those who don’t just go to Hippie Hill on 4/20 anyway.
“Weed growers are rock stars, and strains are celebrities,” SF Weed Week creator David Downs told KRON4. “I want to give these strain releases the same rock star treatment that album releases get. It’s going to be dope. 4/20 is on in San Francisco.”
But honestly, you everyday pot-smokers out there… Are weed growers rock stars? Are strains celebrities? Or are these merely the words of an industry hype man?
SF Mayor London Breed, who has always hated the 4/20 celebration with a passionshowed up to speak at today’s SF Weed Week kick-off. And who knows, maybe there is some tourism value to this, if people who come here for 4/20 realize that Hippie Hill’s official event is canceled and decide not to go.
Comin in hot from Sense Cannabis for @sfweedweek — we’re so excited to share Mr. Plow.
Motorbreath x Cold Snap (Biscotti x The Menthol). Expect to feel your senses relax.
Dropping Wed. 4.17 at 5:30 p.m. at Moe Greens. Pre-orders coming soon. pic.twitter.com/fFSbuxdRj0— sfweedweek (@sfweedweek) April 5, 2024
Though above we see one of SF Weed Week’s “events,” which Downs describes as “cannabis producers releasing new flowers in 7 licensed lounges and stores over 7 nights.” This is basically the exact same thing you see at your neighborhood dispensary when you walk in and there’s a promotional booth set up. Except it’s seven nights in a row.
Do branded industry promotions sound like a good time to you? If so, knock yourself out. If not, consider things like the Alamo Drafthouse’s stoner film festivalwhich actually does try to cater to consumer interests over what the investors want to see.
A tiny number of these events might be fun. There ‘s an art show “Get to the Bag”: Cannabis Mylar Art Exhibition” opening on Friday night, April 5 at Mirus Gallerya show of branded commercial weed packaging whose official invite describes as representing “billions of dollars in intellectual property” (not how I would have described an art show I wanted people to attend, but hey, what do I know).
There’s a daytime event at Mirus Gallery on 4/20, hosted by Professional Bealumwho’s sort of the go-to weed stand up comedian. But the other events that actually sound fun are only for industry insiders, like “San Francisco cannabis store owners, grow operators, and other licensed cannabis execs.”
Otherwise, the SF Weed Week events are all for brand representatives to talk about (and I’m using SF Weed Week’s words here), their “brand journey.”
And this may be a big part of why the legal cannabis industry is struggling. All the owners and investors thought they were going to get Google/Facebook rich. They did not! And they blame regulations and the underground market.
But the bigger problem may be that the legal cannabis industry has a huge disconnect between what consumers want, and what the investors want the consumers to want. In this economy, consumers want budget-friendly deals. Investors want hype around premium, pricey products. SF Weed Week seems a celebration of hyping premium, pricey products and their “brand journeys.”
There may be nice events for industry bigwigs. But for normal cannabis consumers, it appears SF Weed Week is mostly just seeds and stems.
Related: Debt-Ravaged Dispensary Chain MedMen Closing SF Store, They Claim ‘Temporarily’ [SFist]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
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