Becoming The P&G Of Pot

HOW 3 MARIJUANA HEAVYWEIGHTS ARE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE AMERICAN MARKET. 

- T.L. Stanley

As the legal marijuana business starts to professionalize, players are emerging who say they want to create multinational franchises and empires, in effect, building the Starbucks or McDonald’s of ganja.

Billy Levy and his partners have other plans.

“We’d rather be like the P&G,” said Levy, managing partner of Green House Brands North America, a cannabis heavyweight that recently launched a global joint venture based in Canada with two other powerhouse pot companies, Canopy Growth and Organa Brands. “We want to set up a home for different brands, nurture them, help them grow and maximize their value.”

Because the future of weed is brands, he said.

That conviction is at the heart of Slang Worldwide, a new partnership between Green House and Organa announced exclusively to Adweek that will try to lead the U.S. market by investing in, acquiring and developing American cannabis brands.

The Slang team will be scouting for popular local and regional brands, for instance, and adding them to the already existing portfolio.

Green House and Organa own Bakked, O.penVAPE, Strain Hunters and Magic Buzz, among others, with distribution in 1,200-plus marijuana dispensaries in 11 states.