Buzzkill
Experiential Marketing
Product Launches
Retail, POP & Merchandising
Project Overview
Since legalization, sales of cannabis in Ontario have grown to an estimated $3.2 Billion sold at over 3,800 retailers. But at least half of this market is still illegal, making it hard for consumers to know what’s legal and what isn’t, but more importantly what’s safe and what’s not. With laws restricting traditional advertising channels, and consumer skepticism of government education messages high, the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), the province’s authority on safe consumption, needed to find a new way to convince people to buy legal.
Details
Pesticides. Heavy metals. Mold. Even E. coli. Most Canadians have no idea what could be lurking in illegal cannabis, because, unlike legal products, the black market isn’t third-party tested.
To expose the danger, OCS launched Buzzkill—a fake brand of illegal cannabis. Featuring 25+ unique products, each highlighting a different contaminant, we opened a Buzzkill dispensary in the heart of Ontario’s black market, downtown Toronto, where 1 in 4 shops are illegal. But instead of dispensing cannabis, we dispensed education.
Buzzkill generated an earned audience of 33.2MM , educated Ontarians of the dangers of illegal cannabis (59% more aware), increased visits to OCS.ca’s safety page by 20%, and increased their likelihood to shop legal by 152%. More than a marketing play, it reinforced the importance of the OCS’ mandate garnering a Toronto Star front page article with the CEO, and proved to consumers it’s better to shop legal, because illegal cannabis isn’t worth the risk.
To expose the danger, OCS launched Buzzkill—a fake brand of illegal cannabis. Featuring 25+ unique products, each highlighting a different contaminant, we opened a Buzzkill dispensary in the heart of Ontario’s black market, downtown Toronto, where 1 in 4 shops are illegal. But instead of dispensing cannabis, we dispensed education.
Buzzkill generated an earned audience of 33.2MM , educated Ontarians of the dangers of illegal cannabis (59% more aware), increased visits to OCS.ca’s safety page by 20%, and increased their likelihood to shop legal by 152%. More than a marketing play, it reinforced the importance of the OCS’ mandate garnering a Toronto Star front page article with the CEO, and proved to consumers it’s better to shop legal, because illegal cannabis isn’t worth the risk.
