• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 2, 2018

Toronto-based Cannabis company Lift has rebranded to, wait for it…..Lift & Co. 

Yes, the firm has added “& Co.” to its name and is calling it a rebranding and alerting the media. You’re probably thinking I must be smoking something to write a column about a so-called rebranding like this. 

And my retort would be: No, I’m not smoking anything. Lungs are precious and transplants are hard to come by. 

And well, rebrands come in very subtle forms. Evidently. 

Here’s how the company explains the rationale behind its simple four-character rebrand: 

“As the go-to resource for Canadians looking to arm themselves with unbiased information about cannabis, the addition of “& Co.” to Lift & Co.’s name reflects the company’s dedication to “connection, community, and collaboration” in the industry.” 

Well, heck, in the world of buzzword bingo bullshi*t, these kids got game! Connection? Community? Collaboration? Oh, Adland hears you loud and clear, Lift people! 

And by the way, the new ampersand? It’s “bespoke.” I think that says it all right there. 

OK, so somebody at the company is probably smoking something, that’s pretty clear. 

But wait, there’s more. Get out your hankies, people. The company wants to relate some of its struggles. It’s a bit of a sob story: 

“As a cannabis brand, Lift & Co. faces great difficulty marketing its services in the pre-legalization landscape. The company recently had its Youtube account suspended and its Facebook ad account deactivated indefinitely. This new brand was designed, in part, to help with marketing, enabling Lift & Co. to stand out in a saturated market often plagued by stigma and stereotypes.” 

For the record, YouTube is spelled with a capital T. Beyond that, cry me a river people. You read the papers, right? You know that YouTube has a lot of brand-safety issues it’s dealing with and has cut back a lot of accounts that advertisers don’t want anything to deal with.

You haven’t been wandering around certain forests in Japan looking for suicide victims to put on your YouTube channel, have you? 

And Facebook? Don’t get me started. 

I think this rebranding needs a re-think. But some of the grownups at the company did raise $3 million last year in institutional Series A funding as the firm prepares for adult-use legalization in Canada this year. Well done. 

I hope they use some of that dough to juice up this rebranding a bit.