• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 28, 2020

Medical cannabis and hemp use is now so widespread that there is a mailing list of buyers, covering both offline and online activity.

List purveyor Acumen Direct is offering the so-called CBD Enthusiast file. It will help marketers reach both purchasers and sellers.

This list works well for “Continuations for non-profits, pain relief (human and pet), hearing aids, walk-in-tubs, final expense insurance, DME products, Medicare via postal, email, and phones,” the company claims in a promotion we just received by email.  

And, you can reach people who have sought relief for ailments like “anxiety, stress, sleep disorders, inflammation, mobility, and pain management,” it says.

Acumen Direct promises that the buyers have opted in for third-party offers. Is that enough? 

Responsible email users require a double opt-in for email subscriptions. But even with that, you have to wonder whether a family using medical CBD wants their ailments and birth dates available to anyone with the resources to place a minimum 5,000-name order.  

Do the privacy policies of the "unnamed six (6) reputable manufacturers and distributors (URL/publishers) of the highest quality CBD products,” to which the list is sourced, describe all this, as they would be required to under GDPR?

Worse, if the government ever decides to re-criminalize possession of certain drugs, this would be a useful tool for law enforcement. 

But it looks like CBD is here to stay, and sellers need to market to the growing audience. 

And there is a degree of anonymity to the Acumen Direct offering, depending on how it is is used — the data works well in digital and programmatic platforms.

This is just one piece of CBD-related marketing news to come out. 

Earlier this month, Cannabiz Media announced it had added email marketing tools to its platform to help brands reach cannabis and hemp license holders.

In April, THC Internet Marketing, a digital marketing agency that serves cannabis dispensaries, chose Sendlane to support its email marketing program.

This arrangement will allow THC clients to target audiences based on open rates, conversions and other metrics, and to personalize emails based on a variety of factors, the company states. And the platform helps brands reduce abandoned carts and boost sales, it adds. 

But back to Acumen Direct. This old-fashioned list data card features these selects (and we quote:

• 10+ million — 12-month universe
• 40,000+ new weekly buyer hotline
• 25,000+ new weekly distributor hotline
• Full name and address — 100%
• Email addresses — 100%
• Date of birth — 100%
• Phones — 100%
• Gender — 100%
• Ailment type — 70%
• Pet Ownership — 50%
• Multi-buyers — 25%
• Average order size: $50.00

If those aren’t enough, “Call Center qualified transfers and postal leads" are also available.  

Why argue? The company concludes: “Be part of the CBD craze and place your order with one of the cleanest and most responsible data assets on the market today!”