• by Les Luchter , 11 hours ago

When Flower by Edie expands its Garden of Edie cannabis collection into Florida this fall, the brand will be in 12 states, with another two set to come on board by year’s end.

In an industry where every state has different laws and regulations concerning pot, that means 12 different marketing challenge for the brand, which spun off from the Edie Parker fashion accessories business in 2019.

Florida is a “medical” marijuana state, which means no depictions of “anybody actually using cannabis” can be shown in marketing the product, Flower by Edie Founder/Creative Director Brett Heyman tells Marketing Daily. Instead, “We’ll do something that feels very culturally impactful, fun and joyful.”

That would be nothing new for the brand, which not only sells pot in various forms (e.g., prerolls, vapes, gummies, chocolate bars, creamed honey ), but also accessories like bongs, pipes, rolling papers, and lighters -- all with a distinctive visual design born out of Heyman’s background in the fashion industry, including a stint as public relations director for Gucci.

Those designs, too, sometimes get caught up in state rules. The brand likes to use striped packaging, for example -- but stripes aren’t allowed in New Jersey.

The cohesive visible identity helps in selling the accessories, which are sold online nationally as well as at cannabis retailers.

Accessories don't need to be used for pot, either, Lighters are one of the biggest categories, Heyman says, pointing to “beautiful bejeweled lighter sleeves that if you smoke cannabis, great, but you can also just use them to light candles.”

We spoke with Heyman about Flower by Edie’s brand evolution and marketing.

Marketing Daily:  How did Edie Parker go from handbags to cannabis?

Brett Heyman: When we launched [the fashion brand] in 2010, the idea was to create products that [weren’t on the market]. We started with acrylic clutches because I had collected vintage ones and could no longer find them.

We launched a home collection in 2016 and kept thinking about new categories to go into. Did we want to make shoes? Did we want to make jewelry? And cannabis kept coming up.

I had been visiting dispensaries in California, but women specifically felt so underserved. There was nothing joyful, nothing pretty, nothing fun. It all felt just very medicinal, very masculine, or minimalist at best.

We thought we would just do cannabis accessories that felt like an extension of our home collection. But we felt we actually had something to say in THC land as well.

MD:So women are your target audience?

Heyman: Women started as our target audience. We’re a company founded and run by women. But we have found that we appeal to all smokers with style. So we welcome our gentlemen friends, but we always think about women when we design.

MD:Can you talk about your recent influencer campaign from reality star Gabby Windey, which resulted in over 2 million impressions?

Heyman: A lot of what we did didn't show heractually smoking. She did a cheer for us, she sang songs, she used our accessories.

We really need people like Gabby who are accomplished, smart and productive talking about their cannabis use and how it helps them with whatever it may be: stress, menstrual cramps, creativity.

MD: Let’s talk about some of Flower by Edie’s more memorable marketing moments, starting with “Weed’s Come A Long Way, Baby” in 2022.

Heyman: We’re a vintage-inspired brand, so a lot of our marketing and graphics are inspired by vintage ads. We took the old Virginia Slims ads, “You’ve come a long way, baby” and made it about weed. Just saying that the Virginia Slims’ 20-something woman would smoke cannabis now, not cigarettes. It was a very modern take on something that felt familiar, helping to normalize it and have a little nostalgia around it.

MD: Any other campaigns you’re particularly proud of?

Heyman: For our New Yorklaunch campaign [in 2024],we did overblown, huge models. [set against a backdrop of] famous New York cityscapes. We did a party to celebrate and Sweetgreen partnered with us, which was really exciting because they’re a publicly traded company and a health food company. We were really happy that they they were willing to partner with us publicly.