For Jann Parish, who’s just been named chief marketing officer at Columbus, Ohio-based cannabis retailer Green Growth Brands, the “sex sells” trope that has infested much of today’s cannabis marketing is something she’s determined to change in her new role.
“I take personal offense at what I see,” says Parish, ex-CMO at Victoria’s Secret, the iconic lingerie brand. “I don’t find cannabis to be a male thing. Thinking differently is what attracts consumers today. It does not take a girl in a bikini to do that.” And, with GGB employing women-centric advertising for some of their brands, “there’s no better way to counteract the effects of sexism,” she added.
Like other executives who have made the leap from the traditional retail world into the booming albeit fragmented and still federally illegal cannabis economy, Parish, whose impressive resume also includes positions at clothing retail giants Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, has experienced her share of misapprehension. But the long-term gains outweigh the short-term qualms.
“Does it challenge me and make me uncomfortable that I’m going to go out with a not so established business?” Parish asks rhetorically. “Absolutely 100 percent. But there’s all of this opportunity and energy to make it what I think it might be.”
When asked what drove Parish toward the space, she referenced its singular, unmined potential. Another catalyst is the growing acceptance of cannabis in mainstream society. That is no fallacy: A recent Gallup post found that a majority of Americans (66 percent) support legalization.
“I liked the chance to be brave,” said Parish. “You’re living your life. You have a chance to live out of the box. Looking at how the movement toward legalization is going and having these conversations with friends, the underlying acceptance is there, it’s just the acceptance on the top level that’s going to take time. This is going to be a great place to use the marketing skills I’ve picked up in 20 years.”
On Parish’s to-do list is broadening awareness of the GGB’s dispensary business for both local consumers and tourists, whether they’re in Florida, Nevada or another market where the company has a presence.
She expressed similar excitement over the company’s CBD products. However, as Parish related, her praise is not just the semantics of public relations. But rather, there’s a personal attachment to her fervor. Over a year ago, she experienced an unspecified injury and has been taking GGB’s CBD products to relieve the discomfort. The outcome has delighted her, proving the efficacy of CBD as well as lending additional impetus to Parish’s new-found mission at GGB.
“When I work in the CBD side, to me there’s such an untapped potential there,” said Parish. “You’re contending with a large beauty space. The difference there is going to lie in the formulation we have for it.”
According to the press release announcing Parish’s hire, her appointment comes on the heels of several milestones for GGB. They include deals with retailers DSW and Abercrombie & Fitch “as well as partnerships with Simon Property Group and Brookfield to bring its Seventh Sense Botanical Therapy CBD products to malls across America.”
