The next generation of cannabis brands will be built by applying proven CPG principles to an industry that still requires intensely local execution.
Cannabis companies often talk about building national brands, but the industry does not operate as one national market.
Every state has its own regulations, licensed supply chain, manufacturing requirements, distribution network and retail environment. Products frequently must be produced within the state where they are sold, while consumer preferences and competitive dynamics can vary significantly from one market to another.
As a result, national cannabis brands are built locally—one state, one retail relationship and one consumer experience at a time.
But there is a larger lesson emerging as cannabis matures: while the industry has unique regulatory and operational complexities, the fundamentals of building enduring consumer brands are not unique to cannabis.
Cannabis increasingly needs to embrace the disciplines that have built successful consumer packaged goods brands for generations: understanding the consumer, defining the need a brand serves, creating meaningful differentiation, delivering a consistent product experience, building awareness and trial, and ultimately converting trial into loyalty.
That requires strong local execution. It also requires the brand owner to remain accountable for the consumer experience, regardless of who manufactures or distributes the product.
Cannabis Is Becoming a Brand-Building Business
I have seen the evolution of cannabis from several perspectives. At Lowell Farms, I experienced the realities of building within California’s complex cannabis market. Later, as CEO of Curaleaf, I helped lead an organization operating across a large and rapidly expanding multistate footprint. Today, at MM Brands, we are focused on growing established brands such as Mary’s Medicinals and DIXIE through a more selective, brand-led and asset-light model.
Those experiences have reinforced an important distinction between operating at scale and building brands at scale.
The cannabis industry has traditionally measured scale through licenses, cultivation capacity, manufacturing facilities and retail locations. Those assets can create market access, but they do not necessarily create consumer preference.
Consumer packaged goods companies have long understood that sustainable brands begin with the consumer. As a longtime CPG executive who has established experience within the international cannabis industry, I believe strongly that the industry needs to adopt the same fundamentals used across established consumer categories: segment consumers by their motivations and need states, develop a clear brand positioning and benefit proposition, give consumers credible reasons to believe, and maintain an ongoing connection with the target consumer.
That discipline is particularly relevant in cannabis because the consumer base is becoming broader and more sophisticated. There is no single “cannabis consumer.” Different consumers enter the category for different reasons, seek different experiences, and respond to different products, messages, and brands.
The companies that understand those differences will be better positioned to create brands consumers deliberately choose rather than products they happen to purchase.
Recognition Opens the Door. Execution Builds the Brand.
An established brand name can create recognition and open doors in a new state, but awareness alone does not create loyalty.
Retailers need confidence that products will be consistently available and supported. Budtenders need to understand what differentiates them and which consumers they may serve. Most importantly, consumers need to receive the quality and experience they associate with the brand every time they purchase it.
This is where traditional CPG principles and cannabis operations intersect.
A brand can have a compelling positioning and significant consumer awareness, but if the product is frequently unavailable, inconsistently manufactured or poorly represented at retail, the consumer does not separate those failures from the brand itself.
Operations and brand equity are inseparable because the consumer experiences them as one.
That is why national cannabis expansion requires both a consistent brand proposition and the flexibility to execute it appropriately within each local market.
Asset-Light Does Not Mean Brand-Light
Cannabis companies do not necessarily need to own every facility supporting their brands.
Recreating cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and sales infrastructure in every state is expensive and organizationally complex. It can direct capital and leadership attention toward maintaining assets rather than developing differentiated products, understanding consumers, creating demand and strengthening brand equity.
An asset-light model offers another path.
A brand-led company can work with licensed local operators that already understand their state’s regulatory environment, manufacturing requirements, supply chain and retail relationships. The brand owner can then concentrate resources on the capabilities that ultimately create long-term brand value: consumer insight, innovation, product standards, positioning, education, marketing and demand creation.
When structured correctly, this can be more focused, adaptable and capital-efficient than owning every component of the operation.
But asset-light cannot mean hands-off.
The national brand may not own the facility where its products are manufactured or the infrastructure that delivers them to retailers, but it still owns the promise printed on every package.
Consumers do not distinguish between a brand owner and its operating partner. They see one name, one product and one experience.
That means the brand owner must establish and protect product standards, remain engaged in production and inventory planning, create consumer demand and maintain close relationships with its operating partners.
At the same time, local operators must understand that they are doing more than producing and distributing inventory. Manufacturing consistency influences consumer trust. Availability affects retailer confidence. Sales execution determines how the brand is represented in the market.
Both organizations are responsible for delivering the same brand promise.
Applying the Model in California
At MM Brands, we are applying this approach to the growth of Mary’s Medicinals and DIXIE in core focus markets like, Maryland, Ohio, Michigan, California, and Colorado.
MM Brands brings established brands, product knowledge, positioning and long-term strategy. Our in-state partners bring licensed infrastructure, operational capabilities and experience navigating some of the country’s most complex cannabis markets.
The objective is not simply to put more products on more shelves. It is to combine strong local execution with disciplined brand building.
That means understanding which consumers the brands serve, delivering products that address meaningful needs, maintaining dependable availability, supporting retail partners, communicating clear reasons to choose the brands, and continually listening to consumer and retailer feedback.
These are not uniquely cannabis principles. They are fundamental CPG principles applied within the realities of cannabis.
A New Definition of National Scale
The next phase of cannabis will require the industry to think differently about scale.
National scale should not simply mean owning the most licenses, facilities, or retail locations. True brand scale is achieved when consumers understand what a brand represents, deliberately choose it, and receive a consistent experience wherever they encounter it.
Distribution can put a product on the shelf. It cannot make a consumer want it.
That is the fundamental shift cannabis needs to make as the industry matures—from being primarily focused on producing and distributing cannabis to understanding how enduring consumer brands are actually built.
The companies that succeed will combine the discipline of established CPG companies with the local expertise cannabis requires. They will understand their consumers, differentiate their brands, innovate against real consumer needs, support retailers, measure performance, and remain accountable for the entire consumer experience.
An asset-light model can make that growth more efficient, but it does not diminish the brand owner’s responsibility. In many ways, it increases it.
