One of Canada\u2019s foremost experts in the marketing of cannabis says this country has missed the opportunity to set the international standard for how to handle legalization.<\/p>\n
Peter Shier, President of Toronto firm Naked Creative Consultancy, has been involved in the cannabis industry for more than seven years and has led research into what Canadians want when it comes to legalization.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Nov. 22, Shier will deliver the 18th annual Terry O\u2019Malley Lecture in Marketing and Advertising at Brock University, where he will examine Canada\u2019s cannabis industry.<\/p>\n
The annual Terry O\u2019Malley Lecture, along with the Grant Dobson Case Competition held with students earlier in the day, is hosted by Brock\u2019s Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film. The lecture starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Sean O\u2019Sullivan Theatre.<\/p>\n
Shier\u2019s address, which he\u2019s calling \u201cHoney, they forgot the consumer \u2014 lessons from the early days of cannabis\u201d will look at the executive\u2019s work with a number of industry players on branding, marketing, partnerships, content development and communication strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been pretty frustrated watching what has happened with legalization and how the rules and laws came down,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my view, they left out the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naked Creative commissioned a research project in 2017, where it surveyed more than 1,000 adult Canadians from coast to coast to get their perspective on the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe asked questions like \u2018What are you afraid of?\u2019 and \u2018How would you want things to be done?\u2019 and we ended up with some pretty interesting information,\u201d said Shier, who has more than two decades of experience working with some of Canada\u2019s largest communications agencies.<\/p>\n
Shier plans to talk about the marketing and branding of legalized cannabis and what could be done to improve things. He also plans to propose a few ideas he believes the government should consider to firmly establish Canada as a world leader in cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the recommendations are straightforward and some are more progressive,\u201d Shier said. \u201cCountries around the world are watching Canada to see how cannabis legalization unfolds, and we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase to the world how to do this right.\u201d<\/p>\n