Year
2023 – 2024
Contribution
Project Lead
Strategy
Workshop Facilitation
Art Direction
Design
Cantourage is a publicly listed, medical cannabis distributor shaping the market. As they grew fast, they outgrew their branding just as quick – that's when they approached me, looking for someone to guide them on the journey. They wanted to reimagine how they could create an identity, that would work appeal to their end consumer, stick to their rebellious roots, but that would fit their corporate communications with partners, investors and pharmacies as well.
What was challenging about this?
Cannabis is a tricky industry – brimming with potential and growing (pun intended) exponentially, it's also riddled with challenges, especially on the marketing front.
How did I approach it?
While the client knew something needed to change, they lacked confidence in believing how this can be solved, seemed like problems were in the way of seeing where we want to go. My first goal was to untangle that challenge and give them a clear direction – and so it was time for a series of workshops.
The team needed to dream, untethered by the reality just for a day – I used workshop strategies that gets all team members thinking about the future, forgetting about the day-to-day problems, revealing the organization's true goals – in this case, by imagining what media might highlight on their front page about the company. From these fun projections, we could identify some the challenges and set the directions for progress.
Where we had an “Aha! moment” was the deep-dive into the target groups, especially patients and landing what we want to tell them about Cantourage and the limitations that the market restrictions pose on that (and how we can play it to our advantage).
We identified how Cantourage would like to be seen, we knew what audiences they wanted needed to communicate themselves, and we knew what they wanted to achieve. With a lot more optimism, the team was still waiting for something that they could use as their compass for the next steps.
To visualize my idea to them, after analyzing the workshop outcomes, I created a matrix that placed all of the ingredients in a layered approach – a onion structure to branding. Visual identity and communication is becoming less rigid and core brand less prominent as we move from enterpise communication towards the recreational users.
Confronting our goals with challenges, we came to a conclusion, that there is a need for a visual identity, that can change it's tone depending on the target audience, while staying recognizable and consistent across.
How did I approach it?
As the vision started to be more tangible, I invited my friends from workshop91 to shape the design. With their excellent skill, we worked together with the client to create a brand that can help them achieve their goals.
At the core of the rebranding was finding a symbol –w e designed a distinctive logo that captures Cantourage's dynamic naturare. Incorporatung an organic floral form, symbolizing the product, natural growth and the company's dedication to organic principles in cannabis cultivation. Lovingly named the twist – hinting at the grinding gesture.
I knew early on, that imagery needed to play a big part in the brand's identity – but instead of creating staged and sterile photography, that the industry is full with, we did it the Cantourage way – tell it like it is. Behind-the-scenes, unfiltered, raw, transparent. I asked the photographer Tim Bruening, whose cheeky and documentarian style matched the brand's vibe, to come visit the Cantourage factory.
The result was a brand photo library, an honest documentation of the product process.