(Korova is one of the companies featured in The Power of a Brand: Lessons From 20 Top Cannabis Companies, in the June issue of mg Magazine.)
Blake Powers and Danielle Sebastian, Korova’s marketing team, have been in the weed game for more than two decades, frequently adapting the company’s messaging to meet evolving demographics and market forces. Powers ascribes much of Korova’s success to company-wide belief in the product. “If we don’t smoke it, you don’t smoke it,” he said. “That’s what drives the brand.”
With roots in the underground, the company successfully merges the hip with the mysterious. Product packaging, with its third-eye cow and graffiti elements, is just esoteric enough to provoke curiosity without rounding the bend into confusion. “We love collaborating with visual artists to create limited-edition apparel products and incorporate our love for graffiti into every jar of our flower,” said Powers. “The [visual] elements are what draw people in. What keeps them loyal is what’s inside [the package].”
Despite its growth, the brand maintains small-company appeal by creating personal relationships with budtenders and investing in slightly wacky in-store events. The “Korova takeovers,” as Sebastian and Powers call them, often include “screaming deals” accompanied by literal screaming contests judged by the company’s street team. On those days, “loyal fans line up before the [host dispensary’s] doors even open,” Powers said. Combined with branded swag for budtenders and consumers alike, the takeovers create a priceless, almost familial link between the company and its well-defined target audience: young consumers with above-average cannabis knowledge and experience and an affinity for street art and culture.
