As a platform that unifies data, personalization, and media activation across onsite, offsite, and in-store channels, Surfside gives brands and retailers a single partner to build, scale, and measure end-to-end advertising programs. The full-service media and technology agency provides strategy, planning, creative production, campaign management, and measurement, all powered by proprietary technology. The firm’s omnichannel capabilities include dispensary websites, in-store screens, mainstream websites, streaming platforms, and social channels, giving retailers and brands a unified way to reach consumers wherever they are.
“Data is the difference between guessing and growing,” said Jim Goodenough, vice-president for strategy. “Even earned media can be tied to business impact if you monitor lift in branded search, affiliate links, newsletter signups, or inquiries in the days that follow. When your campaigns are wired with attribution tools tied back to ecommerce, point of sale, and customer relationship management, you can accurately track the impact of any campaign to metrics like, sales, incrementality, lift, and more.”
Rethinking how success is measured
What’s the biggest misconception businesses have about public relations or marketing?
Danielle O’Boyle, vice president for customer success: A common misconception is that marketing success is solely defined by ROI, which doesn’t capture the full picture, especially for new ventures or competitive markets. True success lies in measuring incremental impact, such as acquiring new customers, increasing purchase frequency, and building loyalty and market share. Marketing success takes time and generally does not have a longstanding impact overnight.
What’s one simple thing companies can do internally to get more out of their campaigns?
O’Boyle: One of the most effective things companies can do is establish clear short-, medium-, and long-term goals, and then work backwards to define the metrics that truly matter. When everyone is aligned on the “why” behind a campaign, it becomes easier to prioritize resources, measure progress, and make smarter optimizations along the way.
Building brand stories that actually stick
What makes for a strong brand story?
Travis Scadron, senior vice-president for business development: Authenticity and consistency drive a brand story. Being able to illustrate and communicate your brand from media, press and your events all the way through your retail locations or brands helps create brand recollection and trust with the customer. Back up this authenticity with a quality product or offering, and that drives a good brand story.
Retail media and the digital path to purchase
What’s the most overlooked opportunity brands should be paying attention to right now?
Eric Meth, chief innovation officer: The most overlooked opportunity right now is retail media. It’s the fastest-growing channel in advertising, projected to reach $140 billion globally by 2026 and accounting for nearly one in five ad dollars spent. Traditional retail and CPG brands have already embraced it over the past decade, recognizing its ability to engage shoppers at the exact moment of purchase. On average, retail media drives a 15- to 30-percent lift in sales, outperforming many traditional digital channels.
For cannabis brands and retailers, the opportunity is massive. Retail media technology enables retailers to personalize the shopping experience, bringing the same level of sophistication consumers expect from platforms like Amazon, Target, Instacart, UberEats, and Netflix. At the same time, it allows brands to increase visibility on the digital shelf, reaching the most valuable audience: active shoppers making real-time purchase decisions. The result is a measurable ability to influence sell-through, build loyalty, and capture market share in one of the most competitive retail environments.
What trends in consumer behavior should cannabis companies be paying attention to?
Meth: Consumers are shopping digitally, and the purchase journey now begins online, even when the transaction ends in-store. In some markets, up to 60 percent of cannabis purchases are happening through e-commerce channels, and across retail broadly, more than 70 percent of in-store purchases are influenced by digital touchpoints. Shoppers use digital platforms not just to buy, but to research, compare, and pre-plan their purchases. For brands and retailers, this means showing up digitally is no longer optional. It’s essential to winning visibility, driving discovery, and capturing loyalty in an increasingly competitive market.
What’s one channel or tactic that’s delivering surprising results right now?
Goodenough: Connected TV (CTV) and audio are two top of the funnel media channels that are historically great for driving brand awareness. We have been seeing a lot of brands and retailers utilizing the channel for customer acquisition as well in a very performant and cost efficient way.
Connecting media to business outcomes
How can companies connect PR and marketing to business outcomes?
Goodenough: If you want PR and marketing tied to growth, you have to engineer the attribution upfront. Every campaign should use UTMs so you can trace traffic and conversions back to specific stories, influencers, or placements. Pair that with tracking pixels on landing pages and CRM integration so you can see how many press-driven visitors became leads, purchases, or partners.
What role does data play in shaping effective campaigns?
Goodenough: The smartest brands don’t just look at performance after the fact, they use data to shape the brief before anything launches. Audience insights from purchase behavior, loyalty programs, site traffic, and POS tell you who’s actually buying, and how to use that information to keep and acquire more customers. Additionally, first-party data lets you see which channels drive action instead of just impressions. When you use data to choose the audience, pick the channel, and measure the outcome, you stop wasting budget on noise and start funding what converts.
What’s the smartest low-budget tactic you’ve seen work in marketing or PR?
Goodenough: Digital is still the biggest arbitrage in marketing because you can run thousands of targeted ads for a few dollars if you know how to segment. When paired with Retail Media, the costs stay low and the efficiency goes up when you place media directly inside the retail environment, like menus, kiosks, and point-of-sale screens. Additionally, user-generated content is one of the cheapest forms of marketing, and most brands barely tap it. Consumers will film, post, and review if you give them a reason, and those assets can be turned into highly targeted social posts within your own social environments
Choosing partners and preparing for pressure
What advice would you give a company choosing an outside partner for the first time?
Scadron: Too many companies pick partners based on pitch decks instead of proof. The first thing to look for is whether they’ve actually delivered results for businesses that look like yours, not hypotheticals, but case studies with real numbers. Ask who will do the work, what technology they use, what is proprietary, how they measure success, and what happens if performance misses the mark. A good partner is accountable, transparent with data, and willing to talk about outcomes before they talk about retainers.
What’s one mistake cannabis companies often make?
Goodenough: A lot of cannabis companies lead with education or accessibility when the customer is already past that point. They don’t spend enough time telling people why their product is better, easier to find, or worth paying more for. The other miss is treating every channel the same and assuming one message fits all audiences. When you skip audience targeting and product differentiation, even good stories fall flat.
How should brands prepare for a crisis?
Scadron: The biggest mistake in a crisis is trying to spin instead of owning the problem. The brands that survive bad press or recalls are the ones that take responsibility fast, communicate clearly, and overcorrect to take care of their customers. That means having a plan in place, but also being ready to offer refunds, replacements, or direct outreach without waiting for backlash to build.
Where cannabis marketing is headed
How can companies make sure their marketing stands out in a crowded market?
Goodenough: Standing out in a crowded market starts with knowing your consumer and tapping into personalization. When you use data to understand what your customers actually want, you can speak to them in a way that feels specific instead of generic. Personalization makes messages harder to ignore because people pay attention to what feels made for them. By using first-party data, purchase behavior, and location-based targeting, you can deliver tailored offers at the moment decisions are made and avoid generic broad-based targeting.
How do you see cannabis marketing/PR evolving over the next two years?
Michael Blanche, co-founder and co-CEO: Rather than trying to predict regulatory changes, as those have historically been difficult to plan for . . . increased consumer demand, supply and massive efficiencies will be driven by AI and technology.
Technology will become a backbone, not a nice add-on. We’ll see more AI and automation in consumer targeting, inventory systems, and compliance monitoring. And retail media will explode in importance: placing ads on dispensary menus, in-store digital signage, and point-of-sale systems will become the battleground for conversion and the expectation for customers looking for personalized experiences..
Consumer expectations will shift toward experiences and trust. The bar will rise for personalized engagement: think recommendation engines, hyper-local offers, membership perks, and loyalty systems baked into dispensary platforms. They must invest now in first-party data infrastructure and deterministic customer data capture, so they are not scrambling when these experiences shortly become the norm.
What’s the one piece of advice you think every business leader should know?
Jon Lowen, co-founder and co-CEO: Prioritize profits. Find out what makes your business money and scale those activities.
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