LOS ANGELES – Headquarters (HQ), a strategic advisory studio focused on driving growth for businesses and brands entering the California cannabis market, issued the “HQ Cannabis Brand Affinity Report,” which was conducted in collaboration with The Statement Group (SG), a quantitative and qualitative brand strategy consulting firm. The report decodes the top passions, interests and common values in 2020 that were most important to Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers, a group that currently makes up 38% of cannabis consumers in fully legal states.
“Through our collaboration with The Statement Group, we leveraged proprietary technologies, software and experts to uncover which categories Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers cared about most in 2020,” said Headquarters CEO Daniel Abrahami. “Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers — an often tough-to-reach consumer group — make up a significant share of the cannabis market today. As we head into the holiday season and New Year, these consumers are only expected to take a greater share of the market. The HQ Cannabis Brand Affinity Report reveals that hip hop, R&B, fashion, influencers and gaming dominate among this emerging consumer group. Our hope is that cannabis brands leverage this proprietary data to gain the competitive advantage they’re looking for in this highly competitive space. Through our collaboration with the Statement Group, we will continue to arm cannabis entrepreneurs with data and insights needed to build authentic and community-driven brands.”
The HQ Cannabis Brand Affinity Report leveraged proprietary “Audience Interest Software” to analyze millions of real-time social media connections across 56 online categories such as: music, podcasts, apparel, athletes, politics, automotive, food, wellness, celebrities, online influencers, TV personalities, entertainment, technologies and gaming.
Based on the report’s findings, Hip Hop and R&B, fashion, influencers and gaming had the highest overall percentage of Gen Z and millennial lifestyle cannabis consumers’ interest across the 56 categories analyzed in relation to their overall interests. The report also assigned each category a unique “Mindshare Score” and provides a robust understanding of the weight and importance that this growing audience places on each specific category. The report’s “Value Score” identifies which medium and micro-sized brands, publishers, celebrities, influencers, etc that over-index with your consumer. These are high-value opportunities to reach your target audience at a much lower cost.
“Our report focuses on the targeted demographic’s top interests, passions and values, so cannabis businesses can elevate and amplify their strategies,” said The Statement Group Founder Cory Jones. “From a psychographic standpoint, it’s always great to know which cannabis icons like Wiz Khalifa, Seth Rogan, or Snoop Dogg resonate with Gen Z and millennial consumers, but those huge names are often not actionable for most budgets. We dig deeper into the data to uncover everyone that your consumers love — from brands, artists and influencers, who range from 1,000 to 100 million followers. When you know exactly who your audience is interested in, you have a detailed roadmap to develop revenue-driving partnerships, paid media campaigns and social media and native content strategies. It takes the guesswork out of marketing and cuts wasted spends. When you align your brand with your audience’s interests, your engagement skyrockets and you build a deeper emotional connection and loyalty with your consumers that lasts years.”
Abrahami added: “As we wrap up 2020 and head into the New Year, we look forward to continuing to work with dynamic cannabis businesses through our HQ LaunchPad and helping them uncover critical insights that enable them to move on from traditional strategies to modern, personalized digital experiences that grow bottom lines and drive engagement across audiences.”
To view the full executive summary of the HQ Brand Affinity Report, visit https://www.cannhq.com/affinity-report or follow HQ at https://twitter.com/weareyourhq or https://www.linkedin.com/company/hdqtrs.
About Headquarters
Headquarters (HQ) is a strategic advisory collective that works with clients to unlock accelerated growth in California’s multi-billion dollar cannabis market. From purpose to products, brands to experience and customers to operations, HQ brings the insight, expertise and relationships needed to both uncover and realize transformative opportunities. With a suite of business strategies, data, products and services solutions, marketing campaigns and expansion programs, the firm brings a host of services to discover and seize upon transformative growth opportunities. HQ arms clients with breakthrough insights to launch and build businesses and brands in a smarter and more efficient way. For more information, visit https://www.cannhq.com/.
