Next to Stok’d (case study)

Cannabis sales in Canada are legal, but cannabis advertising faces stringent regulations. The 'Canadian Cannabis Act' imposes strict limitations, prohibiting any advertising that depicts products, people, paraphernalia, implies effects, or reveals the inside of a store. Additionally, social platforms like Meta and Google, along with other media channels such as out-of-home (OOH) and radio, employ robust filters to screen out cannabis-related advertisements.

So how does a regional cannabis chain like Stok’d navigate these restrictions? Enter 'Next to Stok’d'—a legal-ish campaign that creatively circumvents the laws and sophisticated media filters by cleverly partnering with neighbouring businesses to promote their store while covertly promoting Stok’d.

“When presented with the idea from the Angry Butterfly team, we were both excited and nervous, but we loved the concept,” says Lisa Bigioni, CEO and co-founder of Stok’d. “The playful and entrepreneurial approach was a perfect brand fit for us.”

“Our goal was to promote Stok’d while being authentic to the businesses we partnered with,” explains Erin Kawalecki, partner and chief creative officer at Angry Butterfly. “Finding common language that promoted both was key, and a lot of fun too.”

“The trickiest part was ensuring the ads passed through all the different filters,” says Bernice Lo, VP and Executive Creative Director at Angry Butterfly. “We had plan B and C ready to go, just in case.”

The geo-targeted, 21+ campaign launched across various channels including paid/sponsored posts, pre-rolls, evening radio, and select TSA placements. However, the campaign's story was kept out of the ad industry press until its completion to avoid alerting platforms like Meta and Google, ensuring they wouldn’t impede the campaign's success.