Danielle Nicoll @ Cann

In this episode of the Omnichannel Marketer, host Kait Stephens interviews Danielle Nicoll, SVP of Marketing at Cann. 

Danielle shares her journey from the entertainment industry to leading marketing for Cann, a pioneer in the THC microdose beverage category. She discusses the challenges and strategies of marketing a highly regulated product, the importance of building a strong community, and how Cann leverages creator partnerships and omnichannel distribution to drive trial and brand awareness.

The conversation highlights the power of word-of-mouth marketing, the role of AI in understanding customer demographics, and the value of trusting your instincts when making bold marketing bets.

TAKEAWAYS:

- Cann is a THC microdose beverage positioned as an alcohol alternative for social drinking.

- Marketing, regardless of the product, is fundamentally about capturing attention and creating FOMO.

- Driving trial is crucial for new categories; sampling and word-of-mouth are strong growth levers for Cann.

- Cann utilizes a strategic omnichannel approach, pushing D2C customers to retail locations to boost velocity.

- Navigating a highly regulated industry requires creative marketing, heavily relying on creators, influencers, and local events.

- Building a brand that feels like a friend fosters strong community engagement and loyalty.

- AI tools are valuable for analyzing customer demographics and tailoring creative content to specific audiences.

- Trusting your instincts over over-analyzing data can lead to successful, bold marketing moments, like Cann's viral collaboration with Bethany Frankel.

- The future of the THC beverage category points toward mainstream availability, pending legislation.

- Affiliate marketing platforms, like ShopMy, are powerful tools for driving growth and monetizing creator content.

Where to find Danielle Nicoll:  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielleanicoll/  

​Website: https://drinkcann.com/

Where to find Kait Stephens:  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kait-margraf-stephens/  

Website: www.brij.it

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Omnichannel Marketer, the show where we get real about what it takes to build a brand, create a seamless omnichannel experience, and drive customer LTV across D2C, Amazon, and retail. I'm Kate Stevens, the CEO of Bridge. Join me for unfiltered conversations from the trenches of e-commerce. We'll unpack strategy and leave you with tactical advice you can use today to drive your business forward. Let's rock and roll. Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Omnichannel Marketer. This is your host, Kate Stevens. I'm super excited to have Danielle Nickel here today, SVP of Marketing at Can. Welcome, Danielle. How are you doing? Good. How are you? I am great. Super excited to have you on. Can has been a customer of Bridge for a couple of years now. So feels more personal than you know all of my guests here. Could you just start by sharing a little bit more about what Can does and what your key role is at the brand?

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Sure. Can is a THC microdose beverage. The best way to phrase it, we're kind of like an alcohol alternative, I would say. Also just another option for people looking for a social beverage. We come in in multiple doses. We have two milligram, five milligram, ten milligram. Our twos and fives also have CBD in them, which people like. And then we also have these really fun liquid packets for when people are on the go or at a bar that doesn't serve a non-alcohol option. They're really great to bring with them. I run marketing at Cannes. I'm the SCP of marketing there. And I do a lot of things at the CAN.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

And it's a really fun place to work. So going back to your own professional history, you you've worked at companies like ESPN. Really have a background in entertainment. How has that shaped your role as a marketer now here at Cannes?

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Sure. Um, it's funny. I think a lot about marketing is just fighting for people's attention. And I think it doesn't really matter what you're selling or what you're trying to get someone to buy. You're just trying to get them to pay attention. You're trying to create a sense of FOMO and get them to wanna be a part of it. And I think whether it be a cannabis beverage or trying to get them to go to a movie or trying to get them to buy a new tinted moisturizer, it's all the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Uh we're all for attention, whether it be on TikTok or on Netflix or anything. So it's whatever you can do to get them to stand out and pay attention to it is what's gonna make some noise.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

And I think whether it be for a film or for a drink, it's just whatever you can to stand out makes such a difference. And something I can, it's for us, it's all about like moments to show up and whatever we can to make as much noise and work with collaborators that are gonna get us seen in really cool places that you wouldn't expect can to show up.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

I think that this category requires a ton of education. So, how do you approach that you know holistically in terms of driving that education and you know, ultimately trial for what is really a new category?

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Yeah, I mean, there's so many ways. We do a ton of sampling in retail, but then also like working with you guys, right? Like you tell people try this product, you get a discount, upload your receipt, you get a coupon back, et cetera. Driving trial is so important. Everyone tells us, like, oh my God, I'm not gonna try this. I had a terrible edible experience in college. And you're like, no, no, no, this is different. This is microdose. Just try it. And I see this all the time with like my aunts and uncles or like a friend or whatever. And then once they try the product, they're like, wait, this is great. I love this. It's such a different experience. And I think for us, a lot of it also has to do with we see that our number one, like even on Shopify, like our post-purchase survey, the number one response people say of why they bought can was they were referred by a friend. And I think it's we see that is so important. People hear from their friends. So to us, it's like finding creators that are really good that can speak to why can is such a great option for them. And finding influencers that people love to follow. And they're like, wait, this is like my friend. They're telling me that can't great. Okay, I'm gonna try it. We're actually able to see on the back end, like on street, right? Where people buy can, we're able to see months later, other people on that street are starting to buy can. And the name they're starting to buy it. And it's actually a really cool thing to watch. That is so cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

And it reminds me a little bit. So my mom plays cards, and I was like just talking to her about the cannabis beverage industry, and she was like, Oh, yeah. Like all of my friends, like they bring that instead of having wine. It's like, you know, but their alcohol replacement. And it's like, you know, one person started and then they're all obviously referring to each other, but that is so cool that you can see it. Oh, yeah. On the street level, that's really neat to see. Just like for you know, from a setting the stage perspective, what what's like the approximate size of can, either for you know, where can you buy it, uh, where are you distributed?

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Yeah, sure. Um, we are in over 35 states online and over like 30, 35 states in retail. And in retail, we are in grocery liquor stores across the country. And then we are in California and dispensaries, and then online drinkcan.com. We're also on DoorDash, GoPough. Um, some of our bigger retailers are like Sprouts, we're in Target, we're in Specs in Texas, Total Wine and More, Stu Leonard's, places like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Target is I'm very much mainstream distribution. Is that is that new for you guys?

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Yeah, we've been in Target for a few months now in Minnesota. It's been really fun to see in their liquor stores. Um yeah, I mean, you talk where the customer is, right? Um especially like the mom, it is the perfect place for camp.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So it's in Target's liquor stores.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

In Minnesota, they have their liquor stores, and that's where we are.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Okay, awesome. Um, I mean, on that topic, you have pretty complicated distribution. You know, there's state laws, you're distributed very much in an omnichannel way. How do you think about, you know, that omnichannel journey of your customer? Like, you know, what do you guys do as a brand? It sounds like you're very much, you know, trying to meet your customer wherever they want to shop.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

Yeah. Um, you know, it's really interesting. So we have like two sides of our business. We have our D2C business and we have a retail business. We have our D2C business in a lot of places, also, where like retail doesn't exist, too. So we kind of imagine a lot of our D2C customers will turn into retail customers. So we push a lot of D2C customers to retail. So that's kind of one magical thing we're able to do is like email our customers online to go to stores, et cetera. That's a huge thing we do. Also, we do a lot of targeting online and kind of get creative there. But also, we're in a highly regulated industry. We're not really able to show up. We're like a poppy or like Odeth could show up. So we kind of have to get creative. One way we do that is with a ton of creators and influencers. So finding people in those states that are really popular to tell their audiences, hey, we're in specs in Texas, like go there now, or doing local events. So we work a lot with Live Nation. Um, so like doing like big festivals in those markets. And then once we're at that festival, being like, hey, you could buy us at Total Wine and more, or things like that. We find also doing that, like getting cans in hand is so impactful and so important to us.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Um, okay, so you're basically in regions where you have retail, you're actually using D2C to push more traffic to retail. Do you have any sort of feedback loop with your retail customers? Or as retail grows as a as a larger share of the can pie, how do you continue having that feedback loop with your customers?

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Yeah. Um, I mean, we do constant surveys online. Uh, we're always surveying our customers. Uh, it's super important. Our Instagram community is super active. Our DMs are wild. We're always getting hit up by people, we're always responding to our fans constantly. I think people see our brand as a friend. And I think that's really important. And it seems that people are also just kind of now learning about our brand. As much as our brand's been around for seven years, I think we're entering all these markets where people have never even heard of canned before. So this is really just them learning it for the first time. And we're just kind of like receiving feedback now.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

How do you think about competition in the cannabis industry? Do you see it as like it's a growing category and everyone is helping you grow the category? Or how do you think about that?

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Yeah. Um, I would say Jake and Luke really were spearheaders, like spearheaded this category, especially in the microdose category. They created a product that's so magical. I mean, like you hold this can, you just feel so special. It's so fun, it's so cute, not to mention it tastes amazing. And I think it's really cool to see like you walk into a total wine or you walk into a specs now. There's like hundreds of these brands. But it's also really cool to like walk into one of these conferences with Jake, our co-founder and CEO, and he's kind of like a celebrity at these things. Like everyone wants to talk to him, and it's pretty cool. I think we do look at all the other brands as like we're all kind of in this together, especially with what's going on legally right now and um working together to figure out how we can keep our category moving on.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Okay. Makes complete sense. So shifting gears a little bit, AI is, you know, obviously a hot top topic and um provides a really big opportunity as a marketer to think improve your workflows. So, where are you or your team utilizing AI and where do you see the biggest opportunities for a brand like Can?

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Sure. Um, we're using AI in a lot of ways to like scrape our customers and like understand who our customers are. We're able to see like some of our customers who have like huge social followings, which is really interesting to us, and kind of see like, wow, we didn't realize this person's one of our customers and things like that. Also, we've been using it to kind of figure out different buckets of customers that we have. Like, do we have nurses? Do we have doctors? Do we have teachers? Like things like that have been really interesting to us as we build out um kind of target demos for creative online. That's been really impactful.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

And so that creative is it is that basically you're creating different content than for ads to target like the nursing community? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

We are a content machine. I think in today's world, for a lot of these brands, like, yes, we're a beverage brand, but I think you have to be like a 50% content machine. We pump out so much creative and like static gif, et cetera, but also just working with creators constantly, influencers, et cetera. And it's fun. I mean, it's really cool just to see like you get these cans in people's hands to see what they make with it.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

It's really cool. I'm curious on just like your creative process. Where is most of it coming from your affiliate community? Are you guys doing a bunch of content yourselves as well?

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Yeah, we do it all over. We are a huge partner with Shop My. Uh, we love Shopmai. We uh do lots of work with them. And when we get creators through there, we can reach out to them to monetize their creative, to boost in ads that way. We also work with tons of creators that we go out to who love the brand and we send them product. They make videos for us. Then we also we have people in-house who do stuff for us, like we kind of run the gambit. We're working on creative at all times. We have like a million text chains going at all times. It's kind of wild.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yes. So you mentioned that you guys are on Instagram. Are you also on TikTok as well?

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Yes, we use TikTok too.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Okay. Is there a preferred social channel for the brand? Or are you, you know, creating content across all channels at this point?

SPEAKER_03 11:49

We create content across all channels. I would say Instagram is really Can's like tried and true platform that's been around for the past seven years of the brand. But um, TikTok is where we post a lot of like the creator video stuff that we do. But Instagram is um where we do more of like the brand stuff, like when we have new products coming out, et cetera.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Can Can sell on TikTok shop? So no. No. Okay. Yeah, I thought that that me.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

So cannabis and alcohol cannot sell, cannot even run ads on TikTok. But what we did was we launched an apparel line and we sold that on TikTok shop, um, which was an interesting way to be able to get the brand out there.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Cool. Um, all right. Shifting back to you know, channel and channel strategy. What was the first channel that Can launched? Um, and you know, what did you learn from that?

SPEAKER_03 12:42

I was not here, but I would say Instagram for sure. I was a fan of the brand from the beginning. Jake and Luke and Tim and Eliza and everyone who was here then did such a fantastic job of building this brand that I kind of noted to before where it felt like a friend. It just kind of showed up in pop culture. And they did such a great job of getting like so many celebs involved in the beginning, like Gwyneth Paltro and Kate Hudson and Olivia Wilde and Baron Davis. And it just um they got hands in hands of so many fun people in LA. It just like became that brand everyone wanted to touch.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Okay, where do you see the category heading in the next three to five years?

SPEAKER_03 13:21

Well, pending legislation. Um I think we're gonna have a low-dose beverage that is going to live in the world of beer, wine, and alcohol everywhere. I think we're gonna be able to buy can and any other THC beverage that's around on an airplane. I think you'll be able to get it at a hotel. I think you'll be able to get it at a baseball game, I think you'll be able to get it at a concert, and I think it will be just as common as like a high noon is. I truly feel that these products are necessary and I feel that they are something that people absolutely love. And I think they have changed the game for social drinking.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

From a like feeling that it gives you, are are there specific benefits of a like THC brand or THC beverage versus alcohol?

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Yeah. Um, I would say, first off, you don't wake up with a hangover.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

And that's a huge one.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

That's a huge one, I would say. Yeah, especially as like a mom, which we both are. Um I would say also something like can, like, we're made with all natural ingredients. Uh, we don't use any fake sugar. We use agave from Mexico. All of our juices are sourced from the best places in the world. We're the number one exporter of blood orange juice in the United States from Sicily, which is the craziest fact that I look forward to. Crazy people. Um, but uh yeah, like it's just made with good stuff. Like you're not putting bad things in your body when you're drinking it. And I think uh it's just like, I don't know, just a fun drink. And I feel like there's so much worse stuff you could be putting in your body than this.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

What's one mistake that you are consistently seeing marketers make today?

SPEAKER_03 14:58

I think people don't use their instinct enough. Um I, and maybe it's something I do too much of, but I go off of my instincts so much. I just feel like I'm like, I know this is gonna work. I know this is gonna work. Just like let it go, let it go, it's gonna work. I think people sometimes just rely so much on looking at data or what they've learned from the past or just being so worried or nervous. It's like you just sometimes have to like jump off the cliff and just do it. And I think when you do things like that, it works.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

And sometimes magic happens. Which is a good transition to what's a bold marketing bet that you've made that is paid off?

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Um, I would say, and this wasn't just me, this was the whole team. Um we uh got like a message that Bethany Frankel wanted to try can. And um, when you get a message like that, it can be like, well, I've seen her like absolutely trash products and like ruin brands. So I'm like, oh gosh, this could be bad for us. And I try to sometimes run stuff by our CEO to make sure he likes it before we do things. But this one I was like, do it. And then we like told him, I was like, hey, just so you know, we sent product to Bethany. I hope she likes it. And he was like, oh gosh. Um, but the team did it and it was great. It was Saturday night. We got a notification and the video went up and I was sitting there watching it and I was like, wait, this is great. And then I texted it to our CEO and he's like, wait, this is great. And it was just a video of her, she's holding the can. She's like, is this legal? And she's like, look, it has PhD and she's going out and she's like, wait, I'm not seeing monsters, I'm feeling good. Wait, I love this product. And I'm like, wait, this is an amazing ad. It's just like a storytelling and it's cutting every 15 seconds and she's saying how she's feeling. And it was such a great piece of content for us because it actually showed how you're gonna feel. And that's like one of the biggest questions we get all the time is how is this product gonna make you feel? And um, I think it's just like the perfect example of the team was like, we should do this. And I was like, Yeah, you're right, let's send it. And sometimes you just again goes back to instinct. You just gotta trust it.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yeah, I love that. If people take one thing away from this conversation, what's your advice that they should take away?

SPEAKER_03 17:14

I spent my whole career working in entertainment and I wanted to try something new and work at a cool brand. And I left my job in entertainment to try to figure out what that next step would be. And I landed at Cannes and it's been really fun. And I've been a huge fan of the brand forever, and it's been really fun to be on the other side of the brand and get to be a part of this rocket ship and get to work on these new products every day that we're building and really hear these amazing stories from people of how this product's transforming their lives is like kind of incredible. If you have five minutes to go through the reviews online and hear people's stories of what these products have done for them, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Wow, that's amazing. Um, and probably feels so impactful as well. Okay, shifting into our final segment here, which is our lightning round. Um, so just like quick answers from you on each of these topics. Um, favorite omnichannel brand right now, other than Can? Road. One thing you would change about the CPG or cannabis industry?

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Legislation, like bringing can to everyone, would be amazing.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Great.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Favorite podcaster newsletter? I love Hillary Kerr's Second Life podcast.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

I don't know that one. I'll have to check it out. Most underrated growth channel.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

I love Shatmai. I'm working with affiliates. I think it's so powerful. It's such a huge growth lover for us personally, and I couldn't recommend it enough.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Uh, the next one is a tool you can't live without, but it feels like you just gave me the tool too.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Yeah, I would say Shop Mai, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Instagram favorite event that you're attending this year.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Ooh, um, it's coming up at the end of the month. We have Beverage Forum. It's like a big conference for us, and our CEO speaking, and Ken's the official happy hour sponsor. It'll be lots of fun and all of the big retailers will be there. It's a cool moment for us. Where is that?

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Manhattan Beach? Awesome. That sounds great. Yeah. Where can people connect with you, Danielle? Uh uh LinkedIn, Instagram, Danielle Nicole. Hit me up wherever.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Amazing. Um, Danielle, thank you so much. Really enjoyed this conversation. Um, so excited to share it with everyone. Thank you. If you liked this podcast, follow me and the bridge page on LinkedIn and Twitter for hot takes and tactical advice. If you really love today's episode, we'd love a review on the podcasting platform of your choice, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Thanks for listening.