HIGHLAND PANTRY
Celebrating the beauty, elegance and wisdom of older women through cannabis.
Building A Brand For Her
Role: Founder
The Problem: No cannabis brand existed for the 50+ female consumer — an entire demographic mainstream cannabis marketing ignored. As California's first independent DTC cannabis brand, Highland Pantry needed to build a category from nothing: brand, compliance, and fundraising, all while translating an emerging, complex, and heavily regulated product into something a Baby Boomer woman would trust.
The Solution: As Founder, I led brand positioning, compliance, and fundraising, building a visual identity inspired by 1960s–70s pop culture and the desert landscape of Palm Springs. Because paid marketing of a regulated substance was restricted, I built awareness through community engagement instead — talks at retirement and continuing-education communities, menopause events, a tongue-in-cheek direct mail campaign, and initiatives like the "High Mom" Mother's Day portrait gallery featuring real women 50+. I also led retailer relations and in-person demo days across California to expand distribution.
The Results: Sales grew 30% YoY, an early, category-defining example of translating a complex emerging product into a trusted consumer brand — with press placements in Vogue US and Vogue Mexico, before the brand closed amid the 2020 pandemic.
Metrics Of Success
+30% MOM Revenue
Being the first DTC brand facilitated by Flower Co’s pilot program, HP saw 20% MOM increase in sales via this channel alone.
+20k Email Subscribers
We cultivated a high value audience through organic and paid advertising as well as retailer relationships. Email was used to engage consumers and advertise available retailers as well as promotions and sales.
+100% MOM Retailer Onboarding
Before the company shuttered amid the 2020 pandemic, HP saw incredible early traction in retail, with a 100% MOM increase in retailer onboarding.
Community Engagement
Marketing efforts were focused specifically on educating and engaging an older, female demographic. Engaging with an older demographic required tactics that spoke to them and their habits. So, as part of our marketing efforts we gave talks to continuing education and retirement communities, participated in Menopause events and even executed a tongue-in-cheek direct mail campaign.
Because of the restrictions with marketing a regulated substance, social media posts were focused on directing traffic to the website and promoting partner retailers.
Other marketing promotions were centered around mom-related holidays and often featured real women over 50. Our most successful, revenue-driving campaign was our “High Mom” Mother’s Day campaign that used women 50+ as our models and included an interactive portrait gallery on our website showcasing each woman’s likeness and expandable diary sharing her personal journey with cannabis.
Retailer Relations
Expanding our retail footprint was not only important to our sales metrics, but also to our brand awareness to our target demographic. Demo days were especially important, so we showed up to educate and promote at retailers across California.
Securing features in places like Vogue USA, Vogue Mexixo and more, Highland Pantry was able to showcase it’s reach and market appeal to potential consumers and investors alike.
Awards & Press
