The Faces of Equity Campaign
Empowering the Commonwealth through Cannabis Legalization
Creative Direction, Media Strategy, and Digital Strategy
Client: Cannabis Control Commission
Project: The Faces of Equity Public Awareness Campaign
Collateral: Long-form Mini-Documentary, Short-form Video Profiles, Advertising, Website, Tutorial Videos, Social Media
Media: Video, Digital Ads, Print Ads, Radio Spots, Out of Home Bus Shelters, Web Content, Email Drip Campaign, Social Graphics
Platforms: WordPress, Mailchimp, Meta
The Cannabis Control Commission’s “Faces of Equity” public awareness campaign was an integrated multimedia campaign designed to communicate the Commission's equity mission, policies, and programming using the voices and profiles of actual participants and industry agents, and how the program has produced real benefits and life-changing opportunities for those who have been most harmed by the War on Drugs.
The campaign had three goals:
Raise awareness of the Commission's various equity programming.
Recruit for Cohort 4 of the Social Equity Program.
Inspire potential applicants to see themselves as participants who can obtain success for themselves and their families within the legal cannabis industry.
The campaign consists of a wide array of creative collateral. The cornerstone creative piece of the campaign is a 10-minute mini-documentary that showcases the history of the War on Drugs, the legalization of cannabis in Massachusetts along with the creation of the Commission and its equity mandate, and the successes equity programming participants are finding in the legal cannabis industry today.
Those interviews with equity participants and industry employees are then further broken down into 5 personal stories that truly capture their individual past experiences and perspectives of the industry and the Commission’s equity programming. The campaign also has a variety of ads for digital and print, social media, broadcast radio, and out-of-home as well as extensive educational collateral such as a large section of the Commission’s website, email blasts, video tutorials, and rack cards that are distributed through the Commission’s social media channels and available to order through the Massachusetts Health Resources in Action Clearinghouse.
Creative Direction and Project Management: AnnMarie Burtt
Digital and Print Advertising Design: Archipelago Strategies Group
Photography, Videography, and Animation: Intercultural Productions
Website Design and Development, Rack Card Design, and Email Design: AnnMarie Nichols Burtt
Tutorial Videography: Fiona St. Pierre
Digital and Print Advertising
Digital, print, and broadcast radio advertising was strategically placed in outlets across the state in both English and Spanish. Several tagline variations were developed to speak to all 4 tracks of the Social Equity Program (Entrepreneur, Core, Entry, and Ancillary) to meet people where they were and help them truly see themselves finding success in the program based on their individual backgrounds and what they aspired to do in the industry. It was imperative that potential participants not only feel seen, but also included, important, and empowered.
Two separate tagline approaches were used in the campaign. The first is a strike-through of a marginalizing word about how people in these communities were affected by the past, which is then replaced with a word of empowerment. The second approach is an underline that essentially creates a bridge to positive outcomes and successes in the industry through the program with plays on words from the industry to connect with the target audience.
Rack Cards, Website, Tutorial Videos, and Email Blasts
Rack cards were designed, printed, and distributed at community outreach events across Massachusetts, covering topics such as qualification criteria, documentation, program tracks, and expungement and sealing.
An entirely new section of the website was designed and developed devoted to the Commission’s equity programming, intentionally organized to be more accessible and easier to understand for a broader audience. The campaign’s videos were woven throughout to enhance the content and help tell the story of the program and its’ participants as well as videos produced with the Commission’s Equity Programming and Community Outreach staff to provide an introduction to the Social Equity Program and step-by-step tutorials of the application process. A lengthy email drip campaign was also sent to all Licensees and industry agents across the state in addition to the Commissions’ general inquiry lists to help promote the opening of the Social Equity Program application and all of the new educational content for potential applicants.
Geotargeting and Media Buy Strategy
To physically meet people where they are with the media placements, geotargeting was used to focus the strategy on a mix of 30 communities the Commission has designated Disproportionately Impacted Areas (DIA) in addition to the 25 most diverse communities in Massachusetts. DIA communities were then categorized into Primary, Secondary, and Non-Target based on demographics, and areas of expansion were selected into other diverse communities adjacent to some DIAs.
The Media Buy Strategy was then further focused on outlets serving the communities within the identified geotargeted zones, and provided a mix of digital, print, and broadcast radio ads in English and Spanish, 25 bus shelter ads around communities in Greater Boston, and advertising buys on social media, IP targeted banner ads, and streaming audio spanning state-wide.