Cannabis Titans Troll Each Other Over 'Knock Off' Pre-Rolls

When the cannabis brand Dogwalkers launched in 2016, it was billed as the perfect mini-joint to smoke while taking a stroll with a four-legged friend. The inspiration for the product—a Poodle mix named Bailey—was even pictured on the packaging. The premium pre-rolled weed has since become a hot seller, now available in seven states—Illinois, New Jersey and Virginia among them—with a portion of proceeds donated to animal welfare groups in Bailey’s memory. While its origin story is heartwarmingly chill, the brand now finds itself in a buzz-harshing standoff with a major competitor. The issue is a suspiciously similar-looking new product called Trekkers that recently debuted in Florida. In short, there’s a dogfight over a copycat. The territorial battle has played out mainly on social media and, so far, the fur isn’t flying in the form of legal threats or cease and desist letters. But there has been plenty of trolling back and forth between Dogwalkers’ parent company Green Thumb Industries and Trekkers' parent Trulieve, two titans of the weed world with a combined market capitalization of more than $4.6 billion, per Benzinga. Pack animals Executives at GTI, after posting a side-by-side comparison of Dogwalkers and “knock off” Trekkers products on Twitter, say they’re “choosing to keep it light” while making a point with their public jabs at Trulieve. “We’re in the early innings in the cannabis industry, and there’s so much room for innovation and creativity,” Ryan Marek, GTI’s senior vice president of marketing, told Adweek. “It looks like the strategy here is to draft off the market leader, and we would rather our competitors create something new.” Imitation is somewhat flattering, he said, but “we’re kindly asking them to find their own path.” In social posts, Trulieve has seemingly acknowledged the resemblance between the two brands, using the winky-face emoji and hyping Trekkers by borrowing the Dogwalkers tagline, encouraging its fans to “Enjoy the journey.” Its colors, fonts and tone are dead ringers for Dogwalkers, and a launch video billing the brand as “adventure ready” stars a couple of hikers…and a dog. Through a spokesman, Trulieve offered only a terse “no comment” to Adweek about the scuffle. Commenters, rarely at a loss for words, have offered opinions like these: “Damn @Trulieve, this feels pretty bad…” “My two favorite companies if they merge it would be called dog trekkers” “Trekkers and Dogwalkers sound like a great tandem. You guys should work together,” followed by a winking GIF “I’m all for competition—makes us better—but innovation to support a highly differentiated experience simply needs to be…more innovative. Just observation, don’t @ me.” https://twitter.com/dogwalkers2016/status/1559510377536397313 Leader of the pack It should come as little surprise that new products are debuting in the pre-roll category, which has surged in popularity over the past few years. As opposed to flower, which requires some DIY skills, pre-rolls are ready to fire up. They're also specifically made for individual consumption, which became a must in the no-sharing Covid-19 era. They often come in small, easily-transportable multi-packs, with a desirable target demo. Brightfield Group estimates that 47% of pre-roll consumers are younger than 35. According to researcher Headset, pre-roll sales increased by 139% from $244 million in sales in Q1 of 2020 to $581 million in Q2 of 2022. Market share jumped 43% during that time, per the data firm's analysis of sales in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. In the first six months of this year, American consumers spent $752 million on pre-rolls, making it the third strongest category after flower and vapes, per Headset. Marking territory For Dogwalkers and other established brands, knock-offs are a problem not easily remedied. There’s an ongoing challenge in guarding intellectual property because cannabis—still federally illegal—cannot secure the federal trademarks that are available to other consumer packaged goods. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office "refuses to register marks for goods or services that show a clear violation of federal law, regardless of the legality of the activities under state law," according to the government division. Some state protections do exist—limited to the confines of that state—though none cover the plant itself, according to Allison Margolin, a Los Angeles-based attorney specializing in cannabis licensing and author of the upcoming book about the failed war on drugs, Just Dope. As a work-around of sorts, weed brands often create their own lines of lifestyle merchandise, Margolin said, which can be trademarked for their design, typography and logos. That's a place-holder until federal cannabis legalization. “You can get a trademark for a t-shirt or another non-weed item but not for the weed itself,” Margolin told Adweek. “So if another company tries to use that design or logo, you can litigate the trademark issue.” Dogwalkers, which did a brand refresh a few years ago, has followed a number of other players in dropping sporty swag collections. Theirs includes hoodies, socks, sweatshirts, flannels and hats, some featuring original artwork and drawings of Bailey. GTI’s Marek declined to talk about trademark protection for the merchandise, and he wouldn’t specify whether the company plans to take any formal action against Trekkers. Marek said copycatting has been a problem in the legal cannabis market for years, predicting that GTI versus Trulieve won’t be the last such conflict. “All of us are hamstrung without federal trademark protection,” he said, “but we look forward to a day where we can benefit from it like any other industry.” The Green Rush Will Be Won by Cannabis Brands That Take Marketing Seriously—Right Now

Cannabis

Copycat Causes Dogfight: Cannabis Titans Troll Each Other Over 'Knock Off' Brand

The social media scuffle highlights the ongoing challenge in protecting weed's intellectual property

T.L. Stanley

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T.L. Stanley