Marijuana Business Magazine March 2020

March 2020 | mjbizdaily.com 63 “I never believed Tiger drove an Oldsmobile,” Jankowski said. As for Grande’s arrangement with Star- bucks? She’s a vegan, and egg whites were a key ingredient in the Cloud Macchiato Starbucks created for the singer. A celebrity also can pull out of a deal, leaving a company’s future uncertain. Last month, Whoopi & Maya Medical Cannabis, a California company with MMJ products available in stores in Cal- ifornia and Colorado, ceased operations in the wake of an unresolved dispute between co-founders Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Elisabeth. When the Whoopi & Maya women- focused brand was announced, it immediately received attention from late-night talk shows and Vanity Fair, company co-founder and board member Rick Cusick said. “We were on the opening jokes of both (Jimmy) Kimmel and (Stephen) Colbert, and we got Vanity Fair that day,” Cusick said. CHOOSE CELEBRITIES WISELY Santa Rosa, California-based investment firm Left Coast Ventures, which focuses on building, investing in or acquiring cannabis brands, has been approached by several celebrities interested in creating a cannabis brand, but the company has been selective about whom it chooses to partner with. Cannabis must be authen- tic to a celebrity’s life, and the celebrity must be iconic in his or her art. “We want someone who really wants to get behind and stand by the brand they’re bringing to market,” Left Coast Ventures CEO Brett Cummings said. “They have to be passionate and want to share cannabis with the world.” The company spent more than a month researching legendary guitarist Carlos Santana, looking at everything from his music to his autobiography to his podcasts to learn as much about his life and philosophy on cannabis as possi- ble. The company then met with Santana and his business advisers to show them consumer insights, a matrix of different products, the consumer groups it plans to target and how it will roll out the line of cannabis flower and pre-rolls and hemp CBD products, expected to launch this summer. After the presentation, Santana gave a stream-of-consciousness narrative about how cannabis lets people’s light shine. “He went through this creative process that was so helpful,” Cummings said. “We worked really closely with Carlos to make sure we came up with a brand that’s really authentic to him. He wanted to be very involved. He helped with input on all the look and feel of the brand.” Santana told Marijuana Business Magazine he chose to work with Left Coast Ventures, in part, because it has built brands around other musicians he admires, such as late reggae pioneer Bob Marley and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. “They were willing to sit down with me and exchange goals and ideas about expanding consciousness and using the brand to do research about how to sepa- rate (the THC) molecule in the product,” said Santana, who is receiving royalties from the deal that will go to his Milagro Foundation, which benefits underserved and vulnerable children. “I’m interested in people being productive and very active in imagination and believing they can heal themselves.” RESPECT THE ARTISTRY Among the best-known celebrity brands is Willie’s Reserve, a line of flower, vape and edibles products named for country music legend and cannabis activist Willie Nelson. “Building anything around a personality is a tricky business,” said Elizabeth Hogan, vice president of Willieʼs Reserve flower, vape and edibles products are named for country music legend Willie Nelson. Courtesy Photo