Pennsylvania medical cannabis firm kicks off $500K marketing push

(Note: This story was updated from an earlier version.)

In a first for Pennsylvania, a marijuana cultivation and dispensary business has launched a cannabis marketing campaign.

Cresco Yeltrah – which is affiliated with Illinois-based Cresco Labs – is spending roughly $500,000 on billboards, magazine and newspaper advertisements as well as a social media campaign, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The campaign – designed to inform residents about the state’s MMJ program – has been approved by Pennsylvania’s health department, according to the newspaper.

The first phase of Cresco’s campaign includes three images that will appear on electronic billboards statewide beginning Sept. 27.

One of the images depicts a woman performing yoga on a Pennsylvania-shaped mat and the message, “Welcome to a State of Relief,” the Post-Gazette reported. The ads mention Cresco’s name, but they don’t encourage patients to buy the company’s products.

Cresco officials told the newspaper the ads are meant to get potential patients thinking about medical cannabis so they can start the patient application process and get their cards by the time the program launches in July 2018.

Cresco was involved in another marketing first, in 2015, when Bank of America allowed it to be one of the sponsors of the Chicago Marathon.