Hijacking the Super Bowl Ad Conversation to Battle Cannabis Censorship

Hijacking the Super Bowl Ad Conversation to Battle Cannabis Censorship

weedmaps super bowl ad

Challenge: Break through advertising restrictions and censorship barriers to own a conversation around sports and cannabis during Super Bowl LVI, an event that took place in the most cannabis-friendly city in the world.

Approach:

  • Hijacked the news cycle with WM’s first ever digital advertisement that questioned the reasoning for cannabis censorship
  • Launched digital ad that created the character Brock Ollie to battle the conversation on cannabis censorship
  • Parceled out assets, executives, and story angles to target exclusive opps across advertising, endemic, business, consumer lifestyle, and sports media
  • Leveraged CEO for Radio Row media tour targeting sports press 
  • Pressured NBC to comment on their restrictions by spotlighting comparative messaging for sports betting and alcohol consumption in relation to cannabis

Impact:

  • Generated significant spikes on the Weedmaps app and website vendors, earning the designation as the most successful program since Weedmaps’ IPO
  • Secured high-impact coverage in mainstream and social editorial press driving the conversation across social channels 
  • Increased traffic to WM’s social channels significantly, pushing Instagram to reinstate the flagged account
  • Earned over 230 editorial placements in key publications including Fox News, Yahoo, Forbes, USA Today, The Verge and an exclusive in AdWeek that prompted a media alert from their publication driving further engagement
  • Recognized in the 2023 PRWeek Awards for Best in Arts, Sports, Entertainment & Media and Best in Social categories​
Weedmaps PRWeek Awards
PR Week Awards 2023