The Cannabis Branding Master Speaks - Jared Minsky of Wick and Mortar Talks Branding and Logos

The Cannabis Branding Master Speaks - Jared Minsky of Wick and Mortar Talks Branding and Logos

Cannabis Branding Secrets and Tips - Jared Mirsky of Wick and Mortar Sits Down with Cannabis.Net from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

(Click on the video above to listen to the whole interview)

How should a cannabis brand approach a new logo or brand in today's crowded market? Cannabis.net got to sit down with Jared Minsky of Wick and Mortar, the go-to cannabis branding expert for many of the well known cannabis brands out there. What does Jared think of pot leafs in logos? What consumer brand logos does he like the most and why? Listen in as Jared gives some tips to new CBD brands on how to be different and get peoples' attention in the legal cannabis market.

Curt: All right, everybody Curt here with cannabis.net, and we have Jared Mirsky. The famous, maybe the number one cannabis branding expert in the industry. Here in CanEx, Jamaica, live with us. How you doing?

Jared Mirsky: Doing amazing.

Curt: Now you had a great panel yesterday about branding, creating your image and how to connect with people in this space. Now up until this point, we've seen lots of logos, designs, just as you said, "Thrown off the cuff. Let's put a pot leaf in front of a big vector, and call it a logo." With so many CBD brands coming online now, white labeling. When a CBD client calls you, what are the first couple things you immediately tell them about their brand or their logo?

Jared Mirsky: Well, if I get the opportunity to audit their brand, or at least their identity, for the most part, and I find some obvious discrepancies. I try to mitigate the risk that they may have entering into marketing with respect to how much more money they'll have to spend trying to market something that doesn't look nearly as good as something that could, well, sell itself to a degree. If perhaps the differentiating value propositions were much stronger with respect to how they were communicated through the brand messaging.

Curt: So when someone comes in, they're going to have an investor, they're going to do CBD and they say, "Of course we have to have a pot leaf, or a cannabis plant, or a swirly leaf." How do you talk them off the ledge? How do you get them off of that?

Jared Mirsky: I say, "Go find another design agency to do that for you, because I will not do that." We're past that. I myself had a company called Online Marijuana Design. And we had a pot leaf in our logo, and green in our identity, and even marijuana in our name. But that time changed. When I needed to be so incredibly obvious to an industry that was so well underground is no longer underground.

Jared Mirsky: And now, it's an opportunity for us to look like real CPG brands. Real brands that communicate messaging that translates beyond just getting high, right? There's a huge issue in differentiation, and how a brand goes about expelling that. In terms of how are we communicating? What makes us unique to the industry? But more importantly to our consumers. It's..

Curt: That's okay. So what are some of the brands, or projects that you're really most proud of? If someone said, "Show me your favorite three." I'm not going to say best, but if you said check that, that, and that. What are some of the ones in the past that people could go look at?

Jared Mirsky: Wow, that's a great question. Because we've had the opportunity of working with some just amazing companies. We're working with Headset, we're creating a lot of their video content right now we're super proud of. We worked with Aurora Cannabis out of Canada. We've done some pretty awesome design work for them as well. Canndescent, we did some strategic work for them. Did some web work early on when they first got started.

Curt: All right. I won't put you on the cannabis spot to pick your favorite.

Jared Mirsky: Hmmmm

Curt: I was going to say I don't want to eliminate someone. Say, "Hey, he did our stuff. He didn't mention our name."

Jared Mirsky: I know

Curt: Now let's go outside of cannabis. What are your favorite logos and brands? Who communicates the best, non-cannabis, anything goes?

Jared Mirsky: I love just the obvious Nike, Starbucks. FedEx, sounds weird. But I love using their logo as a story to how less is more. When you look at the arrow in the FedEx logo, it could be considered moving forward. And moving forward is a symbol of a number of things, especially with a company like FedEx.

Jared Mirsky: I really like Amazon. I guess I probably like the logos most that I usually explain in stories when I'm trying to tell a client or partner why less is more, but [crosstalk 00:04:09]... favorite.

Curt: All right, so Wick and Mortar.

Jared Mirsky: Yeah.

Curt: What's the best way to contact you for a consultation? How should they call? Email? Give me the info.

Jared Mirsky: So you can find us obviously through the obvious wickandmortar.com. I will have jaredmirsky.com up and running within the next month or so. So you'll be able to hire me as a personal consultant through that. But more importantly, you can find me on social. I'm very active on LinkedIn and Instagram. So just @Jared.Mirsky on Instagram. And I believe it's just Jared Mirsky at Wick and Mortar... I mean at LinkedIn. So you can find me there.

Curt: All right, sounds good. Thanks for sitting down with cannabis.net. Check them out if you're looking for branding, or any type of design. He is the go-to secret source in the industry.

Jared Mirsky: Peace.

Cannabis Branding Secrets and Tips - Jared Mirsky of Wick and Mortar Sits Down with Cannabis.Net from CannabisNet on Vimeo.