While the cannabis industry is cheering Twitter’s recent move to allow ads on the platform, brands are still trying to figure out the new rules, which keep significant restrictions in place.

Under Twitter’s update to its cannabis marketing policy, announced on Feb. 14, advertisers are allowed to promote brand preference and informational cannabis-related content. Previously, the only cannabis-related ads allowed on Twitter were for CBD products that are applied topically and contain less than 0.3% of THC. (THC is the intoxicating substance in cannabis.) The update loosens rules on brands that sell high-inducing cannabis, as well as those that market non-high-inducing CBD products that are ingested, such as gummies.

“It sounds like they will allow lifestyle, informational brand-based creative,” said Cory Rothschild, national retail president of cannabis company Cresco Labs, the parent of brands including retailer Sunnyside and Mindy’s edibles. “They definitely are not going to allow explicit promotions; 20% off or something like that.”

The five marketers who spoke to Ad Age for this story said they’ve been told images of cannabis products will not be allowed.

Twitter will use a biddable media buying model, requiring no minimums or maximums, said Amy Larson, senior VP of marketing and communications at Tilt Holdings, owner of brands including vapor device maker Jupiter Research and marijuana retailer Standard Farms, citing information learned at a meeting she had with a Twitter representative on Wednesday. 

Larson and Rothschild said Twitter reps have told them that there will be few restrictions on the pages brands can link out to. Larson said Twitter will also be more lenient in copy to allow certain THC-related language that would not be allowed to be shown through images.

“My sense is that they are not as focused on where you go to from the ad as much as what the ad looks like in their ecosystem,” Rothschild said.

Larson said a Twitter rep told her that the platform would use an algorithm to flag content that violates its rules—and that would essentially be the vehicle it would use to educate brands on how to comply.

She said she was told, “Basically if you post it and you see your spend start going, it’s been approved.”

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

Despite the restrictions, Twitter’s decision is seen as monumental for many cannabis marketers because social media ad buying has been historically nonexistent for these brands.

Facebook, Instagram (both owned by Meta) and TikTok ban paid cannabis advertising and often censor organic cannabis-related posts and accounts. Google only recently loosened its CBD ad policy in a pilot program that started in January; it allows brands to run paid ads for non-ingestible CBD products—with a THC level lower than the legal limit of 0.3%—in California, Colorado and Puerto Rico.

“Social media represents a massive, massive category [for] both audience and advertising,” said David Spreckman, executive VP of marketing for cannabis company Verano. “It’s the new frontier with huge audiences, very high engagement, and with the opportunity to very efficiently and in a very targeted manner reach your consumers. Given what we’ve had available to us historically, the unlocking of Twitter is a massive signal of change moving in the right direction not just for Verano but for the cannabis community as a whole.”

Navigating the restrictions to make impactful creative

Twitter will be leaving it in the hands of cannabis brands to create ads that adhere to its policies and abide by individual state laws; something cannabis marketers said they are used to by now. For example, most states have different rules around how to limit exposure of people under the age of 21 to cannabis marketing; some states such as Massachusetts have stricter laws that, for example, prohibit any promotion of discounts in weed ads. Medical cannabis is legal in 37 states, plus Washington, D.C., while 21 states have legalized recreational cannabis.

“We already have to create ads within the different regulations of the markets we work in,” Larson said. “That’s a bit of copy and paste.”

With Twitter, cannabis companies will have to figure out how to build brand awareness and stand apart from the pack while staying within guidelines, Larson said.

Some cannabis ads have already started to go live on the platform.

Balanced Health Botanical, the parent of hemp-derived CBD brands, started running ads on Twitter for CBDistillery, its flagship CBD brand, on Thursday. The company worked with cannabis-compliant ad platform FlowerShop Media to put the campaign out quickly. The ads highlight the potential health benefits of CBD, such as reducing anxiety, and they avoid using any images of the product.

“For these ads, we wanted to drive home the benefits of CBD and the fact that consumers have the potential to experience things like relaxation, reduced tension, mental clarity and increased focus while using our products,” Balanced Health Botanical CEO Chase Terwilliger said.

Terwilliger also noted the benefit of being able to link directly to the company’s website in the ads. He said with organic posts on Meta, for example, the company can only send viewers through to an educational site, “with the hope they find their way to our commerce site."

Some cannabis companies are looking to the alcohol industry as inspiration for their ads on Twitter, as they also have had to advertise within stricter regulations—for example, the platform prohibits brands from showing people drinking alcohol in ads and marketers anticipate it will have a similar restriction with cannabis.

Ashley Fields, senior VP of marketing and communications for a THC- and CBD-infused tonic drink called Cann, said her company’s biggest competitors are hard seltzer brands, so they’ll be looking to those “creative examples.”

Rothschild said Cresco will most likely be taking an “occasion-based messaging approach,” which is essentially promoting instances in which people might consume or smoke weed. That approach will directly rival alcohol messaging—of course, some alcohol brands including Samuel Adams brewer Boston Beer joined other advertisers in pausing ad spend on Twitter after Elon Musk took ownership of the platform, according to The Washington Post citing Pathmatics data.

“The good news with cannabis is it is a replacement or a supplement to existing occasions in individuals’ lives,” Rothschild said. “You don’t actually have to convince people that they need to alleviate their knee pain; you don’t have to convince people that they would like a lower calorie alternative to alcohol with less hangover. Those are very appealing occasions that exist in many people’s lives. You just have to help them understand your product helps them meet those needs.”

Cresco has used this occasion-based messaging in organic social posts on Instagram for its Good News cannabis products, including its Counting Sheep indica gummies (with its intended purpose to help people relax). These posts have featured just the product name and sleepy images with couches and pillows.

What brands want to see from Twitter

The five marketers interviewed for this story said they have been in conversations with Twitter about the platform reversing its cannabis marketing ban for a few weeks leading up to its announcement. So they’ve been able to express what they want to see reflected in its policies. They all agreed that the interactions have been good and Twitter has at least been receptive to their feedback.

“The fact that Twitter reached out to us proactively shows their dedication to the category,” Rothschild said.

Performance and measurement are two areas these brands said they want to see Twitter focused on before they commit to any big investments.

Fields said Cann will likely commit around $25,000 to Twitter in the initial testing phase and will focus on key growth markets including California, New York, Texas and Florida. She said Cann is very focused on measuring the revenue the business earns for each dollar it spends on advertising; it has a goal of gaining a return of six times its original investment.

“But anything above [2x] is something we’re willing to look at,” Fields said. “That said, that’s only the first touch point. [Return on ad spend] is important but we’ll want to continue to look at those customers we’re acquiring through Twitter and compare them to some of our other acquisition channels.”

Cresco Labs will similarly be focused on key performance metrics.

“We have a very data-forward and measurement-forward strategy when it comes to our advertising approach,” Rothschild said. “Part of that is to ensure for every $1 we put in, we produce more than $1 for our business.”

Fields is optimistic that Twitter will eventually be able to deliver.

“Twitter has a really good track record of adapting,” Fields said. “They’ve experimented with a lot of different ad units and tactics.”

Rothschild said he is particularly excited to use Twitter’s LiveRamp platform, through which brands and agencies can send their first-party data. He said Cresco Labs’ retail chain of dispensaries, Sunnyside, gives it access to a wealth of first-party data that many other traditional CPG companies don’t have.

Still, many other advertisers have fled Twitter after free-speech absolutist Musk took over, creating ongoing chaos that’s included a slew of brand safety concerns and executive departures such as Sarah Personette and JP Maheu, who were close to brands.

A December Forrester report downgraded Twitter and advised advertisers to allocate the majority of their social media budgets elsewhere, noting that not only do brands that remain on the platform risk reputational damage but they aren’t getting as much out of it because its performance-based ad products, in particular, haven’t evolved at the same pace as competitors including Meta's.

“Marketers believe that Twitter is less efficient,” the report stated. “Advertising executives we spoke with noted that Twitter’s direct-response ad products do not deliver the performance required to meet lower-funnel media goals. Instead, they turn to Meta for full-funnel coverage and use Twitter only for mid- to upper-funnel media goals, such as ‘awareness’ or ‘consideration.’”

WPP CEO Mark Read on Thursday said that clients are beginning to think about returning to Twitter.

For cannabis brands, Meta isn’t an option and it’s better to have some social media presence than none.

Larson noted that the more places companies can get their messages out and normalize cannabis, the better. “Education is one of the things this industry still needs the most,” she said.

What this decision means for the industry

“This is really exciting,” Rothschild said. “In the biggest picture, we should be excited for this moment as an industry and a broader society. Are there going to be hiccups at the start? Sure. Are there going to be growing pains? Absolutely. Are there limitations caused by the current federal environment? Yes. But this is a really good thing.”

Even so, Rothschild said he doubts it will immediately lead to other major publicly traded social platforms reversing their bans on cannabis marketing, and he doesn’t blame them as they’re in “a difficult position” given it’s still federally illegal.

Fields said she hopes at the very least other major platforms will loosen up their restrictive policies on organic posts around cannabis. She said twice she’s had Instagram shut down Cann’s account the day before it launched a campaign because of celebrity posts the brand tried using on the Meta-owned platform to tease it.

“This could help push other social platforms to rethink their regulations on the organic side,” Fields said.

Rothschild said the decision could lead to more private-owned media companies opening up their sites for cannabis marketing. Cresco has worked with cannabis marketing-friendly companies such as Condé Nast and Tastemade, for example, in the past.

“When you see someone like Twitter get into this game, not only does it normalize it, but it also starts people thinking about losing that first-mover advantage,” Rothschild said. “Cannabis companies are developing relationships with advertisers and those relationships are meaningful. You don’t forget those who helped you get to where you are.”

~ ~ ~
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to FlowerShop Media as Flower Media.