Locked doors. Secret sauces. The game-changers as camouflaged as possible.
As far as the topic of scaling in hemp, the most top hemp branding consultants do not shout off of the rooftops. They also discreetly take startups and turn them into cult brands, just the way they revitalize legacy players and make them drop the baggage of the past.
You might think you have had all the heavy-hitters but you are wrong. There is untapped potential in some of the most inspiring talent, until now.
What Makes the Best the Best?
There is no paint-by-numbers hemp branding. It has required business acumen, legal-minded innovativeness, sharp consumer insights and the knack of how to transform a hemp flower into a store shelf magnet.
That is how consultants at the top perform differently:
• Relate to your key customers at a visceral level and not a selling level.
• Interpret marketing signals even before it becomes clear in trend reports.
• Thread the needle (striking the balance of bold position on the one hand and demanding strict compliance on the other).
• Make your origin story, mission and ethics, customer and daily loyalty (or free word-of-mouth marketing).
Get to know the Consultants That Win Brands–Quietly, Creatively, Powerfully
- Ember Hatch Consultancy
Interview founders who have cooperated with Ember Hatch and they will tell you more about confidence rather than colors. With Olivia Hatch at the helm, this micro-agency has fronted over 30 hemp and CBD launches since 2018 some of which are often by founders fed up with the cliche green leaf logos and the so-called farm to face industry jargon.
The reasons why they are prominent:
Gets at the root of every founder story, unearthes non-visible assets, and brand values that larger agencies dismiss.
They are known to conduct live audit wherein the team attaches itself onto a brand in its warehouse, sales floor and even, fields and rewrites the playbook, inside out.
Brands mentioned her no nonsense gut checks and kill off capability of projects not truly ready to go into the market thus saving clients small fortunes.
• Assisted a Colorado start-up in making the transition in 19 months between local farmers markets and Whole Foods shelves.
Ember Hatch proves that you only need guts and a bottom-up comprehension, not glitz.
- Juno Grow Studio
There is always a buzz at the Expo West on who is coming with the best packaging that makes people stand and stare. In most cases, it is a Juno Grow Studio. Designers, copywriters and market researchers who are crazy about the next hemp boom come together in this boutique collective.
Their difference:
• Ideation sprints with clients, in workshop mode, that are real creative jams with sticky notes, market facts and crazy ideas.
• Collaborations with local artisans deep, transforming the packaging of its products into art and a talking point to the locals.
• A microbatch launch mechanism, which is ideal to test the regional tastes or pop-culture inspired releases with a national push later.
Recent successes A California hemp skincare brand reached sell-through of 140 percent in 60 days after its launch, with 40 percent of consumers posting on unboxing.
According to the clients, Juno helps to transform maybe we could to watch us lead.
- Axis Leap Advisors
Through this strategy first brain trust approach, the fluff is cut and the differentiation is immediately begun. Axis Leap-researchers, psychologists, and the previous heads of CPG growth are united in a hemp passion project.
So what Axis Leap offers:
• Proprietary market mapping- hole and buried treasure spotting, and in some cases even in the eyes of the retailer.
• Brand archetype profiling: getting the founders out of the me-too positioning into identities that are almost as sharp as a Colorado morning.
Continuous strategy meetings-ois New “gut checks” and data-driven re-boots, every quarter.
• Infamous at gearing clients up before investor-pitches, rebrands or so called step-up retail migrations.
The fingerprints of Axis Leap can be found on some of the most acute turns over the last three years, like dozy Colorado startup all the way to the top 10 wellness brands on Amazon.
- Radiant Roots Creative
By its mission statement to its cult CBD pet edibles, vegan influencers, and other business influencers, Radiant Roots finds success at the nexus of the vision and action. Storytellers are in their soul, fanatical about words which focus on real persons, and veritable mission.
Their approach:
Deep interviews with not only personas but with actual customers.
• Launching on social-first, and creating hype on TikTok or Instagram before a site has ever launched.
• Training founders on how to pitch podcast, sit on panels and how to own their narrative.
• Radical transparency: The documentation of their success stories is always there, yet they will never hide what went wrong (and how the brands recovered).
What clients after clients mention is that one of the things that Radiant Roots does successfully is that it makes products into movements.
Important qualities to look out for (That even when you are not hiring them):
- Crystal-clear communication. You must come out of every call or session with new knowledge and ideas; no abstract promises and elusive jargon.
- Brand-audience empathy. They should be able to get your mission as well as the hopes, quirks and even objections of your market.
- Regulatory wisdom. The very best hemp branding consultants collaborate with compliance, and in effect, it prevents brands the massacre of reinventions.
- Future focus. Seek consultants that ensure that everything tactical resonates with the greater vision- longevity over viral.
Fast-Track Guide of Selecting Your Branding Partner
• Identify three key objectives of your brand. Get a clear vision of winning.
• Look at case studies or the portfolio work, do you recognize tactical thinking, not pretty pictures?
Silent Genius is the fastest Race
It is speed over volume when it comes to hemp branding. Substance overcomes jingle.
A beautiful package that sits in the dust cloud is the opposite of the right consultant that is loved by customers who will seek it out, request it by name, and recommend it to friends.
Do not believe that you can handle everything with the names of well-known agencies. Such leading hemp branding consultancies like Ember Hatch, Juno Grow studio, Axis Leap Advisors, Radiant Roots Creative and so many others show that the actual game is happening slightly below the radar. Recruit on soul, brains and balls. The story of your brand, and its bottom-line, will never be the same.
