SMOKE SIGNALS: HOF EDITION 10.11.22

Eyyyyy. HOF was super fun.

NORCAL
We love you. History, innovation, struggle, and passion. You feel it in the air and it is always good to be back amongst our Northern California family. ❤️

SHOW
Def busier than we expected but the vibe was “subdued” from our POV. A ton of new brands trying to do their version of Jeeter, Cookies and/or TRAP in feel/tone, while many of the traditional anchor brands did not activate. The show reviews felt mixed with a few brands super stoked on orders while others not so much. Either way to be expected. Times are rough. Thanks Eric Bello, Danny Diamond and HOF team for putting on another great show, good time and continuing to level up the industry. ✌🏼

BIDEN ANNOUCEMENT
The miss-announcement of “Joe Biden decriminalized cannabis” came around noon on Day 2. That was super weird. The “actual news” turned out to be mostly HYPE but still a step in the right direction, and/or towards our long term demise? Either way, we need mainstream investment dollars more than ever right now as stocks PUMPED, spirits raised… a glimmer of hope? We will take it. 👍🏼

ROBOTS IN THE WILD: REPORT
I recognized-ish Ed Schmults (CEO of Statehouse Holdings; Harborside, Loudpack & Urbn Leaf) sitting alone and I asked if I could share his table. He welcomed me to sit down, asked about the show, what I did, and never dropped who he was. He was very upfront that he was new to the industry. I asked him where he came from and mentioned that he spent some time (COO) at Patagonia which just happens to be my favorite company ever so maybe this is a bit biased. I picked up that Ed is a bit of a “turnaround” guy and as much as I want to hate, he seemed like a down to earth and likable dude. We saw Ed/Angela hanging at the CannaCraft party the night before and it is nice to see mainstream C-suite participating in the community and culture. 🤙🏼

BRANDS
The Runtz booths was our personal favorite. The Connected, Alien Labs, Cookies corner was pumping. Alien Labs for the win on their super dope Buyer Box (pictured above). We saw Cann’s new energy drink Thunder. Bloom dropped its Live Rosin Cart. Wyld LAUNCHES a new edible brand called Good Tide. Indie brand Clarkies had super fire flower. Dug on High Totem pre-roll packaging and on the entire Paradise Club vibe/crew as well. 🔥

🤖 What is Jeeter is DROPPING on 10/18?! We heard that HBS is writing a case study on the Jeeter California launch. Pumped to see it.

DISTRIBUTION
Where were they? Nabis was distributing but no booth, while HERBL, Continnum, and CannaCraft were MIA with KSS as the only major distributor on the show floor. We did see 4Front repping their growing roster of brands including blast from the past Island and Bloom Farms and we were surprised Humble & Fume did not represent considering all the noise they have been making as of late. 🤷🏻

🤖 HERBL WINS Ave Miller’s Uncle Arnies. Boom!

RETAIL
More retail buyers than ever before. 💸

🤖 MedMen SUES Adam Bierman for being Adam Bierman.

TECHNOLOGY
The “How Companies can take advantage of Emerging Technologies” panel was our personal favorite. Jocelyn Sheltraw dropped facts on VMI (vendor managed inventory) per Headset’s new “Bridge” product that shows inventory levels via direct POS integration. Yo. This is it. We will save so much time aka money across supply chain when we can mature to this standard. Meanwhile, Nico spoke on Nug’s consistent use of MediaJel and how the NUG $10 “out the door” eighth is responsible for 70% of sales. Did we hear that right?! 💥

🤖 Seems to be some ACTION on Green Street x Lincoln Barnett’s FLWRS project.

EVENTS
The CannaCraft pre-show party was packed and super fun. The fire of fire was at the Doja event… we expect no less. The always raging David Tran event got canceled due to let’s say “POLITICS.” The Pacific Stone and KSS party was happening, while the “High Hopes” party not so much. HERBL had their typical “family style” event on day two that we heard was a really good time. 🥳

ALL IN
Honestly, mushies for the win as most innovative product at HOF (after-parties). It feels like 2013 on the brand building side but pre-06 on the distribution end with zero 215 and/or SB420-ish protection, which feels a bit sketch and also looks super fun. We would like to think our “outlawing” days are over but the mushroom scene is def speaking to our true nature. All in, there is power in numbers and we are super excited to watch the psilo space progress. 🤠

Per the usual… tips, tricks, events and guest lists high@cannabis4robots.com 🤙🏼