Grandma is living her best life—soaking up the sun, shopping for colorful clothes, chatting with inanimate objects, hanging in the park, levitating above the action.
She’s staying busy, she tells her granddaughter during a phone call, but she’s totally chill. That’s because she’s stoned. Lightly, but most definitely, stoned.Â
The modern elder in question, played by actor Nita Freeman, is at the heart of a cinematic campaign from cannabis brand Miss Grass, which launches its first hemp-derived gummies with the most ambitious marketing campaign in its history.
In addition to “Lift Up” starring Freeman, the in-house creatives at female-founded Miss Grass have dropped a second short film called “Wind Down” that taps into the popular dance video trend seen across mainstream brands.Â
Inspiration for the concepts and their energetic tone came from sources like pdLang, Kendrick Lamar’s creator-centric collective, and prolific director Spike Jonze, with a dose of camp.
Elevated marketing
The content aims to capture the essence of being high without devolving into tired clichés about the experience or the users, according to Priyanka Pulijal, head of creative at Miss Grass.
“We’re trying to show that cannabis storytelling can be as elevated and intentional as fashion or beauty or film advertising,” Pulijal told ADWEEK. “The cannabis industry in general pours so much energy into survival and sales that storytelling can get overlooked—we wanted to push the boundaries.”
Miss Grass, which sells cannabis flower and prerolls in seven states, is entering the ultra-hot hemp-derived category for the first time with Jewels gummies.Â
By doing so, the brand is following in the footsteps of Cann, Wyld, Wana, 1906, Belushi’s Farm, and many others that are selling federally legal micro-dosed drinks and edibles in what’s been dubbed “Cali sober summer.” The demand for hemp-derived products has exploded in recent years, accounting for $2.8 billion in sales in 2023, per Brightfield Group, expected to hit $4.4 billion by 2029.