Al Harrington’s Cannabis Brand Viola Asks ‘What’s Your Vibe?’
The brand’s most significant marketing push is part of a function-over-form trend in weed
It’s a typical day in the neighborhood, with a grandma fussing over her potted plants on the front porch, a young father diving into his yard work and a yogi settling in for her morning meditation.
What all three have in common, aside from living on the same street, is their cannabis use. Yet each person has a different motivation—from chilling out to getting energized to blocking distractions. So each reaches for a different type of weed. One size, in other words, does not fit all.
Their stories intertwine in a 90-second video for Viola, the cannabis brand founded by former NBA star and current ganjapreneur Al Harrington, in its most significant advertising push to date.
The digital ad, along with several 30-second cut-downs from Los Angeles production partner Basewood, is the centerpiece of a campaign to introduce its rebranded product line, now known as Viola Vibes.
The brand, named for Harrington’s grandmother, is retiring its distinctive purple jars in favor of new packaging that aims to educate consumers and help them decide what to buy based on how they want to feel.
Viola’s research led to the brand refresh, which breaks product into categories such as “Kick Back,” “Lights Out” and “Get Up and Go.”
“Consumers told us they get overwhelmed in a dispensary, where there’s a lot of clutter,” Najee Tyler, Viola’s director of brand marketing, told Adweek. “And they might not be comfortable talking to a budtender, someone they don’t know, telling them their problems and issues.”
Viola Vibes intends to “point people in the right direction and help them find their way around,” Tyler said. “It also can help them find their purpose—why are they consuming?”
Function over form
The campaign is part of an ongoing—and spiking—trend in weed marketing that leans more into “need states” and relies less on jargon that many consumers, especially newbies, find confusing.
A variety of brands are taking the function-over-form approach, among them Koan’s Love Cordials that tout “a smooth and sensual high that releases tension, creates a deeper sense of connection and heightens tactile sensation.”
Marketers say easy-to-interpret language is key to growth in the $30 billion U.S. industry, particularly because it speaks to the massive cannacurious audience that can be intimidated by weed shopping. It’s also another step toward normalization.
“To bring more people into the cannabis family, we have to show them how they can use it to supplement and augment their busy, everyday lives,” Wesley Williams, co-founder and CEO of KND Infusions, told Adweek. “It’s not about looking for an escape or just getting high—it’s about looking for support on their wellness self-care journeys.”
Weed brands can’t make definitive health claims—they can’t promise to cure certain ills, for example—but they can advertise based on their own legally required testing and feedback from consumers about the effects, even when those can vary.
Williams and others say they expect more brands to communicate to potential buyers with function-first messages, which could help destigmatize the plant.
“Cannabis 2.0 is about cannabis in real life,” said Williams, whose startup is launching low-dose Kinetik Nanobites edibles formulated specifically for calm and focus. “The more we can show that cannabis can be an effective tool for self-care, the more we’ll be able to get over this misconception that cannabis is a toy.”
Breathe in, vibe out
The short film for Viola Vibes—which contains a cameo from Harrington himself as a party guest—took inspiration from a number of familiar, nostalgic sources, including cheesy Winterfresh chewing gum commercials from decades past.
Viola’s in-house marketing team created the concept, with Basewood helping refine and produce the spots, which were shot in L.A.
The campaign intentionally shows a cross-section of cannafans—folks from different walks of life and varying age demos—under the tagline, “Breathe in, vibe out.”
“We thought about how we could embody a community aspect in the commercial,” Tyler said. “And also focus on accessibility.”
The hero video and its 30-second versions—airing on Viola’s social channels and YouTube—are part of a broader effort that will include budtender and consumer appreciation events at retail in California, Michigan and Colorado and an online “what’s your vibe” quiz for consumers.