Marijuana Business Magazine - March 2018

Siblings Jeff Koz and Roberta Koz Wilson are co-founders of California’s Dr. Norm’s. Photo courtesy of Dr. Norm’s “The THC serving size is truly a func- tion of working with a trusted testing lab, fine-tuned process controls and a big mathematical equation,” Burns said. At Dr. Norm’s, the infusion of distil- late into the coconut oil is done by hand to ensure equal distribution of THC in the oil.The potency of distillate changes frequently, so testing and adjusting recipes is critical. For that reason, sibling co-founders Jeff Koz and Roberta Koz Wilson – are always present to oversee the production of the products. In terms of automation, Dr. Norm’s uses a Formatic machine – made by the British company Deighton Manufactur- ing – that is calibrated to weigh cookie dough into an exact size. Even then, a trained staff member double-checks to ensure every cookie is the same size and weight, Roberta said. “The most absolute way to be sure what’s going into the product is to do it manually, so we can eyeball every single thing,” she said. Marketing Low-Dose Products Marketing low-dose products can be challenging: Many consumers who use cannabis regularly want the most bang for their buck, meaning products with higher levels of THC. That’s where branding, direct market- ing and consumer education come into play. Burns said “cultural intuition” informed the marketing of Sweet Grass’ three varieties of low-dose Buttermelts: Mojito Mint, White Russian and Moscow Mule. With 2.5 milligrams of THC in each Buttermelt, a single serv- ing is designed to give people a similar experience to consuming one alcoholic beverage. “Creating ‘cultural intuition’ is the notion here,” Burns said. “We’ve designed products that leverage things we already know – the feeling from one glass of wine – and we apply that to cannabis so that society in general learns how to best consume cannabis products. We’re teaching – not just telling – through product design how to use the product responsibly and how to enjoy it. You can tell someone [about dosage] and hand them a card. But when you build that education into the product design around the user’s experience, that’s how we’re going to teach people and normalize consumption.” At Dr. Norm’s, the Koz siblings man- age sales of their products by communi- cating their brand tagline – “Know Your Dose” – directly to Southern California retailers, who have the ability to educate their customers about low-dose prod- ucts and safe consumption. Budtenders and retailers have been some of Dr. Norm’s best brand ambassadors. “Once they like the product, they get behind it and they promote it,” Koz said. Kiva Confections has a similar strategy. It employs brand ambassa- dors to visit more than 20 dispensaries every week in Northern and Southern California to talk with consumers about 44 • Marijuana Business Magazine • March 2018