If you have spent a significant amount of time on the internet in recent years, it is almost guaranteed that you have come across marketing materials that incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) in some manner. Whether it is AI-generated images, text, or logos, if you doomscroll for long enough, you will presumably be exposed to AI marketing materials.
Marketing companies and individual marketers are increasingly using AI to support their pursuits across every major industry in the United States and globally, and the cannabis industry is no exception. For the record, my only personal use of AI-generated material on this website as of the posting of this article is this article’s featured image, for what that is worth.
How do cannabis consumers feel about the use of AI in cannabis marketing, and does it impact their purchasing decisions? That question was at the heart of a recent poll conducted by online medical cannabis platform NuggMD.
NuggMD’s poll asked cannabis consumers, “If it were clear that a cannabis brand used artificial intelligence (AI) in their marketing and promotions, how would this affect your likelihood of purchasing products or services from that brand?” Below are the poll’s results:
“To me, this poll makes the rather intuitive point that, when it comes to creative and branding, having AI do it isn’t a functional strategy. Among cannabis consumers, visibly AI-led branding is a full 38 points underwater. That’s absurdly low.” Andrew Graham, Head of Communications at NuggMD, told Cannabis Industry Data about the poll’s results.
“AI has many positive use cases for businesses that want to grow and scale in industries like cannabis. Doing the heavy lifting of creative professionals, whose work reflects the values of consumers, isn’t one of them.” Mr. Graham added.
While it is unclear what percentage of cannabis companies use AI to craft their marketing materials, a report from the Marketing AI Institute found that within the wider professional marketing community, “thirty-six percent of respondents say that AI is now infused into their daily workflows.”