A cannabis brand launched by poker player and Instagram personality Dan Bilzerian has launched the first major UK campaign for cannabidiol (more commonly known as simply CBD), a component of cannabis that has been legal in the UK since last year.
Ignite went on sale in the UK today (16 July) and offers CBD in several formats: a rechargeable vape, drops, disposable vapes and lip balm. It is initially available online, but the brand said it was in discussions with major retailers.
It is launching with a campaign, „Ignited Kingdom”, running across print, out-of-home, digital out-of-home and digital display, created by Five by Five. The agency was approached by Ignite and appointed without a pitch in May. The media agency is Medialab.
CBD is a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, believed by its advocates to offer effects such as improved mood and concentration. CBD products contain little or no THC, the chemical compound that creates the high delivered by cannabis.
In the US, where recreational cannabis is now legal in states including California, Ignite also offers cannabis buds that contain THC. The company launched in the US in September 2018.
The UK campaign includes five executions that combine fashion, religious and spiritual cues, and are intended to demonstrate the balanced lifestyle the brand claims CBD can help support.
Paul Cottrell, executive creative director at Five by Five, said: „CBD is a brand new sector in the UK and Ignite’s a new brand over here too. We needed to transpose the unapologetically feel-good, California chill-out vibe that made Ignite such a success in the US to a British audience.
„The work is simple, it’s positive and it spells out what Ignite can do for customers. I can’t thank the team enough for their implicit trust and letting us plant the flag for CBD in the UK.”
Jim McCormick, chief executive of Ignite, said the company had experienced a „reluctance from traditional gatekeepers to engage” with the brand and it had chosen Five by Five as „an expert launch agency to navigate this unknown landscape with our brand”.
According to cannabis consultancy Prohibition Partners, quoted in the Financial Times, the UK’s cannabis market will grow to be worth £16.5bn in the next decade.