Famous names, mixed results

Celebrities from Jay-Z to Justin Bieber are trying to make their mark on the cannabis industry with high-profile product launches and collaborations. It’s easy to see why they want in: Pot is expected to become a $45.8 billion market by 2025, according to projections from data firm Headset.

But whether it’s Seth Rogen’s prerolled joints or Cann, the THC beverage backed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosario Dawson, their products face a crowded market that’s struggling with tumbling prices, a thriving black market that’s undercutting the legal one, and a complex patchwork of rules that varies from state to state. Not to mention stalled efforts at federal legalization that limit cannabis companies’ access to credit and banking services.

So while celebrity-backed brands have generated a lot of press, most haven’t become top sellers in the highly fragmented and still-nascent cannabis market. Some retailers in states where marijuana has been legal the longest say that celebrity-linked brands have struggled to seriously compete with bigger labels such as Jeeter and Pacific Stone.

For Daniel Firtel, who leads TRP, a cannabis retailer with 18 dispensaries across eight states, he’s noticed that consumers don’t “necessarily care as much about celebrity attachments.” The vast majority of his company’s top-selling brands aren’t celebrity-linked ones, he added.

Statehouse Holdings Inc., a cannabis company with 14 California stores, similarly noted that celebrity lines haven’t upended the competition. [Read More @ Bloomberg]