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Marijuana and the Metaverse: How LA Cannabis Startups Are Lighting Up the Virtual Realm
07:00 AM | May 17, 2022
With West Hollywood becoming a hub for cannabis consumption lounges and many Silicon Beach companies embracing virtual reality, it was only a matter of time before two of Los Angeles’ two burgeoning industries started mingling.
While many cannabis firms are still figuring out how to incorporate the metaverse and Web3 applications like NFTs, Canoga Park’s Saucey Farms & Extracts has become one of the first business to offer THC products in the metaverse as part of a dispensary in Cryptovoxels, a virtual platform build on the Ethereum blockchain. Local weed brand Califari, meanwhile, recently sold NFT artwork to support the cannabis-oriented criminal justice nonprofit The Last Prisoner Project. Then there’s groups like the Crypto Cannabis Club (CCC), an organization centered around 10,000 “NFTokers” that gives holders discounts on cannabis products and has hosted weed-themed meetups in the Decentraland metaverse.
According to Crypto Cannabis Club CEO Ryan Hunter, about 20% of the community is based in California, with the organization’s most active chapter located in Southern California. Hunter said that CCC uses different metaverses based on its needs; if the Club wants to host virtual 4/20 or 7/10 gatherings for all of its members, those would take place in Decentraland because it’s “more of a wide-open space,” while interactive gaming experience would be on The Sandbox platform, where noted weed entrepreneur Snoop Dogg has already staked a claim.
Hunter views the metaverse as a bridge between real-world cannabis enthusiasts and those who are passionate about virtual experiences.
“We’re trying to intentionally create a community of folks that are part of the cannabis community in the real world, and want to be a part of the cannabis community as it expands into the metaverse [and] these virtual communities that are developing,” he said.
In addition to cannabis ventures, artists are also exploring how the metaverse and Web3 can help them connect with new audiences. Reece Kinsbursky, art director of the The Artist Tree dispensary chain, told dot.LA that he has received interest from artists about showing their NFT artwork on the dispensary’s walls; one even explored marketing a piece for sale via a QR code that would be displayed in the dispensary. (While The Artist Tree does not currently display NFT art at its stores, Kinsbursky didn’t rule it out in the future.)
“It certainly has the capabilities to change a lot in how the ecommerce space functions,” he said of the overlap between NFTs and cannabis. “But it’s too soon to tell.”
Cannabis aside, the metaverse is blossoming into a major focus for tech companies in Los Angeles. From social media companies like Snap to entertainment giants like Disney, there are no shortage of players leveraging virtual reality to grow their businesses and expand how they interact with audiences.
Likewise, Hunter and other cannabis entrepreneurs hope that engaging with metaverse platforms can expand their brand awareness and ecommerce presence. In addition to launching a direct-to-consumer offering—featuring collectible NFTs—in partnership with delivery company CampNova, CCC is building a dispensary in Cryptovoxels to display products from partner brands. In time, Hunter wants the virtual dispensary experience to mirror the real one, complete with a cultivation space where visitors can learn about the growing process.
As for cannabis consumers who may doubt the metaverse’s potential, Hunter believes a little skepticism is healthy.“I think there’s every reason for them to be suspicious, and that’s a great way to approach it,” he said. “I’m not trying to convince anybody. We’re trying to create a community that earns its place—and hopefully we’ll find folks who are open-minded, and they’ll tell friends who are less open-minded and convince them.”
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Why Women’s Purchasing Power Is a Huge Advantage for Female-Led Leagues
05:00 AM | June 12, 2023
Samson Amore
According to a Forbes report last April, both the viewership and dollars behind women’s sports at a collegiate and professional level are growing.
In 2022, the first 32 games of the NCAA tournament had record attendance levels, breaking records set back in 2004, and largely driven by the new and rapidly growing women’s NCAA tournament. WNBA openers this year saw a 21% spike in attendance, with some teams including the LA Sparks reporting triple-digit ticket sales growth, about 121% over 2022’s total. In 2023, the average size of an LA Sparks crowd swelled to 10,396 people, up from 4,701 people.
Women make up half the population, but “also 50% of the folks that are walking into the stadium at Dodger Stadium, or your NFL fans are just about 50% women,” noted Erin Storck, a panelist and senior analyst at Los Angeles-based Elysian Park Ventures.
Storck added that in heterosexual households, women generally manage most of the family’s money, giving them huge purchasing power, a potential advantage for female-run leagues. “There's an untapped revenue opportunity,” she noted.
In the soccer world, Los Angeles-based women’s soccer team Angel City FC has put in the work to become a household name, not just in LA County but across the nation. At an LA Tech Week panel hosted by Athlete Strategies about investing in sports, Angel City head of strategy and chief of staff Kari Fleischauer said that years before launching the women’s National Women’s Soccer League team, Angel City FC was pounding the pavement letting people know about the excitement ladies soccer can bring. She noted community is key, and that fostering a sense of engagement and safety at the team’s home venue, BMO stadium (formerly Banc of California Stadium), is one reason fans keep coming back.
Adding free metro rides to BMO stadium and private rooms for nursing fans to breastfeed or fans on the spectrum to avoid sensory overload, were just some of the ways ACFC tried to include its community in the concept of its stadium, Fleischauer said. She noted, though, that roughly 46% of Angel City fans are “straight white dudes hanging out with their bros.”
“Particularly [on] the woman's side, I'd like to think we do a better job of making sure that there's spaces for everyone,” Fleischauer told the audience. “One thing we realize is accessibility is a huge thing.”
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
‘Influencer Olympics’: Content Creators Are Getting Paid Big Bucks To Attend Coachella
05:01 AM | April 20, 2023
Evan Xie
If someone attends Coachella and doesn’t make a TikTok about it, did they even go? Scrolling through any social media feed over the past few days, it seems like the answer is a firm “no.” Instead, people document everything from the food they ate to the cowboy boots they wore. The is even a genre of video dedicated to complaining about Coachella.
On TikTok, videos tagged #Coachella2023 have already amassed over 1.6 billion views—already up from #Coachella2022, which had 1.5 billion views and the second weekend has yet to begin. On Instagram, the hashtag has almost 37,000 posts. Sure, some of the content is posted by people attending the festival for fun. But a quick scroll through either platform shows that influencers have created the vast majority of the posts.
Content isn’t even limited to the two festival weekends. In the months leading up to Coachella, people share survival tips and outfit inspiration. And, afterward, the outfits reviews judge who captured the current trends and who fell flat.
This flood of content has led many to deride the influencers swarming Coachella. Critics say that the focus on fashion has ruined the festival and that influencers ushered in this change. A recent video by the singer Loren Grey, who rose to fame through TikTok, only confirmed these issues. Grey dubs Coachella “the influencer Olmpyics” despite the fact that many don’t even attend the festival. Instead, she says they film outfit and lifestyle content from the desert to make it look like they were in the thick of things.
So how did Coachella transform from a music-centric event to a TikTok content farm?
The influencers aren’t entirely to blame. Instead, people should point fingers at the brands Coachella works with to sponsor the festival. Brands like Neutrogena, H&M and Casetify—three of this year’s sponsors—all work with influencers to produce content from the festival and promote their products.
But the biggest player in Coachella’s influencers world is Revolve. Since 2015, the fashion company has produced the Revolve Festival concurrently with the first festival weekend, where they invite social media influencers and celebrities to network while watching trending artists perform. And, though influencers made Coachella content prior to Revolve Festival, the new event was a clear turning point in how brands could benefit from social media stars.
Revolve also works with influencer marketing agencies to gift clothes to attendees prior to Coachella. Evidently, the strategy works—back in 2018, the company said sales from the Monday before the festival were higher than Cyber Monday. The music festival has only become more crucial for the brand’s sales since then, with Revolve likening the festival to a retail Superbowl.
But it’s hardly just Revolve that’s capitalizing on the festival. Last year, one influencer said she earned $2,000 per Instagram post featuring Coachella content. Another influencer was paid $2,500 for three Instagram stories and a Reel in addition to a free ticket compliments of one of the brands she partnered with.
The reliance on influencer marketing during the festival is just a reflection of a wider focus on social media marketing. In recent years, brands are leaning even further into the presumed authenticity of micro-influencers who attend the festival. Which of course, means more content from more people.
So as annoying as some people find the unending stream of content, it’s time to accept that Coachella has long been a networking event for those whose livelihood depends on creating a glut of “get ready with me” videos.
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Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is dot.LA's 2022/23 Editorial Fellow. She previously interned with Tiger Oak Media and led the arts section for UCLA's Daily Bruin.
https://twitter.com/ksnyder_db
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