Tokyo Smoke is building its brand on customer experience
Much of the discussion around legalized cannabis focuses on the product—growing, marketing, packaging and dispensing it. important business considerations, no doubt, but for tokyo smoke the emphasis has always been on building A brand that puts customers and customer experience first. A recent merger with DOJA to form hiku brands has only intensified that mission.
tokyo smoke was created in 2015 by co-founders lorne and alan gertner. today, the company operates A half-dozen immersive and experiential reinventions of the classic coffeehouse—five in toronto and A sixth in calgary. each location is nestled in high-foot-traffic areas and offers customers the best in java along with A selection of carefully curated smoking accessories, while hosting numerous workshops, both educational and lifestyle-based, built around cannabis education.
“from DAY 1, we’ve looked at building our brand in A very different way than others in the canadian cannabis space,” says daniel okorn, head of experiential marketing with hiku brands. “first and foremost, we understand that customers want to make informed, intentional decisions concerning the purchases they make.”
while bricks-and-mortar store locations have faced challenges in other retail sectors, tokyo smoke deliberately fashioned its customer experience around them. that’s because the retail locations were designed to be far more than placeholders anticipating the legalized sale of recreational cannabis —they were designed to build communities around the concept.
“when we designed our physical spaces, starbucks and apple came consistently to mind as two companies who got it right,” says lacey norton, head of retail for hiku brands. “starbucks created A community and A culture around coffee that had not previously existed. apple uses its physical stores to let customers interact with the technology and meet the people who represent the brand, allowing customers to build an emotional connection in A way that the online experience can’t replicate. in the same way, tokyo smoke gives customers A reason to visit its retail outlets above and beyond the products we’re selling.”
okorn notes that tokyo smoke could make optimal use of its physical spaces only by providing customers with experiences they couldn’t find anywhere else, whether through the design of the stores, the products on the shelves, the expertise of educators or through the workshops they host. the community this creates also offers security.
“we are at the precipice of a new industry,” he says. “bricks-and-mortar stores allow us to create a safe space for customers to ask questions and receive the knowledge they need to make informed decisions regarding cannabis. by pairing trusted verticals such as craft coffee with cannabis accessories, our stores are approachable and also allow us to promote the goal of cannabis normalization. our stores exist in the same neighbourhoods as international brands such as aesop, frank & oak and warby parker. by standing alongside these brands, we hope to remove the stigma associated with cannabis consumption.”
Education is essential because cannabis is A complex product that will provide A range of experiences depending on how it’s consumed, what’s being consumed and the genetic profile of a specific cannabis strain. however, until recreational cannabis is fully legalized, the company is concentrating on general issues around cannabis so consumers have the knowledge and confidence they need to make informed decisions.
ljubica kostovic is a cannabis educator who has hosted information sessions on behalf of tokyo smoke. one of her goals is to help the local community unpack its preconceived notions about cannabis.
“Their ideas were formed in a period of cannabis prohibition, similar to the experiments with banning alcohol in various jurisdictions in the u.s. and canada during the last century,” kostovic says. “i want them to understand how cannabinoids work within the human body and how they can affect experience. i compare it, for example, to all of the different things we consume in life, from coffee to alcohol, to give them some context for cannabis.”
as tokyo smoke prepares itself for legalized recreational cannabis, expected in canada later this year, it continues to expand. new, legal dispensing locations are planned for provinces that will allow for private retail, including manitoba, alberta, british columbia, saskatchewan, and newfoundland and labrador, pending receiving retail licences.
however, as much as tokyo smoke uses its retail outlets to present an outgoing and confident brand to customers, it also continues to use those same spaces to listen to them.
“we speak to our customers and ask them what they want and need,” says josh lyon, tokyo smoke’s vicepresident of marketing. “our retail-first investment strategy was part of A far more significant investment in listening to our customers. our business is being built on those conversations.”