Committee to review cannabis marketing
A group of Humboldt County residents will review proposals by firms looking to brand and market the county’s burgeoning cannabis industry to the rest of the world.
The county has released a list of the members for the new, temporary committee. It will recommend a firm for a bid to promote the county’s cannabis scene.
The committee is the latest development in Project Trellis, a multi-pronged program to reinvest cannabis tax revenue into the heavily regulated legal pot market.
“The ad hoc committee’s role will be to receive, review, and rank marketing proposals and to provide scores and feedback designed to assist staff in making a determination/ recommendation,” Scott Adair, the county’s economic development director, said in an email.
Adair noted that the committee’s selection will not be final, but instead go to the Board of Supervisors for approval.
Below are the committee’s official members:
• Julie Peacock
• Donna Wright
• Swan Asbury
• Laura Lasseter
• Alyssa Goodsell
• Pete Oringer
• Marty Coelho Adair said the committee members will be asked to assess submissions based on the requirements in the county’s request-for- proposals, the applicant’s familiarity with the county’s cannabis culture and experience in branding and marketing strategies.
Wright, who heads the Eureka Chamber of Commerce, was among the first people asked to be on the committee, Adair said earlier this year.
In an email, Wright said the chamber has looked to address the needs of the city’s local cannabis industry.
“We have listened to our cannabis industry members concerns in relation to integration, training programs and advocacy,” Wright said.
Lasseter runs the Southern Humboldt Business and Visitors Bureau, which earlier this year was selected as the county’s official cannabis marketer at out- oftown conferences and trade shows. She said Monday she won’t look for any one particular thing from submitted proposals, but hopes to see an understanding of local cannabis as a quality product.
“It’s getting the word out on what makes Humboldt
County cannabis the best,” Lasseter said. “It’s our farmers, it’s our regenerative farm practices and it’s the culture — the authentic decades of our story, and telling that story to the world.”