RIFF logo on black background. RIFF logo on black background. RIFF logo on black background. RIFF logo on black background. RIFF logo on black background.

RIFF

Creating a New Type of Cannabis Brand

Scope

Brand Strategy & Positioning Product & Strain Naming Creative Direction Brand Identity Brand & Marketing Collateral Packaging Branded Merchandise & Accessories Editorial Design Social Content Motion Graphics & Animation Integrated Campaign Copywriting Photography & Art Direction Website Production Management Brand Guidelines

After having worked with the team at Aphria to develop Solei, we were tasked with developing another recreational brand—for a very different kind of audience.

A white speckled background with text that says

This time, the challenge was creating a brand for a younger, more urban, and highly creative demographic—who is also highly resistant to traditional marketing and has a great BS radar. So we created RIFF: a platform revolving around creativity, collaboration, and pushing boundaries.

Two different versions RIFF with a white background and one with a black background.
Organized rows of RIFF paper matches.

Introducing RIFF, a cutting-edge cannabis brand for the urban, creative crowd. Authentic, collaborative, and boundary-pushing.

After getting to know our audience, we fully immersed ourselves in the world they inhabit and dug deep to understand how RIFF can meaningfully impact and enrich their daily lives.

 

We created a brand platform, name, visual identity, packaging, strain names, a go-to-market plan, a zine as well as ample social content, a website, merch, and various out-of-home elements, including wild postings and in-store display posters.

Close-up of a convenience store door with RIFF poster that says Breakfast Munch and Dinner.
An open RIFF booklet showing a RIFF can with smoke surrounding it.
Various open booklets showing RIFF Zine Spreads.
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A RIFF dime bag with cannabis spilling out and a rolled up cannabis paper.
5 RIFF dropper bottles.
RIFF pin with their logo on a paper that says TAKE ME HIGHER.
RIFF matches, black t-shirt, water bottle, cannabis, and pizza scatter on a table.
Graffiti wall with RIFF posters.
Poster wall with RIFF branding.
A street view of a wall with RIFF posters.
A RIFF poster on a wall in Montreal.
RIFF Zine covers organized in rows.
A Pizza box with RIFF black-T-shirt and cap, with a Zine magazine beside the box.
Various lifestyle images.

We communicated to our audiences on the platforms they used daily, meeting them on their journey and creating content that brought value to them. We rewarded them for paying close attention to what RIFF had to say, creating Instagram-exclusive invitations to our events across the country. Using Instagram stories, a format they used organically, we let our followers in on the most exciting and exclusive summer events, and exclusively organic content sold out every event we had put on.

RIFF social media shown on various phones.
RIFF merchandise including pin, water bottle, t-shirt, and lighter with pricing.
Store window with RIFF posters.
People leaning against a wall with RIFF posters.

In addition, we continued to work with the Aphria team to create the Co.Lab – a collective of Canadian artists and makers who contribute to RIFF’s ever-evolving roster of collaborators. Each season the collaborations change, as does the content, the perspectives, and the unique experiences that come with it.

A store sign that says RIFF Co.Lab.
A black t-shirt with RIFF logo in top right corner, and another t-shirt with the black and white squiggles.
A white background with black speckles, that has text that says

Connect with us.

Recording in Progress