Viola Advocates For The Black Dollar In Booming Cannabis Industry

Viola, heralded as a nationwide leader in premium quality cannabis products, is a lifestyle brand founded by former NBA player Al Harrington.

The cannabis industry is heavily sought after by large investors with corporate interest, further limiting opportunity for African Americans, who are unfortunately subjected to racial inequities. In a world where lack of access to resources and systematic racism excludes a population from reaping the benefits of a mushrooming industry, pensive actions are required and education is key.

Through education, incubation programs, equitable offerings and cannabis discourse, Viola has championed an inclusive mindset geared towards creating a space for minorities in the leafy economic boom. With the launch of its social equity initiative Viola Cares, a slate of resources and readily available opportunities will prompt change for communities afflicted with mass incarceration and a disproportionate amount of convictions. As a way to combat the War on Drugs, ‘Root & Rebound’ was born, subsequently resulting in a collective desire for civic engagement and policy reform.

In terms of innovation, Viola is well-known by the many brand activations and recent 420 IG Daily discussion series launched amid COVID-19.

“There’s so much uncertainty and even more to talk about with how we all are being affected, what businesses are doing to pivot, while still enjoying 4/20 and the company of each other during this transitional period. I’m excited to share thought-provoking conversations and entertainment through a medium that’s accessible to anybody from the comfort of their own homes” says Viola founder, Al Harrington.

Engagement in real-time prompts results, advocating on the importance of interpersonal communication. Furthermore, presenting the opportunity for fitting brand recognition and developing a strong presence with your consumers creates a warranted sense of transparency. “Having the consumer test the product and be a part of the culture, that presents them with an opportunity to be a part of the brand” says Najee Tyler, VP of Marketing for Viola.

With new legislation prompting change and a scarcity of representation looming, it’s time to make a difference – and it starts with brands like Viola. Outside of industry marketing experience, Najee is well-versed in curating interactive engagements that supplement his heightened savviness for brand development. In return, this depth of knowledge has presented the opportunity for shared experiences that induce conscious liberation.

In this over-the-phone interview, we had the opportunity to share a conversation with the lifestyle brand’s inventive marketing specialist.

 

 

According to the website, Viola’s purpose statement reads, ‘Promoting social equity by increasing minority participation in the cannabis industry’. In terms of civic engagement, what are the added benefits surrounding minority inclusion? After all, representation definitely matters.  

To your point, that’s a major purpose with our brand – creating opportunities in a space with representation.  

Opportunities in a space are always built upon creating jobs and employment, whereas representation is where we look at ownership.  

There’s a huge opportunity for minorities in this space to thrive, especially with how our (black) communities have been affected.  

It’s (cannabis) our culture, it’s been a part of our culture for years and to have that representation is very important.   

 

The social equity initiative Viola Cares is changing industry dynamics through focusing on education, incubation, employment and community outreach – Moreover, how does ‘Root & Rebound’ serve as a change-agent for people with cannabis related convictions? 

Root & Rebound is a non-profit organization that focuses on helping individuals get back into society after previously being incarcerated.  

I think it goes right into our purpose in dealing with people who were affected and reinvesting back into those communities. These people are the leaders of the community that were quite frankly dealt the short end of the stick.  

Root & Rebound is all about helping those that have been impacted in the past by non-violent offenses, particularly with cannabis but also in general with drug offenses. At the time of their offense, you have no idea what was going on in their lives or what was affecting them and the choices they had to make.  

Now, as you can see, even during this time of a pandemic, cannabis is being looked at as essential business. You have people spending life in prison for these things and it’s just crazy seeing the benefits reaped from that.  

That’s a big part of us, helping those people get re-acclimated back into society and also opening doors for them to get opportunities and ownership in this space.  

We want to open those doors and educate them on what opportunities exist.

 

Since we’re on the subject of pandemics, has COVID-19 altered the trajectory of future Viola brand activations? If so, what is the contingency plan for minimizing impact?  

I look at this as holistic to activations in general. All the activations we do are branded events and we also do partnerships for bigger events, festivals and what not. 

I know people are worried about the large crowds and the spread of the virus, but I feel like this time is allowing people to move with caution and be more health conscious.  

I think it’s going to help with giving people their personal space. A huge part for us as a brand are the safety precautions with using cannabis.  

A lot of these events are smoker friendly with dab bars etc. and we take it very personal to ensure everything is sanitary.  

Just educating people on how to be more cautious and the safest ways for you to consume, even outside of events – I think that’s very important.

  

The ‘420 IG Daily’ discussion series launched at the top of this month, what was the process like behind selecting who would be involved? I see that a range of artists, athletes and entertainers are slated to make an appearance. 

We’ve collectively gone over the list and thought about who could actively participate. Al Harrington is the host on our end, but who are going to be those people to drive the conversation.  

Viola is a lifestyle brand and that’s the way we position ourselves in society. We’re not only looking up conversations that are cannabis driven. In the cannabis space, we represent a brand that speaks to a lot of things going on with culture, fashion, sports etc.  

Just driving these conversations and digging into the different relationships that we have in trying to find the real thought-leaders and tastemakers.  

We try to hand pick people who can speak to their side of this break and what they’ve been doing and how they feel about the impact coming out of COVID-19.  

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-c_NK1hvmq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

With your working knowledge in the realm of brand marketing and social media engagement, do you feel that activations prompt results in terms of raising awareness on Viola Brand initiatives and creating opportunity for cannabis discourse?  

Personally, I feel like branded events are super important. It’s one thing for consumers to see the brand on social media, but people are self-educating more than ever before now.  

I think we’re getting to a stage where social media has made it difficult for people to believe what they are seeing.  

Being able to be present, touch the products and seeing how people engage with the brand showcases a lot of the work that you’re doing behind the scenes. I think that is what people are most interested in, seeing the process. 

Having the consumer test the product and be a part of the culture, that presents them with an opportunity to be a part of the brand. 

 

In your honest opinion, is cannabis the future when it comes to sports and entertainment?  

I think cannabis has been a part of sports and entertainment forever.  

Entertainment has always been a little more open to it, but sports wise, there’s definitely a future in medicine and what added benefits people can gain from cannabis consumption. Especially with the opioid crisis and a lot of retired players and people giving testimonies on the difference between taking opioids versus cannabis. Having people explain the reason behind how they’ve been so successful in their career by choosing cannabis over prescription drugs is huge in itself.  

It’s a lot of people who use it and showcase cannabis as a creative push for them – and some people who showcase it for recreational use.   

The more people that push it as being educational and showing how it helps their creative process, I think that will bring a brighter future for cannabis in general.  

 

Some people have a traditional frame of mind and may not be as receptive to change – How does Viola come to terms with the intransigent demographic and sway the court-of-opinion in favor of becoming an ally for cannabis-themed initiatives?  

A huge advantage for Viola is our story and how transparent we are as a brand.  

With the brand deriving from Al’s grandmother and the struggles she had on the medical side, her being 70+ and open to trying cannabis for the first time really helps us out a lot. 

Having that sense of transparency with something truthful that comes from a place of experience.  

We’ve seen something happen first-hand and experienced what our brand has been built off of.  

Everyone has their own views or perspective on cannabis consumption, but when you have an actual story and results to follow, that’s how we’ve been able to sway people’s opinion towards cannabis.  

 

With the passing of new legislation prompting change and subsequently posing barriers for marginalized people and minorities, how does Viola effectively combat the spread of misinformation in terms of educating their audience?   

That’s one of our big focus points for social media, educating people on the opportunities at hand. 

Al Harrington and Dan Pettigrew, the co-founders of Viola brand, do a great job at lobbying for a lot of these different bills. With Chicago in general, they were key in having that bill (Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act) get through the black caucus.  

We try to educate our consumers on what’s going on and what’s really being talked about.  

I don’t think the showcasing of different opportunities that we and others fight for on behalf of minorities are publicized as much.  

We just try to champion the different opportunities that exist and what’s coming about as much as possible.