How To Launch Your Cannabis Brand Into The Metaverse with Wes McQuillen

Key Insights

• The metaverse represents a meaningful first-mover opportunity for cannabis brands because almost no cannabis brands are currently doing anything in the space - and as with every new social media platform, the brands that establish presence and audience earliest will have a lasting structural advantage over those that wait until adoption is mainstream.
• Gaming is the largest and most active segment of the metaverse today, with platforms like Roblox and Fortnite already representing proven large-scale virtual environments where cannabis brands can explore presence, sponsorship, or event formats that would be restricted on traditional advertising platforms.
• NFT wearables are most effective for cannabis brand awareness as free giveaways rather than paid drops: at this early stage of metaverse adoption, the goal is participation and brand exposure, not revenue, and giving digital wearables away generates meaningfully more engagement than asking users to pay for them.
• Virtual events developed significant traction during the pandemic and have maintained staying power as a format - cannabis brands that treat virtual events as a permanent channel rather than a COVID-era workaround can use them to reach engaged audiences without the geographic, compliance, or platform restrictions that constrain traditional advertising.
• Vetting cannabis marketing consultants and agencies requires the same skepticism any difficult market demands: look for demonstrated track records rather than self-reported claims, prioritize recommendations from trusted peers over LinkedIn credentials, and ask specific technical questions about programmatic advertising or other specialized channels where real expertise is quickly distinguishable from superficial familiarity.

Webinar Highlights

00:00 – Why the Metaverse Is Relevant to Cannabis Marketers Right Now

The guest, a senior marketing executive specializing in alternative advertising strategies for regulated and restricted industries, opens with a practical orientation to the metaverse landscape. Gaming dominates current usage, virtual events established real staying power during and after the pandemic, and a growing range of platforms - from Roblox to Fortnite - represent genuine audience concentration that cannabis brands can access without the restrictions that apply to traditional advertising channels.

06:00 – The First-Mover Argument for Cannabis Brands

One of the most compelling points in the conversation is the parallel to early social media adoption: on every major platform that has emerged over the past two decades, the brands that built audiences earliest have maintained significant structural advantages over those that waited. The metaverse is at that same early stage now. With almost no cannabis brands doing anything in the space, the cost of participation is low, the competition for attention is minimal, and the learning curve can be navigated at a manageable pace - all conditions that favor early movers.

12:00 – Gaming Platforms as Cannabis Marketing Environments

The discussion covers Roblox, Fortnite, and other established virtual platforms as the most active and proven segments of the metaverse today. These platforms have large, engaged user bases and support brand integrations, virtual experiences, and sponsored content in formats that cannabis brands have rarely explored. The conversation positions gaming environments as a natural adjacent space for cannabis brands looking for digital reach that does not depend on the advertising policies of Meta or Google.

18:00 – NFT Wearables: Giveaways Outperform Paid Drops

The webinar gets specific about one practical metaverse tactic: digital wearables as brand identity assets within virtual environments. Cannabis brands have experimented with custom wearables - incorporating brand elements like a leaf motif into an avatar accessory - and the clear finding from early tests is that giving them away for free generates significantly more engagement than selling them. The goal at this stage is brand exposure and community participation, not revenue from the wearable itself.

24:00 – Virtual Events as a Permanent Cannabis Marketing Channel

Virtual events are addressed as a channel with real staying power beyond their pandemic-era origins. Cannabis brands that invested in virtual formats in 2020 built audience relationships and production capabilities that continue to perform. The webinar frames virtual events not as a temporary substitute for in-person activations but as a distinct format that reaches audiences who may not attend physical events and that sidesteps many of the compliance and platform restrictions that affect cannabis advertising.

30:00 – How to Vet Cannabis Marketing Consultants and Agencies

The final segment addresses a practical challenge for cannabis operators: distinguishing competent cannabis digital marketers from the much larger group of people who claim cannabis marketing expertise without a demonstrable track record. The framework offered is: prioritize humility over confidence, look for provable bodies of work rather than credentials, rely on word-of-mouth from peers you trust, and test with specific technical questions - particularly around programmatic advertising - where real expertise produces specific, verifiable answers and superficial familiarity does not.

Frequently Asked Questions

[ {What is the metaverse and why does it matter for cannabis brands?}

The metaverse is a collection of virtual, interactive digital environments - including gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, virtual event spaces, and immersive digital worlds - where users spend time, interact with brands, and build identity through avatars and digital assets. For cannabis brands, the metaverse matters because it represents an advertising-friendly channel that does not apply the same restrictions as Meta, Google, or traditional media platforms, and because almost no cannabis brands are currently present there - giving early movers a structural advantage in audience building.

{How can cannabis brands use the metaverse for marketing?}

Cannabis brands can use the metaverse for virtual events that reach engaged audiences without geographic or compliance constraints, brand presence on gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite where large audiences already spend time, NFT wearable drops that give users digital brand accessories for their avatars, and virtual dispensary or brand experience environments. The most effective current approach focuses on brand awareness and community participation rather than direct sales, since the metaverse is still in early adoption stages where engagement is more valuable than conversion.

{What are NFT wearables and how do cannabis brands use them?}

NFT wearables are digital accessories - hats, clothing, accessories - that users can apply to their avatars within virtual environments. Cannabis brands have created wearables that incorporate brand elements like color schemes or leaf motifs and distributed them as free giveaways within metaverse platforms. Free giveaways generate significantly more participation than paid drops at this stage of metaverse adoption, because the audience is still small enough that participation and brand exposure are the primary goals rather than revenue from the digital assets themselves.

{Should cannabis brands invest in the metaverse now?}

Cannabis brands should test the metaverse now at a modest allocation rather than either ignoring it or making it a major budget commitment. The case for doing something: almost no cannabis competitors are present, the cost of entry is relatively low, and the brands that build earliest on new platforms consistently outperform those that wait. The case for restraint: adoption is still early and the ROI model is not yet clearly defined. A testing posture - small experiments, learning from results, and scaling what works - is the most practical approach at this stage.

{How do you evaluate a cannabis metaverse marketing consultant?}

Evaluate cannabis metaverse marketing consultants the same way you evaluate any specialized vendor in a field where many people claim expertise: look for humility over confidence, ask for provable examples of past work, seek recommendations from cannabis operators you trust rather than relying on self-reported credentials, and ask specific technical questions. In metaverse contexts specifically, a knowledgeable consultant should be able to speak concretely about platform differences, audience size, and realistic outcomes - not just speak in general terms about the potential of the space. ]