New digital product agency Good Major marches into cannabis

With agencies and clients still learning how to navigate the complex rules surrounding cannabis marketing and branding, a new start-up is focusing on digital products and tools for companies in the space.

Good Major, which formally launched June 3, specializes in digital products including websites, mobile apps, offline digital sales tools, retail digital sales tools and in-store POS systems.

“It’s something the client can actually use as a tool,” says Stephen Crowhurst, Good Major’s co-founder and chief product officer, whose expertise lies in UX and UI. “Our mandate has nothing to do with marketing or branding, and everything to do with digital tools or platforms.”

The name Good Major reflects what Crowhurst describes as the “common good” in the cannabis industry, while the “major” part of the name is intended to convey the principals’ authority and expertise within the heavily regulated cannabis space.

Crowhurst, chief creative officer Chad Buchner and chief technology officer Matt Cave, all worked together at Toronto healthcare agency Klick Health where they learned to navigate the similarly complex landscape of the pharmaceutical industry.

“Our background is in a highly regulated space, and we’re transferring those skills directly into the cannabis industry,” says Crowhurst.

While Crowhurst anticipates that much of Good Major’s work in its first year will be for Canadian clients, the principals are also meeting with licensed producers in the U.S. and South America in anticipation of expanded legalization in those markets.

Early discussions have included Canadian LPs and a vape company, and Good Major is also working on an RFP with the Toronto cannabis consultancy Sister Merci, which debuted earlier this year.

Crowhurst predicts that Good Major will succeed by offering the type of digital product expertise—as well as experience navigating a complex regulatory landscape—that is not native to LPs or their marketing agencies.

 

Chris Powell