Florette
The Challenge
New York State-based cannabis startup, Florette, built momentum off of its high quality products and effortless, laidback style. While preparing to launch a never before seen THC vape product they reached out to Capsule for help with the introductory campaign. The new product knit a full-flower flavor and full-spectrum high together with the convenience of a vape, signalling a need for a creative concept that could intrigue new and experienced users alike.
Florette had a tight timeline to produce inspiring multi-format promo materials, launch party collateral, and a name to market their proprietary resin extraction method. This meant compelling creative and flexible designs imagined at warp speed.
The Process
The Capsule team got up to speed quickly, ultimately presenting multiple rounds of creative ideation, design concepts, and storytelling while hitting the launch deadline. Ideation sprints began by digging deep into Florette’s brand visuals and selecting key elements to pull forward in the campaign.
In a parallel path, the team connected with Florette’s cannabis experts to learn more about their innovative resin extraction process and began naming ideation. “Direct Xtract” rose to the top as a proprietary name, and Capsule immediately began building out the story of differentiation, helping lead to an overarching campaign concept.
The Campaign Story
To emphasize the uniqueness of Florette’s vape, the final campaign concept took inspiration from surrealist René Magritte. Ceci n'est pas une pipe [This is not a pipe], read the words in Magritte’s painting, “The Treachery of Images,” while indeed depicting a pipe. Florette’s vape is, well, a vape. But it is also different from all the others. So the team ran with the spirit of Magritte’s painting to build intrigue and imply that Florette’s new product would defy expectations in the best possible way.
With intuitive hero imagery of the vape cartridge and a simple yet insistent line of copy ["This is not a vape"] Capsule helped Florette own a story of convenience that doesn’t sacrifice quality.
Focusing more tightly on the product, the story calls out how Florette knits together ideas that usually compete, like connoisseurship and convenience, challenging the viewer to reimagine what vaping can be.
Campaign Ideation
Campaign Activations
With a story and visuals in place, the design team immediately got to work bringing the campaign to life on a wide variety of assets, including bus stop signage, wheat paste posters, billboards, postcards, physical merch, and social posts.
The Impact
With the help of Capsule’s campaign work, Florette’s vape successfully launched, inspiring conversation about what innovation, quality, and convenience can look like in the evolving cannabis space. Quick iteration, close collaboration, and inspiring design ultimately elevated the brand and gave the client peace of mind amid the stress of a new product launch.
