Tommy: [00:00:00] It's so -incredibly difficult to build a trade show, get it to the size of national recognition, while keeping it not corporate and staying true to the roots of the cannabis industry. The cannabis industry, we're a community growing into an industry and Rama, the founder of Hall of Flowers has done such an amazing job Building Hall of Flowers to one of the biggest trade shows in the nation while staying true to our roots It's not corporate.
It's rooted in where the cannabis industry has come from and it's an incredible place to do business
so in this episode, we have Rama, the founder of Hall of Flowers, joining us today to talk about his journey with branding. Where he built his foundation for branding and his awareness in brand promises, how Hall of Flowers got started, as well as what retailers and brands should do to prepare themselves to get the most out of [00:01:00] their experience. It was an incredible conversation. I hope you guys enjoy.
I've always wanted to ask you this question. How did you get into the space of media and branding?
Rama: um, well, I did the punk rock record label and you know, the punk rock record label. Meant that very DIY right? So we were doing, and I was doing so much stuff myself and with like the small couple people that we worked with or, you know, partners or whatever, and band members, et cetera. And, um, that, and then I booked a lot of shows, right?
So like, if you're looking at true, true, like branding and media, like you'd, I'd make a new flyer every few weeks, every week or whatever, print it out on a, on a, at, at FedEx. Used to be called Kinko's on like a card that someone that used to work there would like give to you. 'cause they wanted to get into the shows for free or whatever you'd like steal essentially like a bunch of printed flyers and go around to [00:02:00] shows and hand them out or whatever, you know, and you'd have like real one on interactions with these people.
It was this before the internet, right? And you'd design the flyer at Kinko's, you know, photocopy style, then print a hundred or 200 or 500 or whatever. And then you'd go out. So you were like the designer and the publisher and the promoter all in one because that's just how you did it back then, you know?
Um, so that was like the beginning. And then, you know, the, we started making the records and designers cost a lot, you know, and that's a fun part of it. So then I started designing a lot of the album covers and the albums and the brand logos and stuff. You know, I put out 70 records total, maybe between the different labels.
And I designed, I don't know how many, but 20 or 30 of 'em maybe, or something like a, you know, which is awesome. It was the fun part. And, um, then you'd have to design the ads to promote the stuff and, you know, and you would design the posters 'cause they were going on tour and the [00:03:00] t-shirts and the stickers and, you know, but that, to me, that was the fun stuff, you know.
Um, again, this is all pre-internet. Like we
had on tour, we had maps that you'd have like a giant book you'd flip through and do like a thing and a cross thing and, and like look for a street. It was like you'd have to pull over and like. For 10 minutes and like look at a map to see where you're going. It was like,
Tommy: But where, where did you learn the strategy of branding? We, we talked about it earlier and you were getting into brand archetypes and all these things, and that's like the foundational strategy.
Rama: So there's also an amazing book called Where Good Ideas Come From by Michael Johanson or Michael Michael Johanson. Yeah, I think so. Uh, where good ideas come from. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Tommy, if you haven't seen it, you have to watch this video. It's like fucking incredible.
Everybody that's watching this, stop what I'm talking, go watch this video. Way better than me. And it's like, um, he he talks about it as hunches and he talks about it as hunches coming together to, um, you know, [00:04:00] to to form like official opinions, you know? And, and I essentially feel like I have a lot of hunches. And I, so how did it come about? Is I was doing stuff on my own that I liked and the art and whatever. And then I'd go meet. The first person that knew branding to me was on Jason Geneva Co. Who was in a band called The Promise Ring. And he was an, he is an incredible artist, and he was a designer for the records that I could afford to do or he was into.
He would design way better than me, a hundred times better than me. And, uh, you know, then right from there, it was a guy named Josh Hooten, uh, and Tony, um, and I'm blanking on Tony's last name. And they ran an incredible design agency that we worked with. So their love of like the punk scene and their input was design and art, but they were professional, amazing designers and artists. Uh, Scott Richter is another one. So I would work hand in hand with these, like actual [00:05:00] skilled designers. Educated designers. We'd be talking about their love, our love, whatever. And then they turned me onto like what this stuff even means, you know?
And
Tommy: Oh.
Rama: And then I, then I discovered, um, Alex Bakowski and Alex Bakowski is, um, the goat, you know, he is the, I don't know, best brander of, of our modern, modern time maybe, or the past, you know, decade or two kind of guy. And, uh, he was that Crispin Porter, which became Crispin Porter, Bakowski CPB Group, the most important advertising agency in the world. And, um, you know, they, they are the ones that, like, I fell in love with this idea. Marketing, branding. I, I'd see something I love, they would talk about it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then, like, the archetype stuff, and like the work I do, essentially, like what I, how I make money is like, I do this for Hall of Flowers and for like, you know, other [00:06:00] companies before that. And, um, that came from a guy named Zach Naly. And Zach is like a old, old, old friend from the punk rock scene as well. And he kind of at the end came to me recently, like maybe five or six years ago, and said, Hey, like all the stuff that you know from this world, you should build it into like, uh, a philosophy and apply it to cannabis. And, um, yeah. So that's, that's a very long, uh, way to answer your question, I guess.
Tommy: With your background and well, when I talk to you, sometimes I. I picture myself having conversations with my VP of marketing,
like you guys are very much alike and we gigle about brands all the time. So what are some of your favorite brands in the industry? Like what are some companies that are doing
Rama: Yeah.
Um, I love the question. Um, I mean, I love Pure beauty. Everyone that knows me knows that I love Pure Beauty. Unbelievable brand, top brand seven [00:07:00] 10 Labs, incredible brand 10 Outta
10. I love Wonder, Brett. I love what Mario did with Shapinsky. Um, you know, cookies obviously undeniable, you know? Um, and then we have brands that I've worked on, right?
So I'm biased, right? We have a brand called Vacation, a brand called Country, and a brand called Asterisk that I, that I worked on with some other amazing people, like people that are better than me at their jobs for sure, or what they like to do. And, um, you know, then I think Cauliflowers is an unbelievable brand, right?
It's not a cannabis product, um, um, in a jar, but it is a cannabis license company. You know, it's, we, we have the same thing, you know, so we have a, you know, we're licensed just like the, the operators are. And um, well, you know, so I think Hall Flowers is there and then. Who else to, I'm sure I'm missing a few people that I'm like, why the fuck didn't I say this company?
You know what I mean? That I'm loving. I mean, I [00:08:00] really Alien Labs, undeniable Old pal, you know, incredible brand. The problem with all these companies is like, um, not the problem. The challenge I should say is that time is to tell, right? We're just getting started. So like, can, perseverance is a term I learned in, in punk rock, you know, but, um, but that's all I talk about now is like, you know, can, can these brands survive long enough to become Green Day or become, you know, big enough kind of thing?
That's what I'm, I'm thinking.
Tommy: So what do you like about Pure Beauty? You mentioned them first.
Rama: Um, well, pure beauty, I'm obsessed with art. Okay. Like contemporary art. It's like, that's what I care about, probably like the most. And like my passion and, um, and pure beauty is based on, uh, um. A show by my favorite artist, American artist, um, named John Ari. And, um, so the name hit me [00:09:00] immediately. I was like, I'm already obsessed with this name because of John.
And then boom, they, they use it and it's incredible. The packaging, the design, you know, the way they tell stories, um, you know, with their photography and their artwork, it's just, it's, it's best in class. And their product's amazing. Like, their weed is incredible, you know? And so it's not just like shining shit, you know what I mean?
It's like real, you know, it's like a, a credible product and an incredible brand. So to me, that's what, that's a, you know, the brand isn't just the, the, the, the liquid, you know what I mean? It's like, it's the, it's the brand. It's the, you know, the brand's both, what's inside bubbles here are superior, you know, and the, and the brand, the corporate identity, as you'd call this right, would be like that.
But inside is just as much of the brand as the, the labels are, in my opinion. You know?
Tommy: Yeah. The entire experience, your, your brand is everything. When people call in, how are you?
Rama: yeah. The entire experience. That's right. Absolutely. Yeah.
Tommy: Caleb tells me all the time, tell me the [00:10:00] brand is not the logo.
Rama: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think, uh, Jeff Bezos was like, um, the brand is what people say when you're not in the room or something like that, you know? Um, so yeah. Then of course, like connected and Alien Labs are incredible, you know, CBX, incredible, um, they're building, they're all kind of building different brands.
Again, you mentioned brand archetype. You know, if you look at brand archetype, it's essentially like a wheel. That's how it's the kind of shown to us, and it's built by big, ruthless corporations, you know, but this is why like the agio can have 10 different vodkas and they don't compete, or 10 different beers and they don't compete with each other because like, ultimately the consumers are, are very different.
Long term. Right now cannabis, most brands are going, like anyone 18 to 80 should buy our product every, where we we for everybody, you know. And
eventually it will get to the point where you're going after a very specific type of audience, you know, just like a car company or a, uh, you know, any other industry is, you know.
Tommy: If you were starting a brand today in the
Rama: was [00:11:00] Okay.
Tommy: what would be your first five moves?
Rama: Uh, okay. Okay. Okay. I think you should ask it the other way. What should be my first five moves be, but you can do that on, on the next one. Okay. Your five moves. Our five moves would be, um, I think the biggest part is where you're building it. 'cause just with the way the laws are now, like it might, it, it could be better to dr to, to drive over state lines and set up a business on the other side in a different state.
You know, it could be, you know. Right. You know, so,
Tommy: Why? Like what would be different
Rama: well just, just the laws, the, you know, where the state is. You know, if I was living in, in, you know, the, the border of, you know, Vermont and New York, I. And I wanted to do weed. I would go to New York to do weed. 'cause it's gonna be
a much bigger market, you know what I
mean?
And, um, things like that, right? So at first, like, and then some people can't move. You're stuck here, here's where you live. Perfect. So then figure it out from there. You know, you could also do stuff over, you know, over the internet, right? But like, as [00:12:00] far as like, uh, blocking and tackling is a lot of the industry, like going to the events and it's a, it, it's not even an industry yet.
It's a community turning into an industry, right? Cannabis, cannabis is a community evolving into an industry right now. So you gotta be at these things and you gotta go to these events, not just 'cause I do the best event, but because, you know, you gotta go to them. And, um, it's about the experience like you mentioned before. Um, next thing I would say, um, be careful on the partners because it's such a infancy stage with the industry that everyone's going in different directions and all these different ways. That the likelihood of you being long-term partners with someone is very low compared to most industries. I've seen it firsthand a bunch of times. Um, and that, that's messed people up. You know, you get in partnership with someone and six months later you have completely different goals and then the company just fizzles out or whatever, you know,
so choose your partners wisely, [00:13:00] I would say. And when partners, that's like employees or whatever it wants, whatever you wanna put your time and value into, right? I would say number three would be, um, location. I would say look at the, I would say go to go to the stuff. Right? Go. I would go to, if, if we were like, like say like, we're gonna launch dispensary, we wanna open dispensaries or products in Ohio, whatever. I don't know. You and I, we would go there. I would go taste it, check it, secret Shop, all the stuff, you know what I mean?
I would go like, learn all the things. Um, I, when we did our, you and I did our little pre-call, I said before and I do believe it. Cce uh. Yeah. Like, well, uh, interns today are gonna be CEOs in, in two or three years. Companies, honestly, like, it just, this is so new that after like, you know, I, I call it dog years.
When someone's like, I'm like, Hey, how long have you been in cannabis? They, they go, oh, three years. And I'm like, oh, that's like 21 dog years cannabis years. Ha ha. I say it all the time to people, you know? And, um, [00:14:00] that's what I truly believe it. It really is. You're learning so much 'cause it's just changing so fast, you know? Um,
other things I would say, um, I would say, um, stay in your lane. Right? And, and I really mean that. And someone said that to me one time and it burned, it hurt me to be honest, inside my friend John Buscemi said it to me and it hurt, but he was right. And, uh, what I mean by that is by the time you figured everything out in cannabis, it will.
'cause right now everyone's doing everything. And in that time, next couple years, you figured everything out. Speciali specialists will be needed. So yes, maybe it's a little too early to be like the specialist in this category or this function or this process, but in a year or two or three, or f especially five or six years, it's not gonna be, it's gonna be the standard. You know what I mean? Like, you don't go to one place to do every part of your car or whatever, you know, it's like specialized, right? So food industry, everything's specialized alcohol, everything's [00:15:00] specialized, you know? So like it will become that. So be the best at that. But, you know, start paddling now, but the wave's coming later, you know, so just be prepared to be still early, I guess, you know?
Tommy: So, speaking of brands, I, you mentioned cauliflowers, which
is, I. It's really hard and I, I was thinking about this other day of how hard it is to start a, a trade show, grow it, keep it grassroots, and have it polished, but not corporate.
Rama: yeah, yeah. Well, yes, that's a great description of it. Um, yeah, I mean,
Tommy: So why I, I, I
Rama: you said is exactly, was the, exactly the intention, so I think that's awesome. So thank you. I'll just say thank you for your, your, your interesting, uh, um, description. Um, but yeah, I'd say that like, um, thank, you know, thank you and. [00:16:00] Cauliflowers was a ton of work going into it, a ton of investment going into it. Um, and it's done by myself who I owned a little fashion trade show for a few years called United in Vegas in New York, representing mostly like the wear kind of brands. Um, and this is, you know, in the late two thousands. And, um, my partner's in the show and, you know, the main operator of the show, you know, uh, Danny, you know, comes from the major fashion trade show world. And I essentially was like begging, um, my partners to, to, to build a trade show for cannabis similar to their fashion. And then they came in and, you know, Danny really met with a ton of brands and, you know, put a, put the real, put the whole plan together essentially to, to do the show. But it's methodical. You know, [00:17:00] um, you know, you have to be like possessed essentially to, to, to do this kind of stuff, you know? And
Tommy: a little bit crazy
Rama: yeah, it's,
that's why I stay possessed, you know, you have to like, you know, and you cannot will that, you know, you have to be crazy, you know, and, um, and the experience that, that they have, you know, and I have a bunch of experience again, I, I was doing events the same amount of capacity as Hall Flowers when I was 16 years old, booking festivals in, in, in Massachusetts. And I've done thousands of shows. Um, but this is on a different level, you know, so, you know, I, I kind of bring the cannabis to the party is what I say. I bring the wheat to the party, you know, at Hall Flowers and my partners, um, you know, Danny, you know, he, he makes it happen, you know, and, um, yeah, it's decades of experience that went
Tommy: So, so what did you see in this industry that pushed you to start [00:18:00] a to start hall of hours?
Rama: I was going to all the other shows that existed, you know, in the hardware space, in, in the software, the actual weed space. And, um, trade shows exist in every industry on the planet, you know, and I did a trade show, like I said, United and Danny did, uh, Liberty and Capsule, and our partner Aaron did, uh, agenda and now does ComplexCon and Complex Media. Um, so these, these, these shows exist, you know, um, buying shows, wholesale buying shows, you know, um, and it's incredibly hard to do it in the normal unregulated space for any industry. But in cannabis, it's twice as hard 'cause of the regulations. It's three or four times as hard to be honest. It's, it's impossible almost. The regulations are so crazy and so difficult to navigate that it's, it's like a, you know, I. Danny's like a Terminator kind of sometimes going out trying to get these cities to approve us to even do these things. You know, [00:19:00] it's like we work at the chief of police and the fire department and all these companies, crazy security and all these things way beyond a normal show would ever have.
And um, you know, um, the, so the point of entry is just impossible, honestly. And, um, I forgot the point of your, I forget your question.
Tommy: Uh, what made you start, like, what was the opportunity that you saw or the problem that you
Rama: I needed a booth there, we needed it. 'cause we, you know, we were doing Green Street at the time. Green Street was like five or six years in.
We had just partnered with Gary Vaynerchuk to come in and take, you know, half the company essentially, or, you know, he bought half the company to come in and, uh, and help us ramp it up and everything. And that's when we launched Cauliflowers at the same time. And, um, we needed it as a show, as a, sorry, as a, as a company.
Like we had brands that we wanted to put into market and we're selling
Tommy: so you were solving a problem that you had,
Rama: Yeah, we, had the problem.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah,
Tommy: so you decided to just, Hey, we have a [00:20:00] problem. We need to bring brands in. Let's start a trade show and, and really execute this.
Rama: yeah. And now the
brands, now I'm not doing the brands really, you know, countries going still in California, but, uh, the brands have kind of moved to the East coast essentially. Uh, and we're doing them there. Um, but I'm, you know, fully on Hall Flowers now 'cause it's just become such a big, crazy project. You know, we, I didn't, I knew it was gonna be successful. I didn't know it was gonna be this crazy, I didn't know it was gonna be this influential, you know, I didn't know that we'd have like, such a amazing opportunity and platform to, to like help shape the future of the industry legitimately, you know.
Tommy: it's, it's definitely the biggest trade show that has remained grassroots. So, and that's a hard feat to pull off it,
Rama: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, and you know, and, and you know, the other, the other [00:21:00] show that exists out there that, you know, is like more of the trade show, you know, in Vegas, like if you can't have cannabis at the event to, it's, it's not a cannabis event
to us. You know what I mean? So like, I, I claim, and I truly believe we are the best trade show, you know, or event in cannabis in, in America. And people will be like, oh, the Vegas thing, you know? And, uh, it's like you can't even have weed there, you know, like you're, it's like a, they take it away from you. They like, what are we
doing? Like the kids' table, you know what I mean? They're taking your money over there. They have no care. They don't care about us.
You know what I
mean? Like, I want, I want, I want, I love weed. You know, my mentor, Shep Gordon, very early on said something to me that made me really like, go full on with, with all this stuff. And he said. We were standing around smoking weed. Shep Gordon's like an icon, music manager. And uh, and he has like the most amazing retirement house of all time on Maui, like the dream scenario, to be [00:22:00] honest, for anybody probably in the world. And, uh, we're smoking a joint, like at his hot tub, and he's like, you know, if if the, if the right people don't step up and guide the industry, the wrong people will, you know? And, um, that was like, okay, we're, we're in, I'm doing this, you know, I want, I want weed to be awesome. You know what I
mean? And like there can be the bud light of weed and, and the big mass cultivations and like all that basic stuff too. But like, I want, I'm the connoisseur, you know what I
mean? So I want to make sure that there's also like the, the, you know, the, the, uh, the high end of the space. You know what I mean?
Tommy: It, you know.
you saying this makes the name Hall of Flowers makes so much sense for me. 'cause I was gonna ask you, where'd you, where'd you come up with the name?
Rama: Well, the name is, was, came from Danny. He called me one day and he goes, what do you think about Cauliflowers? And I was like, I love it. Where did that come from? And he goes, I'm staring at it. And it's literally the name of like the first building [00:23:00] that we rented for the show. He was like doing a site visit and it, and like the building is called Hall Flowers
Tommy: What? Are you serious?
Rama: And it's like an old building. And we were like, that's a fucking beautiful name, incredible name, you
Tommy: Wow, serendipity.
Rama: Yeah. It's such, it's such a, well, you know, yeah. He had, you know, we essentially took it from there. Right. But, uh, but yeah, it's like, uh, it's the inspiration. It and it's, it, I love the name so much.
'cause it's, yes, flower means cannabis. Right. And, you know, maybe it doesn't technically mean edibles or whatever, but like, that has nothing to do with that. It's, it's the plant. You know what I mean? Like, this is the plant, like Danny loves weed, you know what I mean? We, I love weed. I've been smoking weed every day forever.
Like I, you know, since I was 25, essentially. And, um, you know, I, I, it, I, it's like an unbelievable thing for me. It's truly medicine, you know, this plant, you know, and of course people can get carried away with it and all this kind of stuff and, you know, [00:24:00] and, you know, whatever. And I'm not personally, I'm not like a big edible person.
I do love beverages. Um, you know, I'm a joint smoker, you know, um, I like concentrates and vapes, but I don't, I don't really use 'em that much, you know?
Tommy: Yeah. I'm a flower guy too.
Rama: yeah, I'm like a flower person, you know? And, um, and I love rolling the joint and the act it, and the kind of the meditation process of it, um, as well, you know, so, um, but yeah, I'm, I'm a lifer in this space, you know, I wanna, I'm gonna be here forever.
Like I want, I wanna be proud of this. You know, I wanna, I wanna have a show and have an industry and a community that my mom is proud of, you know what I mean? And like our families are proud of, and that's like respected and, you know, and we're on our way there, you know, it's not, and of course it's like, um, tons of people doing all this, you know what I mean?
Um, but yeah, I'm just so thankful that Hall Flowers could even be such a platform and, you know, so, you know, and we
Tommy: It's huge.
Rama: yeah, we hope that people use it as a [00:25:00] platform to launch to, to, to share their expression and, and launch
their companies
and their brands. You know, that's what it's for. You know, it's like, it's like we can't, we can't, yeah.
That we say the term, like, teach people how to fish a lot, right? Like, that's what I say. I shouldn't say when you say we, I say it. And, um, you know, that's what cauliflowers is. It's like we stock the pond, right? With, with like the best of the best. Dude, cauliflowers this show coming up in Ventura, there's like 1100 doors confirmed retail doors confirmed, you know, it's like. I don't know what the total buyers is. It's like, you know, seven or 800 buyers or something that represent, you know, the 1100 locations. You know, that's fucking nuts. It's like, I don't know what the percentage of, of the state is. I'm, I, I should know. But it's like almost all of them, you know, and everyone that's open almost, that's, it's coming, you know, and then, you know, it's sold out already.
We're, we're, we're a month out and we sold out a boot space, you know, so it just shows you the value that we [00:26:00] provide, you know? But then of
course, like some companies and brands don't know how to, if it's fishing, I'm, I like to fish. They show up with the wrong equipment, you know what I mean? And they go, oh, you know, whatever, excuse to blah, blah, blah.
But, you know, um, but everyone's getting better, you know? They're learning the
Tommy: Yeah. So if, if I were, if, if it's my first year at Cauliflowers, my first year, how, give me some advice. How should I prepare?
Rama: Yeah, I love it. I love it there. There's like, we have like an onboarding whole thing that goes out, but then there's also like a secret off menu, like rama list of stuff, you know? 'cause I'm obsessed with people. The only thing we care about at Hall Flowers is, would you come back again?
Tommy: Hm.
Rama: That's it. It's very simple. We care about one thing at all. Flowers, would you come back again? And that goes for buyers. That goes for, for, you know, brands. Was it worth it? You know what I mean? And we wanna make sure it was fucking worth it. We want them to be like, fuck yeah. Oh my God, you have to do it. You know? And that's what, in fashion, that's what my partners had.
It was like the, the show of the show of the show. And people [00:27:00] went there and they became rich at the show because they went from zero accounts to 150 stores or whatever, overnight. You know what I mean? They hit the lottery kind of, you know, so, so how to take advantage. To me it's like all about the prep, you know?
It's like you should be setting up appointments. Trying to get anything going on. A busy booth creates a busy booth, you know, so you wanna have people in there, right? It's so much easier to set, bring people in. If you're in every account and you don't need it, you should be there anyways. And have the C-suite have the owners sitting in there meeting the accounts that have been buying their product.
I'm sure their orders will be bigger the next time. You know, if they have a cool one-on-one with the shop owner and the CFO or CEO or CMO of the company or whatever, you know. Um, so prep is huge. Then be prepared in the booth. You know, I, I have a brand that they asked me your advice and I said, oh, you want business cards and line sheets and catalogs? And this person started writing and I said, you write business cards down. And they [00:28:00] were like, yeah, it's a good idea. We should have business cards for the show. You know, so you can't, you can't, you know, that to me that's very obvious, but a lot of, some people, maybe it's not right. So, um, 'cause and they, to vice versa, obvious stuff's obvious to them that I, you know, that I think is, blows my mind or whatever, you know?
So. So then it's like you gotta be ready at the show if you, you gotta have the right tools, you know, so you want those things, you know, you want to have like some kind of urgency maybe in place where, you know, like you can see the product here and we can ship to you by X date if you order by whatever, you know, time in the next week or two or whatever it may be.
You know, um, you wanna have like marketing and stuff thought out for, you know, the upcoming year, Hey, shop X, y, z, we do, you know, besides, here's our products. We also are gonna be doing this. We have this event coming up, we're creating energy this way, we're doing a street team, whatever it may be. Like, how do you sell through, right?
It's not just sell in, it's sell through. That's the hugest
thing. That's what the retailers want. They don't want you to sell in, they want you to sell through [00:29:00] Push
Tommy: What, what is the support you're gonna give?
Rama: yeah. Push help us, sell your product you and
build your brand with you, you know? Um, send people to the shop somehow, type of thing.
You get us anything? Get us eyeballs, whatever it may be, right? So. I think it's like being prepared there. Right? And then I, then I think it's like collecting every account, every business card, hustling. I have a little list that I'm like, don't eat in the booth. Like, when I see people eating in the booth, it's like my biggest cringe moment. If I
saw like a
burrito, like next to like someone's product, like on a shelf, just half eaten burrito that someone just didn't throw away, it's like, I, I, I wanna explode. You know what I mean? So like that kind of thing, you know what I mean? Like, you know, um, everybody walking by is a potential customer.
And you know what the biggest buyers they are, for sure. Not being like, I've shopped for this big company, they're going incognito. You know what I mean? So like the little, you know, person with the hoodie walking by, that could be like the top person that buys for [00:30:00] 15 shops or whatever, you know? So you gotta treat everybody like, again, aggressive, you know, to me.
Like, would you want, do you wanna walk by and just see someone sitting in the booth on their phone? Like, just like not even looking up, like what? No way. It's the opposite. I want someone that's like tackling and dragging you into the booth and being like, here's our brand. Why won't you pick it up? Let me tell you about what we're doing.
You know? And then I'd say like, the final part, if you can, and, and this is the future of everything. And I, and I love it. It's like the full brand experience, like we talked about earlier on the call, right? What's, what's the story? What's going on with what your, your company does and what your, what your brand does?
You know, what, why, why is it different? You know what I mean? Because THC count is of course, still the number one thing people care about today. But that will change, you know, it will be about like the story behind the brand that you tell your friends or your coworkers or whatever it may be, or yourself that you're like, I'm gonna get this and not that, you [00:31:00] know?
Um, so I'd say that's the grand opportunity, you know? Um, a little bonus things would be like, if I were a brand, I'd like pull every single person I could. Every buyer. Two questions. You know, like, just like start connecting, you know, with everybody. 'cause again, they're out there. You know, when I, I did the trade shows as a consumer and as a, as a brand owner for fashion.
That's why I started my own trade show. And at the fashion trade shows, I was the last person packing up. You know, the show ends at usually at five or six, right? And by three or four or five, everyone's like over it 'cause they've partied too much the night before or whatever. And they like want to pack up early 'cause no one's here or whatever.
Right? That's what used to happen in the fashion shows back in the day. And I would be like, Nope, I'm there till fucking eight o'clock if you let me. And then at, you know, five minutes before the show's, over 10 minutes before the show's over, there'd be a buyer from Brazil or from, you know, Michigan or whatever that would walk by and be like, man, I [00:32:00] my flight and this.
And oh my God. I'm just like, this is kind of cool. Tell me about your stuff. And I would always write an order last minute, you know? Um.
I, there's a guy named Luke Scar Mezo, uh, and, and, uh, who's an incredible, um, you know, important person that wrote a book and, and went to, you know, um, prison essentially for having a dispensary in California. Luke Scar, Mezo is the man. We love him, we support him. And, um, you know, and I, I talked to him recently and I said, Hey, you gotta make sure that you guys are like at the booth till the end and stuff. You know what I mean? Because just what I'm telling you, right? Like, these are my little tips when I talk to people like, how come? And he's like, dude, you know, we're the last person out of there. Like where, you know, remember last time you walked around and we had a line still? 'cause, and people next to me were breaking down already. And yeah, it's 10 minutes, 20 minutes before the end of the show, but what, what are you doing? You know what I mean?
That could be like one extra thing. And again, the retailers need someone that's gonna help them sell through, you know, they need this more than ever. So they don't want someone that's gonna, that's, you know, [00:33:00] maybe not as excited or, or active about the brand. So, you know, that's what I would say.
Tommy: That's really good advice because how you are, there's a really good saying that my business partner always, um, uh, like I guess lack of a better word, says is how you do one thing is how you do everything.
Rama: Show me how you do one thing and I'll show you how you do everything.
Absolutely. 100%. And at that that quote, you and I, we like the quotes, you and I, and, um, I notice that for myself now. So I've said it to about people, well, you know, if I was like, nervous about someone bringing on an a staff member or working on with a client or whatever, I would say that well, sh you know, like, look what, look what they did.
Like the first project is like a mess. You know what I mean? And, um, you know, and but then I, I've, sorry, I've used that on myself more. I'm more going like, oh, I'm just gonna half-ass this little thing. And I go, oh no. Like, I want to be better. So it's weird. It's like we've had like reverse psychology on me, [00:34:00] you know what I mean?
But, um, yeah. So anyway.
Tommy: I love those brain hacks. Like I, I love those. Everybody has their own way, their own operating system, and the moment you figure out how your brain works and you just use it correctly,
Rama: yeah, yeah. yeah.
Quieting the lizard brain. You, you have to go see it. It is a few minutes long. It, it's perfect. You know?
Tommy: I, I definitely
Rama: Yeah. That's one of those things, you know, 'cause you just realize that like, oh, this is the thing that's stopping me. It's myself, you know? Um, yeah. It's interesting.
Yeah. The confidence and stuff. Do you, do you follow Mark Galloway at all? Do you
know who that is? Professor Galloway, he was the NYU guy. I think he lives in London now, or in England, uh, maybe with his family. And, um, amazing, profound thought leader, entrepreneur guy in the space. And, um, really brilliant mind and, um, talks about mental health a lot.
And, um, you know, that's what this all kind of comes down to, right? Like, you know, right. Like what you're saying. Even, you know, like the. [00:35:00] Show me how you do one thing, I'll show you how you do everything. Or, or the lizard brain or whatever. This is, it all comes down to like, not all of it, but a lot of it comes down to, to that just to keep it, you
know, mental health in all these ways. You know, it's not just therapy, right? It's grounding and it's meditation and it's, you know, like reading and it's these, all these things that you kind of don't realize the effect it has on you until maybe later on, you know? So, yeah.
Tommy: Rama. If I, if I'm a retailer in Sacramento or somewhere that I have to fly, why should I, why should I go to H Flowers?
Rama: Oh well that's okay. I shouldn't say it's an easy one in case you don't like these answers, but, um, 'cause there's hundreds of brands there, newest brands that you've never heard of before that are launching that have unbelievable teams and products and stuff behind them that have been incubating for, for, you know, years at some points, you know? Um, it's the perfect cross section of the market. So you can see exactly what's going on, what's popping, what's not. You know, I mean, take everyone's temperature, you [00:36:00] know? Um, what else are you going there this year I have Chris Bianco coming to do a private dinner for buyers. He's like the pizza king of the planet. So this year or this venture, even more come eat Chris's pizza. That's a big deal. Uh, bragging writes forever. Um, and then retailers, I'm sure I should have even more answers to this, but it's like the entire industry's there. You know what I mean? It's, this is, you know, if you're in the industry, it's like, it's like, you know, it's like we, we we're the Super Bowl, right?
You know what I mean? You're telling me that you like, you know, you're in professional football and we're invited and it's free buyers come free and we're telling you to come to the Super Bowl for free and you're not showing up. What are we talking about here? It's crazy. You know
what I mean? So. You know, I think we have, we do have some holdouts of some of some buyers, right.
Talking to you guys and you know, and the buyers are like, uh, we have holdouts, but some of the ones that, that can't make it, we have like, almost [00:37:00] everybody, basically the ones that can't make it are either very, very far up North California. Um, or if they're, if they're like, you know, driving distance or even up mid, mid California or even San San Sacramento or something, it's the shops that, it's like a one person running it, you know, and and you know, the, the, the patron is the, is the buyer and the shop owner and is the key holder and you know, the HR and everything, and they're just kind of, they just physically can't make it to the show. Other than that, it's like, you know, we're on the beach. It's unbelievable. You, you know, the hotel, you can walk right from the show to the show, you know, right from the hotel to your show back and forth. Even if you have three meetings, you can walk right back to the hotel and have a meeting over there. Uh, in your room or whatever.
Every room has a balcony at the hotel, so you can smoke weed. Probably not legally, I shouldn't say that, but you can, you know, everyone's smoking weed on the balcony hotel. Sorry, I said that. Um, but that's why, that's what happens. Probably. Um, maybe [00:38:00] you cut that part for me. But anyway, uh, and then, uh, you know, um, yeah, you park right there, literally like you pull right up, you park, you walk right in, and it, it's built for buyers, right?
Cauliflower also, we talked about it earlier. I didn't really talk about this. It's built for buyers. My partner, you know, he's an expert in, in building shows that are built for the wholesale process. So everything's intentional. You know, we
own the displays.
We built everything from scratch. Like we built, we design and build the show and the, the displays and the whole offering. So buyers can be effective. You know, like we're like, our job is like to optimize the buying process. So we, we do that, you know. Every day. And we never stop. Every, every day. We're like, how can we make it better and better and better? You know,
Tommy: And I'm sure that a lot of brands, they save their latest and greatest stuff for
Rama: everyone's launching stuff at Hall Flowers at
Tommy: yeah, if you're a retailer, you're gonna be left behind.
Rama: yeah. Everyone's launching stuff at Hall Flowers. You know, the [00:39:00] other thing I'd say is, um, you can get home by dinner time if you're in a, we're, we're, you know, in the valley, basically we're, we're in Ventura, right? Which is, if you know Los Angeles, it's, it's essentially west of Los Angeles, like an hour, whatever, west on the beach, um, feels like north, but it's technically west.
And, and there's like the valley up, you know, in, in la which is where basically most of the people live. And, um, and you just pop right on the 1 0 1 back and forth. You know, we have people that were like, I could go walk my dog, you know, afterwards I could go eat, you know, dinner with my family and I could go, you know, see my kid bef and he is like, you know, they're so easy.
'cause I can, I'm coming back tomorrow. They weren't even expecting to come back the next day. But it's just like we, we build it for complete convenience.
Tommy: Are, are you launching something new this year? A ransomware? Or, or, or, yeah. Where, uh.
Rama: two new things. We're launching Axis, uh, a XIS axis and we're launching Blueprint Axis is like our version of like the [00:40:00] executive, um, kind of clown club kind of thing. Um, it's for people that maybe don't want a booth, um, but want to be at the show and try to like get, you know, not display product or whatever, but, but do deals. So that's like, we have like, you know, attorneys and like investors and like, um, you know, some like brand owners and some big media people kind of thing that have all, you know, they're like getting tickets and access.
So it has its own little space in there. Um, super beautiful little room we're building out. Um, we're not calling it VIP, you know, but like, it, you know, it has that kind of feel essentially. And then, um. And those are tickets that you can apply for on the website and, and you can, you know, we can approve you and whatever.
It's like by, you know, we we're telling no to a bunch of people because we just don't want, you know, to, it's curating like a group within the group, essentially. So it's difficult. And then we have, um, blueprint, which is, um, a, a [00:41:00] section of the show floor and Blueprint is an expansion of what we've been doing.
So Hall Flowers is there to provide, you know, um, the solution to a problem, right? We're there to solve problems. And the main problem has been connecting California brands with California buyers. That's been the problem. We crushed it the best ever. And then the, now the new problem is those California brands wanna expand.
They want to go to other states, and then they want new automation and they don't wanna have to go to other shows to see it. They wanna just, you know, have it brought to them. So we built a little area out, it's like 20 companies only. It's not like this crazy big thing. You know, but it's super curated and it's the best of the best from the extraction side.
From the cultivation side. Just a like one or two of the best people that that, that like, you know, that, that build that auto automation and make that run those manufacturing com com companies. We also have out state operators. So, uh, we have [00:42:00] a group that I'm friends with coming out from New England, uh, in the Northeast and New York called Star Base. We have, uh, two other ones, one coming from, um, Arizona, one coming from New Hampshire. Um, and they're looking, all of them, New York made New Hampshire, you know, uh, Massachusetts, Arizona. They're looking to bring California brands to those places. So it's like, we're not matchmaking, but we're trying to bring a new audience in.
You know, these guys, you know, and women, um, you know, and entrepreneurs in California, they wanna expand, um, and they wanna automate, they want to use the best of the equipment. So we're kind of building that into its own little thing, kind of combining that area, uh, called Blueprint. And, uh, yeah, it's exciting and we're working with Beard Bros on that.
If you know Beard Bros, who are awesome and, and, uh, and good Life gang who are really taking the, the, the lead there on bringing like, the extraction to life and, and cultivation with the Beard Bros. And then there's a company called Blueprint as well. Great minds, think alike kind of thing. [00:43:00] And, uh, they designed facilities for, uh, cultivation all around the country. So they're, they're involved as well, helping us curate it a little bit. And, uh, you know, and they have a great name that we, uh, are using for this little section.
Tommy: I, I, I, I, we have a segment where I just ask a couple of questions and just to get to know you a, a little bit better. Uh, but before that actually, is there anything else, Robin, that we haven't spoken about that, uh, you would like to share?
Rama: no, no, I think that's plenty. I talk a lot, you know, as you can tell. So,
Tommy: Okay, let's go. Uh, rapid fire. What was the last book you read?
Rama: um, the Rick Rubin book, which I, I, I promise I didn't copy his beard. Uh, great Minds Think Alike again, I guess. Uh, yeah, the Rick Rubin book was the last one that I read.
Tommy: What is the favorite, what is your favorite piece of content that you've consumed that has changed your life?
Rama: Whopper Freakout by Crispin Porter Bki probably is my, my [00:44:00] my, the thing that changed my life the most, marketing wise, business wise is probably Whopper Freakout, um, which is like a behind the scenes look at what they did, what Crispin Porter Bobowski did for Burger King on a campaign. And, uh, it was just such a brilliant idea, you know, and that then led me down the rabbit hole of like Alex Bki and marketing and all these kind of
things.
And, um, then the impact that certain things have, you know, 'cause like, you know, again, I'm like. We do events for a couple thousand people. We don't do stuff for the masses. We don't do stuff for 20 million people, you know?
So,
um, that stuff's interesting me, like the, the, you know, the, the influence that you can have on that level is scary, you know,
Tommy: If you had to start over again in the cannabis industry, what would you start?
Rama: I mean, today, beverage company, everybody on the planet has beverage, you [00:45:00] know, so I would say like a D nine beverage, like 5,000 are launching every day it seems like. Uh, that's interesting to me. I'm very bullish on beverage, as I've been saying for a long time. Um, uh, another alarm for you. One second here. Uh, and then I would say, what, what would I, what would I do if I was doing cannabis again, starting today? I, I mean, I mentioned this to you kind of before, but what I would do if I was starting cannabis today is I would go intern and shadow essentially. Someone like me, someone like Brad from seven 10, someone like Wonder Bread, someone like the team from, you know, can, or, or Pure Beauty or, or Alien Labs, you know what I mean?
Or like the 50 other amazing brands that are at Hall Flowers that I'm not, you know, mentioning, you know, just go really learn from from it. You know what I mean? Like, be a roadie. You know, we had like roadies and stuff and [00:46:00] people that would come at the shows and then they'd be like, hanging out with the band and they would start a band.
It would be like three times the size of the band that they were hanging out with. You know what I mean? So use all that, learn it, you know what I mean? It's, it's, it's priceless. You can't, this isn't taught in books and stuff yet, you know?
Tommy: I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. And if you did, please hit the like and subscribe button Until next time guys. Take care
Speaker: Thanks for listening to the KayaKast podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and your favorite podcast app, or visit our website to access the full archive of episodes from the show.
