MJBizMag August 2022 - 39

Most of the executives, she noted, had data-driven
mindsets and came from traditional industries such as
grocery, retail and consumer packaged goods.
The feedback that executives gave Suntrup refl ected
cultivation, of course, but also themes such as " purpose "
and " intention, " because they wanted to convey that their
decisions are based on data and facts.
" We used the feedback and research to determine what
best represents Schwazze and how we talk about ourselves,
and we came up with this internal brand essence known as
Growth by Design, " Suntrup said, adding that the phrase
signifi es the cannabis industry's growth exploding in ways
that require " a good Schwazze, " or thoughtful pruning, to
create a profi table and mature business.
Marijuana retailers Emerald Fields, above, and Star Buds have
diff erent branding. Photo by Matthew Staver
" The new (Schwazze) brand is a lot more polished than
what the former persona looked like. By polished, we
mean we fi ne-tuned who we are as a company and how we
talk about ourselves, " Suntrup explained.
ACQUISITION AND EXPRESSION ISSUES
In early 2020, the Denver-based company was still known as
Medicine Man Technologies, the consulting arm of Medicine
Man, a chain of four Colorado cannabis stores. The company
was fresh off a hefty infusion from Dye Capital, a private
equity fi rm owned by Schwazze's current CEO, Justin Dye.
In April 2020, Medicine Man Technologies rebranded as
Schwazze (pronounced shh-wah-zz)-a term coined by the
business' former head grower, Joshua Haupt, that refers
to a technique of de-fanning and defoliating cannabis
plants to maximize growth and yields. Schwazze split with
the Medicine Man chain in August 2020, after several
acquisitions fell through.
Schwazze's leadership team still wanted to pursue new
acquisitions, but their targets often struggled to understand
who or what Schwazze was.
" People wanted to know more about who Schwazze is, "
Suntrup said, adding that the company fi elded questions
about corporate values, the leadership team and how
Schwazze differs from its peers. " It just became evident that
the time was ripe for change in terms of who we are, our
persona, what we look like, how we talk about ourselves. "
GROWTH BY DESIGN
Suntrup started the rebrand process by asking Schwazze's
executive team those questions.
THE LOGO
To assist with the
rebrand, Schwazze
hired Freer Industries,
a Denver design shop
that collaborated with
Suntrup and other
executives.
The process took
about three months,
and the result was a new logo, which is a combined overlay
of the letters " S " and " Z. " In the middle of the logo is a
" greater than symbol " designed to resemble the tip of
pruning shears, or a " schwazzing " tool.
" We like it because it's super-polished and looks modern
and mainstream. We feel like it represents a company
that is modern in this coming-of-age era (for the cannabis
industry), " Suntrup said.
She also created the tagline Grow Forth to signify what
Schwazze wants to do as a company. " By fi ne-tuning our
external brand image and adding a tagline onto it, it puts
a fi ner point on who we are and how we operate and how
we think. "
NAME CONFUSION
Despite the deliberate tag lines and clever logo, Suntrup
acknowledges that many people unfamiliar with Schwazze
wouldn't know that it's a cultivation term or even how to
pronounce it. For Schwazze CEO Dye, the remedy is to repeat
the name and what it means as frequently as possible
to increase familiarity.
" On pretty much every call-whether it's an investorrelations
call or pitching to a potential capital investment
group-Justin, our CEO, is always explaining Schwazze. He
has a couple of sentences that explain what Schwazze is, how
we think, how we do business and that Schwazze stands for a
pruning technique in the cannabis space to allow for greater
mjbizdaily.com | August 2022 39
The new Schwazze logo
incorporates the letters S
and Z with pruning shear tips.
The words Grow Forth use a
handwriting script to make the
message more personal.
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