The stunt out of Germany joins other global and US honorees at the recent Clio Cannabis awards

First Published by Adweek.com

Commuting can be hell, much more so during the end-of-year holiday rush. But what if some of the anxiety could be removed, turning that everyday chore into less of a total buzzkill?

To solve a relatable problem for BVG, Germany’s public transportation system, agency Jung von Matt AG created a product no one saw coming—first-of-their-kind hemp-infused coupons to calm the overwrought masses.

In short, these train tickets were dope. Literally.

The concept was simple yet groundbreaking: BVG made limited-edition tickets out of edible paper, doused them with cannabis’ legal cousin and sold them in the days leading up to Christmas 2021. Tagline: “Come home, calm down.”

There was, predictably, a social media frenzy and a public stampede for the chillest train tickets in history. And last week, the program picked up a Grand Clio award at the Clio Cannabis ceremony, a boisterous standing-room-only event held in Las Vegas as part of the MJ Unpacked conference.

Jung von Matt, meantime, was named agency of the year for urging consumers to “chew up all the stress of the festive season” while hitching a ride, according to its case study video.

The stunt snagged the equivalent of $13.3 million in media spending, with 860 million impressions, per the agency, and tickets that were no longer valid popped up for sale online for five times their original price.

All over the map

“BVG Hempticket” was one global honoree among the largest showing of international entries on record for the four-year-old Clio Cannabis awards, according to Michael Kauffman, executive director of Clio Music and Clio Cannabis, who did his best Elvis impression by kicking off the event in a rented white jumpsuit.

Prizes went to campaigns from Canada, Brazil and the U.K., along with first-time entries from Israel and Croatia. The U.S. took the lion’s share of trophies, flexing its creative muscles as the most mature and robust sales market in the world.

And though America has tended to dominate the conversation in the space—with 2022 sales projections that range from BDSA’s $27 billion to New Frontier Data’s $32 billion—analysts and industry execs are keeping a close eye on a number of territories that are loosening their weed restrictions.

Thailand recently decriminalized cannabis for personal use—following countries like Belgium, Mexico and Switzerland—while Germany is edging toward recreational sales for its 83 million residents, possibly by 2024. Australia’s legalization movement is picking up steam via its federal parliament, while Japan is considering a medical program.

Highly artistic

There were 109 gold, silver and bronze winners overall in categories ranging from print, out of home, brand design, experiential, digital and mobile, among others. The work “represented a wide spectrum of ideas,” Kauffman said, with the goal of “celebrating the inherent value of the creative process.”

The ceremony last Thursday at the MGM Grand hotel cherry-picked a handful of the most lauded work, and winners stoked the crowd in their acceptance speeches by leaning into social justice, media censorship and other timely issues.

Additional honorees included Cann as brand of the year, singled out for campaigns that celebrated the LGBTQ+ community’s contributions to the space, continued to normalize the plant via celebrity tie-ins and questioned mainstream media’s canna-unfriendly policies.

Among the other Grand Clio winners:

Weedmaps for its too-hot-for-the-Super Bowl short film starring a walking, talking stalk of broccoli and its April 20-pegged Vice TV series Tumbleweeds with Killer Mike.

Show-Me Organics and Vivid for creating hyper-local partnerships that produced infused “twice baked” potato chips and other goodies under the Missouri’s Own Edibles brand.

Freedom Grams, from a coalition of activist brands and ad agency Serviceplan Germany, for packaging and selling flower in exactly the amounts that have put people behind bars in the U.S.

Special recognition went to Headcount’s Cannabis Voter Project for informing and registering U.S. residents to vote, while rapper, industry pioneer and Cookies co-founder Berner received the 2022 Honorary Clio Cannabis award.

Berner, who recently battled cancer and appeared on the cover of Forbes, acknowledged the current challenges facing the industry, telling his fellow ganjapreneurs that “there’s nothing easy about this, but just know that everything we’re doing is normalizing the plant and pushing the industry forward. We’re laying a lot of groundwork right now for our kids and the next generation.”