In 1996, California broke the stigmas of American culture and legalized marijuana for medical use. In 2012, Colorado and Washington shocked the nation again by allowing not only medical use, but recreational use of the drug despite federal pushback. Now, in 2019 cannabis is normalized for most of the population.
Over 30 states have decriminalized cannabis either for medical or recreational purposes. This has brought about an emerging market with ample opportunity for entrepreneurs and investors to stake their claim in the cannabis frontier. However, marijuana marketing is so much more than pot leaves and tie dye. Modern cannabis brands are much more sophisticated in their presentation of products and brand experiences. Marijuana isn’t just for the stoner dropout anymore. It’s for the senior struggling with arthritis; for the eco-conscious parent using CBD to handle their anxiety and depression; for the hard-working college student who wants to spend their weekends at art and music festivals. These nuanced target markets expect brands to provide quality in both their products and presentation if they are to delve into this hot new trend. Experiential marketing is one way in which brands are surging ahead of their competitors and breaking ground within various target markets of the cannabis space. When new consumers are greeted with a warm welcome to the cannabis space, they are more likely to try products that they wouldn’t before. The industry culture is shifting to be inclusive to people of all kinds.
Brands should offer tailored experiences for customers with different needs and expectations when it comes to cannabis use. One such company that is making strides in the industry is Far Out Factory. This marijuana-inspired art and music festival provides an immersive 420-friendly experience that doesn’t actually include marijuana at all. Sponsored by O.penVape, this art festival includes everything a marijuana enthusiast would want: immersive digital art, eclectic music selections, and the best munchies Denver has to offer. Guests at the festival were invited by an array of food trucks, art booths, and even a dance party where they could relax and enjoy the music. The environment was optimized for someone who had partaken prior to the festival, but was equally fun sober. Alt Ethos participated in this fantastic 420 event by curating a balloon-inspired silent disco with color-coordinated lights to match featured DJs’ top tracks. The silent disco was a success for us and Far Out Factory, and a truly great time for everyone on the dance floor.
Events like these offer opportunity for cannabis industry leaders to interact with their consumers and make memorable impressions that lead to purchases. When customers interact with the brand, even if they don’t buy or even sample products, they build brand loyalty and will likely come back when they are ready to delve into the modern marijuana culture. Experiential marketing is an opportunity for marijuana brands to make cannabis a solution, not a problem in today’s culture. Talk to us at Alt Ethos to learn how you can take your branding to the next level.
We’ve made it easier for you to include our rental items into your pitches! We developed a package of pricing, media assets, and descriptions for each of our rental items so you can drop them into your slides easily! Contact us to qualify for access to our easy reseller pricing and assets.
CRUSH WALLS Recap
CRUSH WALLS was a huge success! Alt Ethos was setup on the main wall of Denver Central Market in the Rino Arts District using two 14k Christie projectors blended together. Friday and Saturday night we setup and mapped the two large pieces painted by local artist Taste and Australian artist Smug One. Large crowds would come gather and gaze at the animated mural, often hearing phrases like, “omg thats so sick,” and then proceed to share pictures and videos to social media.
We’ll be posting a recap video soon so stay tuned to our social channels Instagram, Facebook and Youtube.
Alt Ethos created multiple holographic installations for Anythink Library’s annual fundraiser Sparkopolis and we are thrilled with how everything was received. Sparkopolis provided an opportunity for us to spend some time in R&D to develop and fabricate new ideas and then share those with all of the attendees. There’s no doubt that holographic displays are the future and Alt Ethos is quickly becoming experts at multiple implementations of holograms. We will be releasing a recap video from Sparkopolis soon so stay tuned as we unveil more of what we’ve been working on.
Holograms are intriguing because it’s a technology straight out of a sci-fi movie and we are excited to recreate them in various ways. Check out this article about how they’re being used currently. Holograms are being implemented in more public locations and events like trade shows, airports, hospitality industries and retail settings. Witnessing something that generates a resounding “WOW” and having it relate to your clients brand increases memorable experiences and engagement. Schedule a short meeting with our producers to see how we can create a WOW factor for your next event.
Alt Ethos is proud of announcing a collaboration with High Plains Library District to start creating terrains and environments for educational robots. We can’t tell you all the details yet, but we can tell you that our initial concepts include an augmented sandbox that will allow users to replicate other planets terrain a robot race track that simulates the Light Cycle races in the movie Tron by creating an LED floor and include obstacles and jumps. We will have more updates on this project as soon as we’re able to, so stay tuned to our social channels Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest updates.
Progress on the Meow Wolf Denver Building
Alt Ethos is right down the street from the new Meow Wolf location, so we get to see how rapidly it’s coming together. We are thrilled to see this come to life right in our backyard and excited to see this bring new life to Denver’s creative economy.
Check out this article by 303 Magazine documenting the progress so far.
Talking to Strangers Can Improve Your Mood!
A body of research has shown that we might be short-changing our own happiness by ignoring opportunities to connect with the people around us.
The mood boost of talking to strangers may seem fleeting, but the research on well-being, scientists say, suggests that a happy life is made up of a high frequency of positive events. Even small positive experiences — chatting with a stranger in an elevator — can make a difference.
Alt Ethos focuses on creating experiences that can facilitate connection and collaboration with every project.
Megan from Greeley, CO shared this with us after visiting our Musical Hopscotch installation with her family.
“We were very excited to have Alt Ethos do an installation in our town, and it did not disappoint. In addition to it being a beautiful piece in a space that welcomes beauty the interactive component creates a tiny community. Our son connected with complete strangers in a matter of minutes to play music together. We were all hopping around and laughing like kids. We hope to see more like these in our town and all over!”
Curating unique experiences for audiences is becoming an essential part of any event. These carefully crafted experiences leave people with a memorable experience associated with your brand. People love to share their amazing experiences via social media, so having an experience that is easily captured and tags to associate it with are key. Check out Ex Awards list of the best experiential marketing campaigns of 2019 and see examples of how brands are taking their events to the next level. Alt Ethos can help with our popular interactive rental items as well as custom designed experiences to make your vision come to life.
Celebrate 10 years of Anythink with whimsical experiences and dynamic entertainment by Alt Ethos
Anythink Foundation’s most-talked-about fundraiser, returns September 7, 2019 for an evening of food, drink and creativity. Anythink Library is dedicated to supporting innovative thinking and creating. Alt Ethos will be there showcasing our latest experiments with holographic and hidden displays. Stay tuned to our social channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as we will be experimenting more with different forms of holograms. We’re excited to show you what we’ve been up to, so don’t miss out and get your tickets soon! RSVP Here
Alt Ethos Selfie Stations For Your Next Event
We provide several unique rental items that draw people to interact, dance and take pictures with. We offer items like our Balloon Wall, Digital Mirrors and a human sized kaleidoscope. Most of them can also be branded with specific logos, colors and themes to match the event. Head over to our rentals page on our website to see if we can help provide a memorable experience for your next event. We also have items that aren’t listed, and we would love to hear your vision to see if we can help bring your ideas to life!
Reach out to our producer Erin to discuss ideas and details here
Celebrate 10 years of Anythink with whimsical experiences and dynamic entertainment by Alt Ethos
Anythink Foundation’s most-talked-about fundraiser, returns September 7, 2019 for an evening of food, drink and creativity. Anythink Library is dedicated to supporting innovative thinking and creating. Alt Ethos will be there showcasing our latest experiments with holographic displays. Stay tuned to our social channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as we will be experimenting more with different forms of holograms. We’re excited to show you what we’ve been up to, so don’t miss out and get your tickets soon!
CRUSH WALLS + ALT ETHOS
A 360-degree art festival unlike any other it has offered before
This is a very special year for CRUSH WALLS and we are honored and thrilled to be a sponsor for this event! We will be teaming up with an artist and projection mapping their work for a night time activation in the heart of RiNo. We love the amount of style, technique, and creativity this festival brings together.
Keep an eye on our social when we announce which artist we’ll be collaborating with. Also, check out the video of our permanent projection mapped mural in Fort Collins painted by Italian artist Peeta.
Pagosa Springs Road Trip for Professional Development
Sometimes you have to step away from the computer
We’ll be heading south to Pagosa Springs, CO to learn and sharpen our skills with our business coach Royce Gomez. She is an expert in business strategies that catalyze growth in short periods of time. We love learning from her and we want to bring the best to our clients, so we can have successful, long-lasting relationships.
We will also be taking advantage of some down time to relax our brains and our muscles in the amazing hot springs surrounded by the San Juan Mountains.
As a growing creative startup, finding a place to work and build in a rapidly growing city can be a challenge often overlooked. After working out of our home for over two years at The Commons on Champa we were ready for some growth into a space where we could work and build.
We still love The Commons and visit, hold events, or work there often. Searching for something at the scale we needed for the price we could afford was proving to be difficult. After scouring the market for a couple months our good friends at TVL Creative let us in on their secret.
They rented a space in an artist, maker, and creative workspace called Prism Workspaces. This conglomeration of a couple buildings sits on the outskirts of downtown just south of Mile High Stadium in an industrial park just a gust of wind away smells of greenhouses full of Colorado’s cash crop. The unassuming warehouse style buildings contain a labyrinth of workspaces for some of the most phenomenal creatives in Denver.
Outside of Prism workspace.
We moved into Prism in October of 2017 into a 1300 sq. foot unit for a fraction of the price of other spaces we had been looking at. Apart from the size, location, and price what has really excited me was the community and the passion people had for the work they did.
Day in and day out the noises from people building, and making things fills the air at Prism reminding us of the creative energy flowing heavily through the space.
This place is special.
In the social and political climate since the Ghost Ship fire, creative spaces have been uprooted in many places around the country. Makers, creatives, inventors, artists, and musicians have been reeling to find places to live and work since their displacement. The tragedy rocked the community and has touched many of our lives so very deeply.
Preventing something like that happening again is certainly important however the implementation of the enforcement has caused a lot of discomfort and even suffering among people in our community. Although Prism doesn’t solve any of the housing issues, the feeling of the DIY community workspace seems to thrive, while also maintaining a healthy relationship with the City.
The synthesis of professionalism and creativity shouldn’t be feared, and the feeling of the community can still flourish.
Our office inside of Prism.
After almost 8 months, we have really found a home at Prism. Our office and studio space allows for us to work together in a space we can be proud of. With ample space for desks and individual workspaces paired with a great meeting area and a large fabrication and build space, we have a natural and efficient flow to get a good volume of quality work built and designed. We have ample space to build out installations for testing or prototyping before we deploy final products.
Welcome to the Alt Ethos interactive installation factory.
Coming up 7 months after our first open house not long after we moved in, the Prism Community is hosting another open house. We are so excited to show you what we have been working on the past half of the year.
Please come by and see what we have in store for this event and also check out what our neighbors will have to show. The theme of this open house is Ultraviolet, so expect a lot of purple!
Come celebrate with us at the Prism Workplaces facility-wide open house to take in the work of talented artists, designers, and creatives. We are grateful to be a part of this community as we continue to expand our organizations into new possibilities.
The open house will be held on Friday, June 1st, 2018 from 5:30pm to 11:30pm at Prism Workplaces 999 Vallejo Street, Denver Colorado. Alt Ethos is located through entrance 2 at space #30.
