The cannabis industry has changed dramatically since Breez was founded in 2015. The California-based brand has grown rapidly during this time, building up a range of premium THC and CBD-infused mints, tincture sprays and tablets.

The brand’s quick expansion has brought a number of challenges with it, however, namely around its branding and communications. “These changes excelled at market, but the expansions have been ad-hoc and rushed,” says Anna Walters, CMO at Breez. “As a result, the design and brand identity had grown a bit feral.”

Alongside this, pre-existing public perceptions of the cannabis sector, such as stigma around usage, presented the brand with the added dilemma of how to drive home the everyday lifestyle, wellness and health benefits of their products.

Leeds-based agency Robot Food was brought in to help Breez convert their success in California into a global brand, opening up its wholesale-only model to direct-to-consumer, as well as expanding nationally and worldwide.

During the workshop phase, Robot Food found Breez’s customer base to be very broad. The agency’s research suggested that rather than positioning it as another ‘hipster’ cannabis brand, it made more sense to make it a household name – and help the category enter the mainstream in the process.

“The category was still missing a beacon brand that stands above the rest, bridging functional, emotional, flavourful and benefit-led in a way that just fits into your life,” says Robot Food founder and executive creative director, Simon Forster.

The new branding positions Breez as a lifestyle product – an essential ritual in people’s daily routines – by demonstrating how it can help ‘unlock’ their day. Each product in the range targets a specific wellbeing issue, such as enhancing fun, aiding relaxation, or helping with sleep.

The design retains the ownable gold of Breez’s previous branding, complemented by a vibrant colour palette, and introduces a reworked version of the brand’s blocky typography to unite the entire range and increase brand recognition. As for the packaging design, the focus is on functionality and consistency, enabling messaging on pack to convey a lot in a limited space.

“A lot of consumers in California are very aware of the category and they know what they’re looking for. But for a lot of people, it’s still quite scary if you don’t know anything about it,” says Forster.

“Breez’s new branding feels a lot more accessible: not this closed off cannabis ‘club’. If it’s the easiest to read and get to grips with, then you’re on to a winner.”

robot-food.com