Matt Janz, Director of Marketing at Deep Roots Harvest – Interview Series

What subjects in marketing did you study at the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State University? What student organizations were you involved in?

At the College of Southern Nevada, I earned two associate degrees: an Associate of Business Administration and an Associate of Arts. During my time there, I was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. CSN gave me a strong academic foundation while also providing a structured, highly supportive environment where faculty were clearly invested in student success.

I later attended Nevada State University, where I majored in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and minored in Communications. While I wasn’t heavily involved in student organizations, I stayed closely connected to the university through alumni engagements and speaking opportunities, and I was honored to receive the Glenn and Ande Christenson Scholarship in consecutive years.

Both institutions played a major role in shaping how I approach leadership and marketing today. At NSU especially, the smaller class environment created meaningful relationships with professors who brought real-world experience into the classroom. Christopher Harris, who led the Communications program, challenged me to think deeply about communications theory and its practical application. That experience pushed me beyond simply completing assignments and helped me develop the strategic communication skills I rely on professionally today.

Professor Cindy Stella also had a significant impact on me through courses like Buyer Behavior and Market Research, which gave me a foundational understanding of how consumers think, make decisions, and engage with brands. Another professor who left a lasting impression was adjunct Change Management professor Todd Christensen, who introduced the concept of a company’s “purpose for existence.” That idea became especially influential in my career in cannabis, where the work initially centered around helping medical patients and building brands with authentic purpose behind them.

Since your studies were mostly before the recreational market in Nevada first opened, what courses eventually became the most useful when working in the Nevada cannabis industry?

Ironically, the courses that ultimately became the most valuable to me were in communications rather than traditional marketing. One concept that profoundly shaped how I approached cannabis marketing was Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT), which examines how people navigate uncertainty in new relationships and environments. The theory suggests that trust is built gradually over time through communication, familiarity, and authenticity.

That framework translated directly into the medical cannabis space in Nevada’s early days. Many patients walking into dispensaries were dealing with serious illnesses, chronic pain, or conditions where traditional medicine had failed them — or worse, led them toward opioid dependency. For many, entering a dispensary was an emotionally vulnerable experience. There was uncertainty, stigma, and discomfort surrounding cannabis at the time, especially in a newly developing market.

Our responsibility was not simply to sell products; it was to reduce that uncertainty. We had to make people feel comfortable, informed, and genuinely cared for. From a marketing standpoint, that meant building educational resources, creating intentional and approachable brand messaging, sharing patient stories, and developing communication strategies rooted in empathy rather than hype.

That experience fundamentally shaped how I view marketing today. The strongest brands are not built solely through advertising — they are built through trust, authenticity, and the ability to make people feel understood.

What were your first roles in the Nevada cannabis industry, and what would you say were the largest differences between your first years in the Nevada industry versus the current industry?

My first role in Nevada’s cannabis industry was as a Marketing Coordinator for The Apothecarium, and it remains one of the most formative experiences of my career. At the time, The Apothecarium was deeply rooted in the medical cannabis community. They held educational classes, developed curriculum for patients, and fostered a culture centered around helping people improve their quality of life. Nearly the entire staff — myself included — were medical cannabis patients, which created an authentic level of empathy and connection with the people we served.

What started as a traditional coordinator role quickly became a crash course in high-level marketing strategy. On my first day, I was tasked with building a full marketing plan — something typically far beyond the scope of an entry-level marketing position. That environment forced me to grow quickly. I taught myself web development, graphic design, content creation, campaign strategy, and media planning, while learning how to market effectively within one of the most heavily restricted industries in the country.

In those early years, cannabis marketers had very few mainstream advertising options available to them. Platforms like Google Ads, Meta, connected TV, and programmatic advertising were either inaccessible or extremely limited for cannabis brands. Success required creativity, adaptability, and a willingness to constantly find ways around regulatory and platform limitations. It taught me how to build brands through storytelling, grassroots engagement, education, and strategic customer experience rather than relying solely on paid media.

The biggest difference between the early medical market and today’s cannabis industry is the level of sophistication and business maturity. In the early days, the focus was almost entirely patient-centric — education, access, and advocacy. Today, the industry operates with the complexity and competitiveness of major national retail organizations. Conversations now revolve around EBITDA, return on advertising spend, customer acquisition costs, retail analytics, loyalty ecosystems, vendor partnerships, and sophisticated omnichannel marketing strategies.

Cannabis has evolved from an emerging industry into a highly competitive and strategically advanced business environment. The pace, complexity, and expectations today are dramatically different than they were ten years ago, and marketers now have to balance creativity with data, compliance, operational efficiency, and long-term brand strategy at an incredibly high level.

As someone very experienced in the field, what is so unique about the intricacies of cannabis brand marketing? How is it different from marketing for other industries and businesses?

One of the biggest misconceptions about cannabis marketing is the idea that cannabis brands function like traditional consumer packaged goods companies. I’ve heard cannabis compared to CPG countless times throughout my career, and while there are certainly overlaps, I don’t think it’s a fully accurate comparison. Cannabis is far more nuanced because consumers are not simply buying a product — they’re often buying an experience, a lifestyle, a ritual, or a solution to a very specific personal need.

Unlike traditional CPG, there is no universal playbook for building a successful cannabis brand. The industry sits at the intersection of agriculture, wellness, and culture, which creates a uniquely fragmented consumer landscape. Some consumers prioritize terpene profiles and cultivation quality with the sophistication of wine enthusiasts, while others are driven by lifestyle branding, social identity, convenience, or trend culture.

That’s what makes cannabis branding so fascinating. You can build incredibly successful brands through completely different approaches. Some brands are built almost entirely through cultural momentum and marketing excellence. They create excitement through bold creative, immersive activations, merch, collaborations, and highly intentional brand identity systems. In many ways, those companies operate as world-class marketing organizations that happen to sell cannabis — and the best of them execute at an exceptionally high level.

On the other side, there are brands that earn loyalty almost entirely through product quality and consistency. Companies like 710 Labs, Kalya, and Papa’s Select have built strong reputations because consumers trust the experience they’re going to receive every time they purchase. In cannabis, quality still matters tremendously because the consumer can feel the difference immediately.

That balance between culture, quality, and consumer psychology is what makes cannabis marketing fundamentally different from most industries. There is no single formula that guarantees success. A heavily marketed brand can dominate, but so can a quieter, quality-first company that builds trust organically through the product itself. Few industries allow for both approaches to coexist so successfully.

From a tactical marketing perspective, the industry has also evolved dramatically. Early cannabis marketers had to operate almost entirely through creative workarounds because traditional advertising channels were largely inaccessible. Today, the ecosystem is much more mature.

Cannabis companies now leverage connected TV, meta, digital out-of-home, paid search, broadcast partnerships, and sophisticated social strategies in ways that simply weren’t possible a decade ago.

The difference now is not whether cannabis brands can market effectively — it’s whether they can do so strategically enough to stand out in one of the most competitive and culturally dynamic industries in modern business.

As Director of Marketing for The Source and Deep Roots Harvest, what are some of your regular duties? How do you implement successful marketing and customer engagement strategies while staying compliant with Nevada’s strict regulations?

As Director of Marketing for The Source and Deep Roots Harvest, my responsibilities span everything from high-level growth strategy to day-to-day operational execution. At the core of the role is performance analysis. My team and I spend a significant amount of time monitoring KPIs through our aggregate data systems, analyzing everything from return on ad spend and channel performance to new customer acquisition, retention, and customer recovery metrics. Every marketing investment we make is measured against performance, because in today’s cannabis landscape, marketing has to function as both a creative discipline and a measurable growth engine.

What makes our organization unique is that we operate with an extremely team-centric mindset. We view our frontline employees as internal customers, because when our teams are informed, engaged, and positioned to succeed, the customer experience improves naturally. That philosophy creates strong organizational alignment around performance, accountability, and shared goals. We focus heavily on understanding the small operational and marketing adjustments that can create significant business impact over time, whether that’s optimizing promotional cadence, refining loyalty strategies, or improving how we communicate value to different customer segments.

On a practical level, the scope of work is incredibly broad. We manage a traditional 2/2/3 promotional sales cycle, monthly customer engagement campaigns, vendor co-marketing partnerships, slotted advertising programs, in-store merchandising, database marketing, paid media, and omnichannel campaign strategy across multiple retail brands. One thing I’m especially proud of is that our marketing operation accomplishes all of this with a lean three-person team. A major part of my role is ensuring that team has the structure, tools, strategic clarity, and support needed to execute at a high level while also continuing to grow professionally.

Beyond execution and project management, my role involves developing topline business strategy, overseeing marketing budgets, building partnership opportunities, and constantly evaluating how we can differentiate ourselves in an increasingly competitive market. Ultimately, successful marketing comes down to understanding the customer. An idea may look great internally, but if it doesn’t genuinely resonate with consumers or improve their experience, it won’t drive meaningful results.

When it comes to compliance, I actually believe Nevada has established a very clear and workable regulatory framework for cannabis marketing. The rules are straightforward: no advertising to individuals under 21, no marketing at events where minors are permitted, no messaging that appeals to children, no unsubstantiated medical claims, and strict disclaimer requirements for public-facing advertisements. From my perspective, those guardrails create clarity rather than limitation.

The challenge — and the opportunity — for cannabis marketers is finding creative, strategic, and culturally relevant ways to operate successfully within those boundaries. Strong marketing leadership in cannabis isn’t about avoiding regulation; it’s about understanding the framework deeply enough to innovate effectively inside of it.

With so many cannabis brands and formats sold at The Source and Deep Roots Harvest, how do you adjust marketing strategies based on product type and potential consumer base?

One of the most important realities in cannabis retail is that there is no “one-size-fits-all” customer. Consumer motivations vary dramatically depending on income level, experience with cannabis, desired effects, product preferences, and even geography. Across The Source and Deep Roots Harvest, we serve communities with very different household income ranges, purchasing behaviors, and expectations, so our marketing strategies have to be highly adaptable.

At the most basic level, value-driven products tend to market themselves differently than premium products. For example, when you have a highly competitive entry-level price point on flower, the value proposition itself often drives velocity. Customers shopping in that segment are typically prioritizing accessibility, affordability, and consistency, so the messaging strategy becomes very direct and utility-focused.

On the premium side, the strategy changes significantly. Customers purchasing top-shelf flower, premium concentrates, or higher-end vape brands are often looking for quality cues, cultivation reputation, terpene profiles, consistency, exclusivity, and overall brand identity. In those cases, storytelling, product education, brand positioning, and experiential marketing become much more important than price alone.

What makes cannabis retail especially interesting is that both types of customers can exist within the same market — and sometimes even within the same customer. Someone may purchase value products for everyday consumption while still seeking premium products for specific experiences or occasions. That creates a much more layered and dynamic consumer environment than many traditional retail categories.

Our approach is always centered around understanding the customer first and tailoring assortment, messaging, and promotions accordingly. Some stores over-index heavily toward premium and connoisseur-driven products, while others respond more strongly to price-based value and promotional depth. The key is ensuring that each location feels authentic to the community it serves while still maintaining strong overall brand consistency.

At the end of the day, successful cannabis marketing is less about pushing products and more about understanding intent. Different consumers enter the market looking for completely different outcomes, and our job is to meet those needs thoughtfully, whether that’s through premium quality, affordability, education, convenience, or trust.

How did you become a Top 40 Under 40 by Marijuana Venture Magazine? What did that entail, and what accomplishments were most highlighted?

I was fortunate to be nominated for the Top 40 Under 40 recognition by the PR team we were working with at the time, and ultimately selected by Marijuana Venture. From what I remember, the recognition largely centered around the growth and performance results I had helped drive for the companies I’d worked with throughout my career in Nevada cannabis.

Beyond the business side, I think the piece also highlighted the personal connection I’ve always had with cannabis. For me, this industry was never just about selling products or building brands. Cannabis has played a meaningful role in my life for a long time, particularly from a wellness and medical perspective, and in many ways it naturally found its way back into my career path. That personal connection gave the work a much deeper sense of purpose and authenticity for me, especially during the earlier years of Nevada’s medical market when the focus was heavily centered around improving people’s quality of life.

As someone well experienced in the Nevada industry, how have you seen the major slump in tourism impact the state’s cannabis industry and sales? How have you and your team members attempted to adapt to that?

One of the biggest advantages we’ve had at The Source and Deep Roots Harvest is that our business has always been heavily locally focused rather than purely dependent on tourism traffic. That said, Nevada’s economy is deeply connected to hospitality and tourism, so when tourism slows, the ripple effects are felt everywhere — including cannabis retail.

The biggest impact we’ve seen hasn’t necessarily been a direct drop in tourist transactions themselves, but rather the financial pressure placed on local customers who work in hospitality, entertainment, food service, and other tourism-driven industries. When those sectors struggle, many Nevada families feel it immediately. Seeing that happen during 2020 was especially difficult because so many hardworking people across the state suddenly faced major uncertainty around employment and income stability.

As a retailer, that reality changes how you think about customer strategy. During periods of economic pressure, accessibility becomes critically important. Our approach has been centered around ensuring customers have meaningful options at every price point without sacrificing quality. Cannabis consumers are incredibly diverse, and for many people these products play a role in stress relief, relaxation, sleep support, mood enhancement, or overall quality of life. Maintaining access during difficult economic periods matters.

We’ve also invested heavily in loyalty and rewards ecosystems designed to help customers maximize value over time. The goal isn’t simply to discount products — it’s to create long-term relationships that reward consistency and help customers continue accessing products in a sustainable way.

At the same time, downturns force retailers to become sharper operationally. We’ve had to focus even more on retention strategy, customer segmentation, targeted promotions, inventory optimization, and understanding how purchasing behavior changes under economic pressure.

In many ways, challenging economic environments force companies to become more disciplined, more customer-centric, and more intentional with every marketing and operational decision they make.

What do you see the future holding for the Vegas and greater Nevada cannabis industry? How do you envision a federal rescheduling of cannabis and its subsequent ripple effects changing the state industry?

I think one of the biggest areas of growth for Nevada’s cannabis industry will continue to be deeper brand collaborations and more sophisticated strategic partnerships. The industry has evolved far beyond simple transactional retail. The companies that are winning today are the ones creating experiences, building community, and finding ways to authentically align brands, retailers, and consumers.

A great example of that was a campaign we ran earlier this year at The Source and Deep Roots Harvest called Cannaopoly and Maryopoly, which drew inspiration from the nostalgic collectible-style campaigns many people remember from major quick-service brands in the 1990s and early 2000s. We partnered closely with Stiiizy, who helped support grand prize giveaways across all 11 of our stores, while we built a fully integrated omnichannel campaign around the concept.

What made the campaign successful was not simply the promotion itself, but the collaboration behind it. It combined the strength of the retailer relationship, the power of an established cannabis brand, and a customer experience that felt engaging rather than transactional. The result was strong year-over-year growth in both revenue and units sold, but more importantly, it reinforced the idea that cannabis marketing is becoming increasingly experience-driven.

I think we’ll continue seeing more evolution in areas like co-marketing partnerships, slotted advertising, loyalty ecosystems, experiential retail, and cross-brand collaboration. The industry is becoming far more sophisticated in how companies work together to drive mutual growth.

As for federal rescheduling, I’m generally optimistic about anything that helps create greater long-term stability and clarity for the industry. Regardless of how those conversations evolve, I think Nevada’s cannabis market is already proving itself to be one of the most mature, competitive, and operationally advanced markets in the country, and I expect that evolution to continue moving forward.

Thank you for joining us, Matt! For more information on Deep Roots Harvest, please visit its website.