CPG Food + Beverage

Get high with Martha

Transforming CBD into a DTC brand with our favorite domestic goddess

Photograph of Martha Steward eating a gummy.

Challenge

Turning a platform into a brand.

2020: Suddenly CBD was everywhere, from gas stations to yoga studios, but no one knew how it worked or if it was even real. So Martha Stewart partnered with Canopy Growth to create a line of gummies with the highest quality CBD and flavors plucked straight from her garden. But in a dizzying, confusing new category, Martha’s gummies were getting lost on the retail shelf.

Photograph showing Martha gummies.

Approach

Sell on trust.

Tens of millions of people trust Martha Stewart’s taste on everything from herb crusted potatoes to planting tulip bulbs. When you have that kind of trust, you don’t need a third party getting between you and your loyal following. You sell direct. So we used that credibility to transform a CBD product into a DTC brand. Creating a purpose-built ecommerce destination where the CBD-curious Martha Stewart superfans could learn and shop straight from the source.

Solutions

Martha, Martha, Martha.

When a trustworthy reputation is your brand cornerstone, how you buy is every bit as important as what you buy. So we crafted a new brand identity to bring Martha’s personality to a whole new kind of product. In a category of chaotic claims and incomplete information, we created a visual language that was calming and focused on the basics, just like Martha. Intensive design sprints led to pages that were as bright and inclusive as Martha’s voice and as conversion-focused as her business empire.

Screen shot of the Martha CBD website.
Screen shot of the Martha CBD website.
Screen shot of the Martha CBD website.

Effortlessly elegant UX.

The new DTC ecommerce platform understood that Martha fans had a range of CBD experience, and developed a best-in-class CX that got them what they wanted as efficiently as possible. Experienced and repeat customers can browse and buy the latest products and flavors with just a few clicks. And for the CBD curious, the site sets them up with the educational information they need to get started, along with a range of shoppable content so they can learn about all the relevant need states and choose the right product for them.

Screen shot of the Martha CBD mobile website.
Screen shot of the Martha CBD mobile website.
Screen shot of the Martha CBD mobile website.

Results

Martha approves.

It all came together as elegantly as an autumnal dining table centerpiece. Millions of people have been able to start learning about CBD from a uniquely trusted voice, and the pivot to DTC has given a powerful brand the room it needs to succeed. The newly launched site is still collecting data, but early signs are looking great. We’ve seen an increase in conversions, average order value, and overall revenue while maintaining key traffic drivers like search rankings and referrals. But perhaps the most sought-after approval of all is that Martha, the matriarch of marketing, loves her new look!

Photograph of different-colored gummies.