TeaPot: Owning 4/20 Through Experience, PR & Influencer Marketing
The Challenge
For cannabis beverage brand TeaPot, 4/20 represented an opportunity to do more than simply participate in the biggest date on the cannabis calendar.
The goal was to create a brand moment that could connect with consumers while also generating meaningful visibility among media, creators, retailers and the broader cannabis industry.
Marigold PR developed an integrated campaign around TeaPot’s Toronto 4/20 event, combining media relations, influencer engagement, VIP gifting, event amplification and onsite PR support to turn a one-day experience into a much larger brand-building opportunity.
The Strategy
The campaign was built around a 60/40 consumer-to-industry approach, balancing broad cultural visibility with targeted cannabis industry impact.
Marigold developed a media strategy targeting lifestyle, food and B2B cannabis outlets, building a list of 50 journalists and editors and developing three tailored pitch angles. Media outreach was supported by event listings designed to reach consumers actively looking for 4/20 experiences.
At the same time, we sourced and vetted more than 100 influencers across three tiers, prioritizing creators whose audiences and content aligned naturally with TeaPot’s positioning. Marigold managed personalized outreach, RSVPs, logistics, creator communications and onsite support.
A curated VIP gifting program extended the experience beyond the event itself, putting TeaPot into the hands of priority creators and media immediately ahead of 4/20 and helping generate timely, organic social content.
The Results
The integrated campaign generated a total potential audience reach of more than 6.4 million across influencer audiences, earned media, event listings, social and e-news placements, and Tether and Marigold PR amplification.
Campaign highlights included:
6,437,503 total potential audience reach
5 earned media placements, exceeding the campaign KPI
4 event listing placements
960,767 audience reach through earned media and supporting placements
4,952,363 audience reach through event listings
Coverage spanning consumer and industry audiences through outlets including BlogTO, Trend Hunter, ADCANN, StratCann and The Scene in TO
The influencer program secured 15 creator RSVPs representing a combined audience of 717,552 and generated 33 pieces of influencer and media UGC, increasing to 42 when +1 content was included. Importantly, the content was concentrated on 4/20, creating a highly visible and unified brand moment.
Extending the Experience
Marigold and Tether channels added another layer of amplification before and after the event.
Tether promoted the event directly to Ontario budtenders and retail decision-makers through its newsletter and social channels. The newsletter achieved a 36.9% open rate and 6.69% click-through rate, while social content generated more than 2,000 views. Marigold then extended the campaign with post-event content highlighting the experience and its strongest visual moments.
This combination helped TeaPot connect a consumer-facing experience with the industry audiences that influence awareness, recommendation and retail conversations.
The Takeaway
A great event becomes significantly more valuable when PR is built around it.
Rather than treating 4/20 as a single activation, Marigold helped TeaPot turn the occasion into an integrated communications campaign spanning earned media, influencers, VIP gifting, industry amplification and real-time content.
The result: a concentrated cultural moment for the brand with more than 6.4 million in potential audience reach — and a repeatable model TeaPot can continue building on for future 4/20 campaigns and experiential activations.