SORRY, CAN’T HANG. GOT PLANS WITH PENJAMIN.

How do you create hype around a product that is sold at every single dispensary in the state and a part of a “race-to-the-bottom” pricing strategy to push out higher quality competition in favor of cheap bulk? You have to make an emotional connection to the customer. The Pen Pal is more than just a regular old vape pen, it’s your best friend. You even have a cute nickname for your Pen. No one makes you laugh like Penelope!

I started off by teasing the launch of the new Pen Pals with some colorful gifs inspired by a trend where people would nickname their vape pens so they wouldn’t get flagged for talking about cannabis on TikTok & Instagram. Each character had a different name for their Pen Pal and their photos matched an activity that was enhanced by

From left clockwise: Studio photography by Handcar to evoke that early aughts nostalgia. Top right: If the friendly nostalgic vibe didn’t quite convince you to purchase a Pen Pal, I came up with the idea to hide a golden ticket for a years worth of Pen Pals in one of the bags for each participating retail store’s inventory. Bottom right: So now that we’ve convinced you to buy a Pen Pal, on the back is a QR code that takes you to a landing page for 10% off your next Pen Pal purchase. It’s always nice to make a new friend!

The name for Pen Pals idea was based on a social media trend where people give their vape a nickname starting with “Pen” to avoid getting their accounts shut down for talking about cannabis on Meta & TikTok platforms.

Over 700 units were sold in the first 7 days of sales!

Studio photography and social gifs by Handcar allowed us to build on the early aughts nostalgia that is all the rage at the moment.