The Contest: We all assume cannabis will eventually get past the current quasi-legal medical marijuana stage. When it does, Humboldt needs a plan for the future. Branding will be über -important. With that in mind, we’re looking for a catchy (new) brand name for Humboldt-grown marijuana. Entries we made in the comments to this post (see below) and on Facebook.
The Prizes: We are giving away a pair of tickets to opening weekend of Dell’Arte’s Mary Jane: The Musical, the must-see show of the summer that launches the Mad River Festival this weekend out in Blue Lake.
We also have a bunch of tickets to the High Times 2012 Medical Cannabis Cup Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, at Craneway Pavilion in Richmond with ganja-related panels and workshops and displays from med-pot shops plus the “Official High Times Medical Cannabis Cup Party” Saturday night with Del The Funky Homosapein among the musical acts.
The Results (The Winners!)
Our panel of expert judges has deliberated and come up with some winners.
Grand Prize Award: Humbuds
Gerald Hooker wins two tickets to see Dell’Arte’s Mary Jane: The Musical on opening weekend and a Mary Jane T-shirt. Unfortunately he will not be able to see the show this evening since tonight’s performance has been called off on account of rain.
Second prize winner, Jacques, gets two tickets to the High Times Medical Cannabis Cup for his brand name: Humboldt Dream.
Runners up: George Kush for HumGrown, Barrett Kelly for Humtasty Smooth, Jeff B. for Safety Meeting 101 and Timmy for Los(t) Toast — all win tickets to the Cannabis Cup. Journal cartoonist Joel Mielke gets honorable mention for Humboldt Old Growth, although as a staffer he gets no prize.
Special mention to Frumboldt. The name was popular with the judges however, as a member of the Mary Jane cast pointed out, Frumboldt is an existing brand name for bongs (made here in Humboldt) and the company is one of the sponsors for Mary Jane: The Musical.
Our expert panel included the Journal staff, the esteemed Dell’Arte Founding Artistic Director Joan Schirle, who plays Mary Jane, Queen of the Emerald Ball in The Musical, and MJ cast member Janessa Johnsrude, who play dreadlocked Humboldt Honey Chanterelle La Plaza Dancer.
Local pot writer Sharon Letts weighed in before departing for the Cannabis Cup. She is currently on assignment for Nug Magazine and Weed World UK covering the Cup and Mary Jane: The Musical (she loved it, says it’s almost a whole new show, better than last year).
And we had Mr. Garth-Culti-Vader, local hip hop musician and ganja advocate, who recently released a new album Original Dankster, with his unique take on the industry.
Thanks to our judges and to all who entered.
This article appears in What’s Organic?.
Redwood Bowl
(You know, just to piss off Rollin.)
So if we win, we may get to Roll in Richmond?
NCthc
Well, “Humboldt Fog” is already taken.
Frumboldt = From Humboldt
Frumboldt (a small businesss devoted to local pride & protection) is a sponsor of Mary Jane the Musical/Dell Arte Mad River Festival 2012 and is currently in the process of developing a certification for goods (including cannabis) that are produced in Humboldt County. Keep an eye out for the “Frumboldt” sticker on local products near you.
Banding together means embracing who we are, where we are, and what represents us.
http://www.frumboldt.com
http://www.twitter.com/frumboldt
http://www.facebook.com/frumboldt
100% From Humboldt County
Humboldt’s Finest
Humboldt Old Growth
Humboldt Heirloom
Humboldt Heritage
Humboldt Honeycomb
Humbuds
Humboldt Hippie High or if made into hash: Humboldt Hippie Hash
Mary Wanna Humboldt
TV spot: “Meet Mary Wanna from Humboldt.” A showcase of a ‘real faces of Humboldt’ women runs across the screen, every one of them saying “I’m Mary.” Their leafy product is also seen in each instance. The last woman in the showcase says, “I’m Mary. Are you?”
The word play is they’re also saying, “I’m merry.” And you turn, “I’m Mary. Are you?” or “I’m Mary. Are you merry?” into a bumper sticker.
Addendum… for that matter, the faces of Humboldt could include men, to drive home we are saying “merry.” The first face could be a female spokeswomen though, the official Mary Wanna of Humboldt.
Bob Doran’s Marlboro
“It’s such good shit, you won’t know right from wrong.”
Mitch, your comment probably makes sense to somebody somewhere somehow.
“FATBOL”~ This brand represents The North Coast Lifestyle and has a foundation of 10 years supporting MUSIC , ART and GOOD LIVING in Humboldt.
I understand you are looking for a new name but it seems to be to be much like Coke rolling out their New Coke. Humboldt is Humboldt is Humboldt. No matter how clever or catchy any new branding might be, even if you find a bunch of grant money to research it and find the right fancy font, its still going to be called Humboldt.
I do like Fatbol!
HumGrown
Toka-Bola
I agree Goldie. You can’t abandoned the existing Humboldt brand. That’s why something like “Humboldt Bounty” works well.
Alexander’s Feast
(to appeal to the cultured toker)
Los(t) Toast
Humboldt Nugget Trees of Mystery
Golden Plants of Petrolia
Dr. Humboldt’s Magical Medicine
Wrecker
Humboldt Greed
Humboldt Stupid
Obviously Jacques doesn’t work in marketing.
OK OK…How about Humboldt Dream
I like Jacques’ second try now.
I guess it would kinda depend on what the strain was like…
Sequoia Skunk or Sequoia Silver?
Widowmaker
Redwood Forest
How about “Humboldt Grown.”
Simple, to the point, immediately understandable.
That is a good one, Jacques.
Humboldt Grown does has a pleasant ring to it, and could also be applied to other, even non-agricultural, products.
Heavenly Humboldt
sizzlefrizzlechizzledrizzle
or call it The Shawshank Redemption.
Northern California Sugar Pine.
Northern California Pine Sugar?
Calipinorth the Great.
After posting my suggestion that the branding efforts should simply use the phrase Humboldt Grown I wondered whether this “brand” was already being used by some local organization.
Well, at least judging by a quick google search and a domain name search, the answer seems to be…not really.
The domain name humboldtgrown.COM redirects to something called the Mendo Clothing company, based in Haiku, Maui and with a Northern California headquarters in Mendecino. I find it kind of sad that if you enter humboldtgrown.COM into your browser, that’s what comes up.
But the rights to the domain name humboldtgrown.ORG appear to be held by someone in Eureka. But the address doesn’t appear to be active, it’s just “parked” with godaddy.com, with a few fairly random ads on it. .
Humboldt i-Pot.
Cannabiz cup.
For the love of God, can we come up with a name that doesn’t incorporate “Humboldt.” I’m so tired of people being obsessed with “Humboldt.” It’s a fucking county like every other county. No need for 9 out of 10 sweatshirts to reference it.
For names, how about “Lost Coast Prosac,” “Forest Zoloft,” “Hippy Hooters,” “Dungeness Dank Dope,” “Arkley Mindfuck,” or “EPD Death Warrant Weed- it shoots to kill.”
Obviously Jeff B. doesn’t work in marketing.
“Ambition-Be-Gone,” “Six River’s Attitude Adjuster,” “Patrick’s What’s the Point,” “Safety Meeting 101,” “Humboldt Cultural Studies 101,” “HumDad’s Morning Joe,” “6th Grade Dropout Medicine”
Right you are Joel but I was born and raised in Eureka and I can’t believe how worn out the “Humboldt” slogan is. If we are trying to be creative, could we come up with something new? Come on Joel, “EPD Death Warrant.” You like that, right.
Humboldt i-Pot
Legal SplendorHumboldt Sunshine
Legal SplendorHumboldt Sunshine
Sorry, those are separate ideas: “Legal Splendor” “Humboldt Sunshine”. Or “Humboldt Splendor,” if you prefer.
Humboldt is not a slogan. It’s not an obession. It’s a name.
Its a waste to not expand upon the already existent connotations of the name Humboldt. Its like saying “Im so tired of people calling me Jeff”. Own it. For branding purposes, use it or lose it (to some Mendo/Maui poser).
I’m biased, but I like Frumboldt.
Jeff’s Best Bud
Alexander’s Daydream
Pull a McKinleyville. Get Rick St. Charles for the TV commercial, playing the intrepid 19th century explorer stumbling through a redwood forest until he finds weed in the wild, and he thinks, “Hmm, I wonder if it’s good for a smoke?”
“Its like saying ‘Im so tired of people calling me Jeff.’”
Well, it’s more like I’m so tired of being called “Apple,” or “M&Ms.”
“Frumboldt” sounds frumpy to me.
It’s actually not like saying I’m tired of people calling me Jeff. It’s like being named Jeff and wearing a sweatshirt that says Jeff with a teeshirt underneath that says Jeff and a sticker in my window that says Jeff. My point is, it isn’t very creative to continue with the same line of branding that many others are already utilizing locally. I’m pushing for creativity and originality. However, if you want tried and true, why not “Humboldt OG Purple Kushwreck.”
And by the way, Frumboldt is already a bumper sticker.
“Legal Splendor” “Humboldt Sunshine”
Daddy’s Tuition
as in: “Sup, whatcha doin’ Shorty Girl….” “Oh, Hey, Boo…. I’m tokin up Daddy’s Tuition”
I agree. Frumboldt sounds frumpy. Humboldt, as an exported brand, works. People outside of Humboldt aren’t sick of hearing about Humboldt, and they simply won’t know what Frumboldt means.
Humbuds? Really? Let me preface this by saying I know that I’m a sore loser but… that is so freaking generic and lame. Who judged this thing? I feel like mom would have picked the name Humbuds and thought it was really groovy.
“Humbuds”? Jeff B. makes a valid point, that it’s “generic and lame,” but more importantly, hello it doesn’t fucking say “Humboldt.”
And I’m not a sore loser, dammit.
Inspiration alluded me in the past couple of days so I’m not surprised I didn’t win. I am going to bet that mister cranky pants Jeff B is not going to head down to the Cannabis Cup this weekend. Congrats to the winners (even Jeff)!
Humbuds? Humbug.
Remember that car that had “HO HUM HUMBUDS” on the rear window, made from a couple HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY stickers? Some 80’s shit. Lots of left over letters, though.
Jeff B. might’ve scoped it. BTW, love the “Jeff” gear point. Nice to hear from a local on a blog.