Journalist, CEO and keynote speaker Ricardo Baca has been invited to serve as a juror for the 2020 Clio Cannabis Awards.
The Clio Awards are an annual, international awards program that recognizes innovation and excellence in advertising, design and communications, as judged by a panel of advertising and marketing professionals. This year’s jury for the Cannabis Clio Awards is comprised of leading creative talent from top brands, services and dispensaries, as well as the firms—like Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency, which Mr. Baca founded in 2016 after a decades-long career in Pulitzer-winning newsrooms—that are setting the high mark for work in the industry.
“Ricardo has been at the forefront of the cannabis industry as a journalist, speaker, visionary and agency leader,” said Michael Kauffman, Director of Clio Cannabis. “We are thrilled to have him on this year’s Clio Cannabis jury to lend his expertise in selecting the year’s most outstanding creative work.”
Mr. Baca is a 20-year journalist, keynote speaker, TEDx veteran and Marketer of the Year who recently guided his team at Grasslands to an esteemed Denver Business Journal Small Business Award in August 2020. He served as The Denver Post’s first-ever marijuana editor and founded news vertical The Cannabist, where he extensively covered the advent of adult-use cannabis and related issues across the country and around the world. In 2016, Mr. Baca launched Grasslands: A Journalism Agency to work directly with brands and business leaders in highly regulated industries, including cannabis.
“I grew up watching the Clios, marveling at the brilliance of those creative advertising and marketing professionals and dreaming about the behind-the-scenes conversations that launched those iconic campaigns—not to mention the clandestine negotiations that selected the winners,” said Mr. Baca. “The Clios celebrate the best in communications, design and marketing, all things we value immensely and practice at Grasslands. And I am beyond jazzed to work with my fellow jurors to celebrate the boldest and most creative work being produced in the modern cannabis space.”
The Clios first launched their cannabis program in 2019 to build on its reputation for honoring creative ideas in a variety of specialized verticals and to celebrate the creators at the forefront of cannabis marketing and communications. With cannabis being deemed an essential industry in most states, provinces and territories earlier this year, the art of reaching consumers through informative and creative means is increasingly important to all cannabis brands.
For the cannabis program, top communications and marketing professionals from the industry’s most influential organizations were selected as jurors to ensure the creative work is evaluated within the context of the highly regulated cannabis industry.
The 2020 Clio Cannabis award recipients will be decided by the following jurors:
- Cory Rothschild, SVP of Brand Marketing, Cresco Labs
- Ann Skalski, President, Double Barrel
- Daniel Stein, Founder, EVB, Essential Good
- Ricardo Baca, Founder & CEO, Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency
- Hope Wiseman, Founder & CEO, Mary & Main
- Rob Dhoble, Managing Director, Havas ECS
- Jenn Wong, VP Marketing, Select Cannabis at Curaleaf
- Lily Sensimilla, CEO & Co-Founder, Cannabis Influencer, Silipuffs & My Happy Yoni
- Mario Guzman, Founder, Sherbinskis
- Ophelia Chong, Owner & Founder, Stockpot Photography
- Mary Pryor, CMO & Founder, Tonic CBD, Cannaclusive
- Willie Mack, CEO, Think Big
- Ericka Pittman, CMO, Viola Brands
- Juanjo Feijoo, CMO, Weedmaps
Clio Cannabis is currently accepting submissions in the Advocacy, Brand Design, Digital / Mobile, Experience / Activation, Film / Video, Film / Video Craft, Partnerships & Collaborations, Print & Out of Home, Print & Out of Home Craft, Product / Service Innovation, Public Relations, Social Good and Social Media mediums. The final deadline for entries is Sept. 25, 2020. For information, submission deadlines and to enter work, visit cliocannabisawards.com.
