Just five months after announcing its greater portfolio expansion, Lord Jones’s Happy Dance debuted DTC on Tuesday.
Made in partnership with actress Kristen Bell, the launch offering includes a CBD body butter (200mg of CBD), a CBD coconut melt (225mg of CBD) and a bath bomb (60mg of CBD) that are priced $15-$30. Aimed toward millennial moms, the Happy Dance products are strategically priced lower than Lord Jones’ hero line that is sold on its website and through partners like Sephora, and feature bright, “joyful” packaging to help destigmatize cannabis in the mass landscape.
“My goal in launching Happy Dance was to redefine the traditional notion of self-care. Self-care doesn’t have to be an event. It should consist of everyday pick-me-ups to get you through your day. When I care for myself, I can better care for those I love,” said Bell.
Happy Dance has been in the works for two years, after Bell developed a relationship with Lord Jones co-founders Robert Rosenheck and Cindy Capobianco in 2017. But Rosenheck and Capobianco quietly left the company in late July. Rosenheck and Capobianco were not available for comment, and Lord Jones was not able to offer further commentary on their departures. Last year, Lord Jones was acquired by Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group for $300 million, so it appears Rosenheck and Capobianco’s exits are in keeping with the common result of an indie company being purchased by a larger conglomerate.
“Kristen has a natural entrepreneurial spirit and came to us with the desire to bring CBD to a broad audience with a particular focus on busy moms like herself. Kristen openly shares that CBD has improved her life, and she is passionate about sharing it with people everywhere,” said Summer Frein, Lord Jones and Happy Dance general manager, who previously led sales at Lord Jones. “It has always been our goal to make CBD more accessible to a wider audience, but also to make it more relevant. The category has exploded since the passing of the Farm Bill in 2018, but in the mass and masstige categories, there is still a sea of CBD sameness playing off of clinical packaging and stoner tropes.”
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Previously a niche product offering, CBD continues to make waves in the national landscape. Sephora established its CBD Standards within Clean at Sephora in February, and former Schmidt’s Naturals co-founder Michael Cammarata has worked hard to bring his new endeavor, Neptune Wellness, into essential retailers like Albertsons since the start of the pandemic.
Lord Jones will continue its third-party testing on its Happy Dance products, but also leaned on Bell’s plant-based diet and lifestyle for ingredient formulation and vegan and cruelty-free positioning. “The collection’s clean ingredients and fun textures help make product selection simple for moms in a category that is nearly impossible to navigate,” said Frein. Additionally, Happy Dance has partnered with A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project, a Black-owned organization that provides housing, case management, pro bono legal services, advocacy and leadership development for women rebuilding their lives after prison. One percent of profits from all products sold on the Happy Dance website will benefit the organization.
Beyond word-of-mouth marketing, Lord Jones will launch its first large-scale campaign for Happy Dance, across multiple digital and social touchpoints, which will drive home the point of what it “feels like to use Happy Dance products and be a modern mom,” said Frein.
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Frein added, “This is a major evolution given that, at the time of our inception, a CBD brand wasn’t even yet available at a national retailer.”
