Audio Version | Tara Falk (Aim & Fire) | Cannabis Marketing, Events & Building Brands in Minnesota | S02E01

What does it take to build a cannabis brand that stands out?

Season 2 of The Canna Connect Show kicks off live from CannaCon St. Paul with the return of Tara Falk, Founder of Aim & Fire.

In her second appearance on the show, Tara joins Stephen Eigenmann to discuss the evolving cannabis marketplace, experiential marketing, retail activations, and why Minnesota continues to emerge as one of the country's most unique cannabis markets.

The conversation explores:

•  Building authentic cannabis brands 
•  Retail activations and field marketing 
•  Lessons from the Hemp Beverage Expo and Ignite 
•  Minnesota's evolving hemp and adult-use cannabis market 
•  Why community matters in emerging industries 
•  The future of cannabis events and networking 
•  How Aim & Fire helps brands scale through strategic execution 

Tara also shares why she continues returning to Minnesota, why she's optimistic about the future of the industry, and why organizations like Canna Connect are helping strengthen the cannabis community through education and connection.

🤝 Featured Community Partners

This episode was recorded live from CannaCon St. Paul, where Minnesota's cannabis community came together to connect, collaborate, and learn.

Special thanks to the organizations helping strengthen Minnesota's cannabis industry:

• Aim & Fire – Experiential marketing and retail activation for cannabis and hemp brands. 
• Open Window Productions – Production partner helping bring The Canna Connect Show to life. 
• Elite Capture Studio – Creative content and media production supporting the Canna Connect network. 

Interested in becoming part of the Canna Connect Community Network? Visit CannaConnectMN.com to learn more.

Become Part of the Canna Connect Community Network

Every episode, Community Spotlight, and partner profile helps connect Minnesota's cannabis industry. Visit CannaConnectMN.com to explore interviews, resources, events, and the trusted organizations helping shape the future of cannabis in Minnesota.

Transcript

Introduction & Welcome to Season 2

SPEAKER_00 0:08

It's very expensive to be a player in the Illinois cannabis industry, which is why they took such an issue with hemp as a shortcut to get into selling cannabis or marijuana uh products, you know, THC products. So uh as I watched recaps from Ignite, I was I was it was interesting. Uh I'll shout out the the Dales report as a uh source of information where uh Jim Higdorn from Cornbread Hemp was there and he called Ignite an away game compared to the Hemp Beverage Expo, which he considered a home game. And Scannaconnect and the Minnesota cannabis industry has a hybrid right now. We have hemp and we have cannabis products. But in some states, like hemp is looked upon, uh frowned upon in from the operator's perspective, where many operators in Minnesota are more okay with hemp because they've been around it. They see the beverage lane and they see the low-dose gummy lane. Uh but it but hemp

Meet Tara Falk, Founder of Aim & Fire

SPEAKER_00 1:05

is very polarizing, especially right now as we record in June of 2026. There's a looming uh hemp beverage ban or hemp hemp ban, which includes seeds. It's more than just the gummies and the burp and the drinks. So juxtaposing what you saw at Ignite with what you saw at the hemp beverage expo, like were those two different trains of thought or two different groups of people in some ways?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah, two different sets of interests, I would say. Um, you're so spot on that Minnesota is a very unique environment. It's the only state in the country where I have seen hemp products, low-dose hemp products, sharing shelves with adult use cannabis in dispensaries. Yes. That is incredibly unique. That's something I talked about with a few people at Ignite It. Um, I think that the reason that we have such a favorable uh group consensus toward hemp here obviously kind of paved the way in 2021, 2022. This is one of the first markets to start pulling these products into grocery and on-premise settings. But um, beyond that, I think that it's got some of the most responsible operators. I think there are people coming out of this market and people who have owned this market first that have used it as a proving ground to meet the bar of retailers like Total Wine, of retailers like Target, that have stringent expectations in terms of, you know, packaging, labeling requirements, it would be a very important thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

But the back end, the back end to get into their systems of components.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yep, yep, absolutely. So I think that we really set that standard

Minnesota's Cannabis Industry at a Turning Point

SPEAKER_01 2:35

here in Minnesota for what the hemp industry could look like and how it could integrate with adult use cannabis in a way that's friendly and favorable.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

As well as the alcohol industry.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Absolutely, yes. So many craft breweries and uh, you know, liquor distributors built-in, liquor distributors, that traditional three-party, three-tier distribution system that the alcohol industry has long relied on and spirits. We need something comparable, if not integration with those same players. And I think many of them have our same goals in mind. Yeah. And um different, different sets of interests, different goals. But at the end of the day, I think a lot of people with a lot more in common than they would think at first.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Hey everybody, Steven with Canaconnect, taking a quick minute to shout out today's sponsor, CEE, that is the Center for Energy and Environment. If you're not familiar with CE, they're your one-stop shop for all lighting rebates. If you are in XL Energy Territory and you're a micro business, CEE is somebody that you need to talk to. Give Brad a call, give Tony a call, go online, one-stop shop, LED lighting rebates. They'll help take care of up to 60% of the costs associated with your grow and your build-out with the lighting. Uh, really nice people, great people to work with, huge sponsors of Canaconnect, and uh give them a shout. That's CEE, Center for Energy and Environment. Yeah, and and I've come around to that. I think many have come around to it. I mean, when you see Target in Minnesota carrying uh hemp beverages in 72 stores, all of a sudden they're the largest, if not quick trip. Target's like the largest uh you know, hemp beverage store brand, you know, it's it's crazy, but uh not in a bad way. It's just if you would have told anyone five years ago that Target was going to be carrying uh hemp beverages in 72 stores, you'd be like, whoa, we are in for a wild ride.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I think a lot of the people involved uh would have done exactly the same things they did, and that's how we got here. We got here because a lot of people bet, you know,

Why Cannabis Brands Need Better Marketing

SPEAKER_01 4:45

bet their careers and bet their resources and uh, you know, gave us what we were asking for.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Yeah. Um, let's talk about media activations and event ROI. You're an expert in this space. Where what advice do you have for brands that are in the cannabis space that are looking at events, looking at media opportunities, looking at activating their brand? Like, where should they start when it comes to putting together a plan?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I think you always want to start at retail. You always want to start giving your first set of customers the best possible service that they can get. They need support to drive velocity. They need help selling through those first few orders. It's very competitive, lots of options on the shelf, lots of options waiting to get on the shelf if you fall off. So I think it's really important within the first month or two to send boots on the ground, to host some tastings, host some samplings, make sure you have resources at point of sale, whether they're shelf talkers, window clings, something that educates about the product you're selling and why it's different. And I also think if we're talking on-premise, if we're talking bars, restaurants, hospitality, training the staff on this category is really important too. Often we are prioritizing educating the consumer when the people on site to continue selling the product when the brand staff leave, maybe don't have that education yet because it is one small slice of a large set of products that they sell. Yeah. So I'm seeing a lot more um emerging resources that are really aiming to solve that problem and standardize that system the way that tips and surfsafe have for the alcohol industry for quite some time.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

That's a great point. Um, you know, our booths, um, well, let's see, what are some of the brands that stand out to you that are doing a really good job when it comes to activations?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Let's see, let's see. Um, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

I mean, Breeze comes to mind from like years past.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Of course, of course. And I think I was so inspired initially in my time at Can because Can was doing mobile marketing tours. We had a wrapped van. We were activating everything from block parties to, you know, big ritzy mansion parties in the hills. They were really everywhere. They were on the street and they were up in the clouds. They were all over the place. You cannot avoid liquid on lips, getting a can in hand. And I think that's what gave them that staying power and allowed them to duplicate those efforts to other markets and not be brand new when they hit the scene. It's already something someone has heard of, whether on a trip out west or seen some content

The Value of Field Marketing & Retail Activations

SPEAKER_01 7:15

online or heard about it from a friend or family. Yeah. So I think they really crushed it in the beginning. And then uh we did a lot of great work with Jones and Mary Jones too. We hit a statewide mobile marketing tour. Um, but these days um we're having a great time launching a program in Florida for a brand called Lorea. Okay. They're more positioned in the recovery and fitness space. Okay. So the types of settings that we're entering are completely different. They are run clubs, they're cold plunges, they're um, you know, yoga festivals, and that's exactly the crowd that this brand speaks to and is positioned toward. So I think that it's all about fit and it's all about thinking about where your people actually are and how you're going to reach them there.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah. I mean, you talked about the ability to train the staff and in the four walls of where your product is sold. That's it, that's something that I need to do a better job at when it comes to the green standard and us uh marketing our beverage that we have online right now. And it's it's um it it takes a lot of work, but like there's a huge tremendous opportunity because retail scales, uh, but you have to make sure that your boots on the ground are educated and and can speak to the product, otherwise it's just gonna sit on the shelf, and that's the scariest part is if it doesn't sell, you you're gonna get uh it, you know, you you're not gonna be in business. If you're not moving units, you're not gonna be in business. Absolutely. Yeah, it's true. So, you know I'm rather optimistic that we're gonna have some sort of fix to the hemp program. I don't think it's gonna be perfect. I think Mitch McConnell sits in the way with a lot of this stuff, even if it does go offline temporarily. But Minnesota is set up for hemp, they've defined hemp, and I believe that we will see continuation of hemp products, but nobody really knows what's gonna happen between the federal ban and the the state rule, and you know it it causes a lot of concern for breweries which are producing these products, and like I'm not necessarily asking for a like a crystal ball, but like where are you at with hemp beverages and like leaving the hemp beverage expo, do you have any thoughts following that? Because there seemed to be a lot of optimism at the hemp beverage expo, despite the ban.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

You have to ask for what you need, you have to assume the best. I think it's uh a degree of manifestation taking place. The optimism is palpable, and I understand that there's a lot of resources invested here. There's a lot of time, blood, sweat, tears. So optimism right now is our only choice. I think a defeatist attitude would not do any of us any good, nor would taking our feet off the gas because uh imagine we get exactly what we're hoping for. You took your foot off the gas, now you're behind. Yeah. So I think

The Evolution of Cannabis Trade Shows

SPEAKER_01 10:05

there's uh there's just a positive vibe in the air. And there are little bits of information coming through that are promising, but it's still a very stressful time. And there are um some brands taking the opposite approach, kind of clutching their pearls, kind of holding back a little bit until that November date to find out what their fate really is. Yeah. But I think that, you know, the the brands I most admire are are not slowing down at all. They're very confident that there's a path through for us, even if not by November, eventually. Because that's not, you know, there's nothing, there's nothing set in stone. There's a lot of reconsideration being done, and there are a lot of people being very loud and showing up again and again and again all of our behalf about what we need. And you talk about how operators have a difficult time pulling their time from their operation to attend a trade show. Right. The same is true for these lobbying and bill writing efforts and meetings of the mind where these conversations are taking place. Right. So I have the utmost respect for those advocating on all of our behalf to make sure those regulations reflect what we actually need to continue on in these businesses.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

The C-suites of these hemp-based companies are pouring hours and hours in every week. It's it's a distraction from what their core goal is. However, they have no choice. If they're if the hemp ban goes into effect, it could seriously affect their business and already probably has. Um, but I d I appreciate you calling that out because the folks that are truly making their money from the supplements, the beverages, the gummies, the edibles, those types of products, like yeah. Through the hemp beverage expo, through the hemp uh leadership roundtable, through uh a many of different organizations that are focused on the hemp space, like it is a tremendously scary time. Um Canaconnect is able to navigate both on the hemp and cannabis side because we're non-plant touching and we don't hold a license on either side. So I think in some ways we've uh carved out a good niche and we appreciate our partners like Earl Giles that are able to produce products on our behalf. And we want to keep producing products what no matter which way the hemp band goes uh at the end of the year. Um, let's take a little bit of a step back. Let's let's shed a little light on Nikan Minnesota, Nikan Minneapolis. You know, that weekend was ArtoWorld weekend, you had some activations going on. Like what stood out to you within the Minnesota hemp space, the Minnesota cannabis industry

Building Relationships Through Community Events

SPEAKER_00 12:30

from an aim and fire standpoint as you were activating on the ground, both at Nikan and following Nikan as well?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

What was interesting is that I think uh ErloWorld was as solid of a networking opportunity for us as Nikan. Nikan was a great opportunity, but afterwards uh there were there was a different mix of brands out there. We had some tea, we had some kava drinks, we had a little bit more variety than what you see on the floor. And we, similarly to Canna Connect, are non-denominational. We are not a plant-touching business, and we also don't serve any particular lane of industry. It's not always snack, beverage, CPG. Sometimes we're working with uh tech products, beauty products, um, you know, travel brands, all types of things. So uh we really like a setting where there are diverse sponsors and activations coming to the table, especially when those are smaller businesses that are still founder led, that are working on scaling those brands either further out into Minnesota from the cities or to other markets. So that resulted in a lot of really good conversations, not to mention Earl Giles knows how to throw a party and there was a beautiful stage space to consume one of the first few licensed consumption events in the city of Minneapolis, which is true of every consumption event that we have these days. It's in the first few. Yes. So I think that attention to detail and attention to regulatory confines and attention to inspectors and making sure that they see what they need to see is more important now in Minnesota than ever because it's really making the first impression for all of us.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Absolutely. Yeah, and you know, sometimes the after parties or the additional parties are often better opportunities than than the shows. Like to me, some of the there's aspects of the traditional conference trade show that is turning into a little bit of a relic or a dinosaur. And some of it's confined to the space. You know, we're in the River Center today. You can hear it's very echoey in here, it's very, it's very loud, uh, and there aren't that many people here. You know, so like

Why Authentic Experiences Beat Traditional Advertising

SPEAKER_00 14:35

I like the more intimate, curated style events. That's where Canna Connect is moving towards because we have no issue, we know we have no aspirations of becoming a Canacon or a Lucky Leaf and going to these shows around the country. We're very much committed to the Minnesota market. We think there's tremendous opportunity within. And only at this time 240 licensees are online, so that's less than 10%. And they have yet to have larger, large events in Brainerd, Duluth, or Moorhead, and we're and also like the whole southern half of the state is still wondering when when are there gonna be events in Mancato or Rochester or Albert Lee? So what I'm leaning into this year and and even into next year is Minnesota. You know, and we'll see how things come along because Wisconsin still doesn't have a medical cannabis program, Iowa doesn't have an adult use recreational program, and the Dakotas are, you know, on medical cannabis, but it's very limited right now. So uh and Wisconsin, right? So I mean there's tremendous opportunity within the surrounding states, but for now, I think there's so much more to figure out within Minnesota that that's where our efforts are at.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Absolutely. And it's the reason that I keep showing up here when I live on the West Coast. I'm from Wisconsin originally, but I've been coming to Minnesota at least quarterly for the last three years uh because I feel the same way. I think there's something really special happening here. Yeah. There's something really special um in the air between the operators that's very different than what we experience at the stage that we're in in California. Yeah. So I agree with you and I'll be I'll be showing up.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, looking ahead, like what

Helping Founders Execute Their Vision

SPEAKER_00 16:15

are you looking to do more of and how can you support the Minnesota cannabis industry?

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Definitely. Uh, we do a lot of one-off support. Some of our clients will call us a few times a year for particular trade shows. They may call us for Natural Products Expo West and the World Coffee Expo down in San Diego, and that is all they're calling us for.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

We really love stable market management. We love to be the third-party partner basically owning the field and trade side of the marketing efforts. Okay. So we become the execution partner to which your sales and marketing team can delegate, which is really valuable for small teams, maybe founder-led teams or teams where only leadership is in place for sales and marketing. Yeah. So you can strategize and plan all day, but if you do, you're gonna be a little too tired to also execute. Right. There's only so many hours in the week, and a lot of people at the early stage in startups are stretched beyond their 40 hours. Sure. And we can give them a little bit of that bandwidth back and take the burden of uh smaller, uh, smaller lists or large lists, even if they're sporting festival sponsorship activations or trade shows. Um, we are here as a resource to help support those things. And we would always love to do more of it. Basically, what we want to do is we want to find the right people to be in the right places on behalf of the right brands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Absolutely. And how do folks get in touch with Aim and Fire if they're looking to learn more?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Yeah, we are active on LinkedIn, we're active on Instagram.

What Aim & Fire Actually Does

SPEAKER_01 17:45

There's a lot of visual reference to what we're doing out there, and it's very uh visually engaging. There's a lot you can click through in terms of case studies to see the types of settings where we can be useful. I think it's much wider than people often assume when they first hear about this, or you know, may call us a staffing agency. Sure. That isn't really what we are at the end of the day. Staffing is a piece of what we're providing, but we're providing infrastructure and field execution systems for you to duplicate those efforts and take them much further.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Amazing. And before we go, let's talk about your new logo.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah, so I honestly have come this far, I've come four years on a very, very uh, you know, uh uh rudimentary, basic entry-level job. And I think that one of the reasons that I coasted so far on that is because we're not often taking the spotlight, we're not often taking the attention. We don't ever pop up and appear on our own behalf because we're popping up and appearing on clients' behalf. Yeah. And when they see the strength of the work that we deliver on behalf of the brand clients, it doesn't so much matter what we look like in terms of our logo and and those things.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

But good on you, good on you for innovating and saying, hey, I wanna, I wanna re-up my logo and take it to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

I got to a point where I started to understand our identity better, and I started to understand what makes us different than our competitors and really wanted to lean into a vibe about us and you know what we are. We're uh we're utility, right? We're not we're not fluff, we're not glitz, we're not glamour, we are utility. We've got the tools and uh we're on the ground. So I think that's what the new brand communicates. There's a lot of uh the types of colors that you'll see in signage that leads you through the world. It's your oranges, your yellows, your greens. And that's very intentional because those things are often overlooked, but they're what get to everybody where they're going. Sure. So there's a lot of thought that went into it, and we're happy to have uh an image that now suits the level that we work at a little better. It's really exciting to evolve and to feel that you have room to grow into new versions of yourself or of a company.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Yes, absolutely. Selfishly, I'm gonna ask you a question. What do you like about Canna Connect?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

I love a lot of things about Canna Connect. Number one, I love the team. Uh, you guys

Rebranding Aim & Fire for the Future

SPEAKER_01 20:10

are really good people, each in your own respect. And you don't often find a team where everybody's a gem. I think you all own your lane, you all respect each other to the nth degree. And you can feel that in the way that you speak about one another and the way that you engage. Um, I also really love that there was no, there was no pretext. You were really, really open to meeting with me, to understanding what we do, to advocating for what we do and to connecting me with other people who might need it or might be able to do the same. Hell yeah. And that is what it's all about. I think there are a lot of groups and resources that will make those claims, but at the end of the day, it's them and it's theirs, and nobody else is going to receive the benefits of what's written down on paper. And I see you guys really letting the merit of those involved speak for itself and giving everybody a platform to be heard and to represent the piece that they aim to be in this puzzle, because the puzzle is massive and there are lots of small pieces, right? And I think that everybody from the entry level to the C-suite who wants to be a piece of that puzzle should have a platform to connect with others, to find mentorship, to find people that they can help guide uh to greater places. So I think you guys are really just uh poised and ready to be that resource for uh the wider Minnesota community and for people coming into the Minnesota market that need to understand who they should be talking with, for what reason, and vice versa.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Amazing, amazing. I appreciate your support. I appreciate your companionship and ability to be a sounding board for ideas as we continue to invent within the space, you know, building media events and products within the Minnesota cannabis space. That's what we're focused on doing. And there's a lot of room in the space. There's not a full out industry, right? This is still very craft. It's it's fragmented. You have a couple medical companies, you have four or five tribes that are producing flour, and you have a lot of cultivators that are looking to be more online, but then there's a ton of backlog in the testing that's that's been an

Why Minnesota Is Positioned for Long-Term Success

SPEAKER_00 22:20

issue since the beginning of this industry here, the beginning of the market here. Uh, so we're gonna continue to evaluate and and innovate where we see fit, and you know, having you on the show today and being able to get your message out there and be able to put this out as soon as like next week, right? We're we're we're trying to be on the ground and quick with our media so that we're not sitting on content for a long time because it people are looking for content, they're looking to learn more about what's going on, and we appreciate you being on the show today.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Absolutely. I'm happy to be here, and I'm glad that you said that because there are media efforts I've participated in, gone far out of my way for, offered time to that I've not seen the content from to this day that happened years ago. So I know that you guys are not one and the same, and that you're keeping it real time, so this information is actually relevant to the people listening. Relevant and also, you know, evergreen. It's gonna be something that people can look back on and see what was going on at that time and hear from the people actually involved. So amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

I love it. Thank you, thank you so much. And we're looking forward to tonight Earl Giles dinner party followed by the after party, and we're bringing the green standard out in multiple forms taheen rim, non-dose, cocktail, mocktail, choose your lane, take your lane and go down it. The green standard is more than a drink, it's a platform for beverage and hospitality innovation.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

So I agree. I truly love it. It tastes delicious, it smells really good too. That's my my favorite part is the smell. No doubt it goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Uh terpenes. Yeah, for sure. Uh, well, looking forward to continuing to stay in touch and appreciate you stopping by the Can of Connect Show.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for everything that you

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 24:03

do for us.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

No doubt. Shout out to Open Window and shout out to What Rebates. We are signing off with Terra Falk live from Canacon season two, episode one. The Can of Connect Show is back.