The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2022
Common Citizen's 'Somewhere Higher' pairs a cannabis-culture film with $500K reinvested
Michigan's Common Citizen pairs a cannabis-culture film anthology with $500,000 reinvested in communities prohibition hurt.
Common Citizen
What it had to solve
Common Citizen sells cannabis in a post-legalisation market, yet the communities that redlining and disproportionate cannabis criminalisation hit hardest had little stake in the new industry's gains. A company that wanted to put money back also needed that commitment to be seen and believed, and a corporate announcement alone would do neither.
How it works
Common Citizen sells cannabis in a post-legalisation market, yet the communities that redlining and disproportionate cannabis criminalisation hit hardest had little stake in the new industry's gains. A company that wanted to put money back also needed that commitment to be seen and believed, and a corporate announcement alone would do neither.
So the company made the giving the story. 'Somewhere Higher' is a mini-anthology about the people, art and music inspired by cannabis after legalisation, and the film is the centrepiece of Common Citizen's commitment to invest in communities impacted by redlining and disproportionate cannabis criminalisation.
The film puts the culture and the people prohibition hurt at the front of the brand's message, while the company says it has reinvested $500,000 to date. The D&AD awards archive carries the work, which records no separate audience figures.
Why it lands
- A film instead of a press release gives the commitment a watchable form, so the repayment is felt rather than merely read.
- Centring the people, art and music of cannabis culture makes the communities the money serves the protagonists of the story.
- The $500,000 figure ties the storytelling to a checkable consequence, keeping the content accountable rather than decorative.
- In a category that usually sells product highs, it lets the brand stand for the question of who the industry left behind.
What it did
The pledge acquired a watchable, accountable form: the film tells who cannabis culture belongs to while money flows back to the communities prohibition hurt, and the D&AD awards archive carries the work, which records no separate audience figures.
What you can take
If you owe a community, make the repayment visible in the story you tell: a public commitment with its own film outlives a press release.
Since then
Somewhere Higher surfaced online in 2022 and was featured by Short of the Week that August as a 24-minute documentary-anthology, before entering the D&AD awards archive. For Common Citizen it remains the public centrepiece of a commitment the company says has reinvested $500,000 to date.
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