In slang, there’s a way to define a person who’s very well connected and willing to share valuable contacts within their network. This person is referred to as “the plug.” And Kenneth Delio Loo, CEO and co-founder of communications and public relations agency Chapter 2, is certainly one of these individuals.
For years, Ken and Chapter 2 have built a reputation of being a great connector for big name celebrities and brands, having worked with the likes of Nike (NYSE:NKE), Adidas (OTC:ADDDF), Levi’s (NYSE:LEVI), RAW Rolling Papers, G-Eazy and Lebron James.
Nowadays, he and his Chapter 2 business partner Clara Jeon service businesses in the cannabis, designer fashion, luxury, eSports, art, design, tech, NFTs, and psychedelics industries.
“We work with creators of culture in these industries, delivering a balance of hype and substance as experts in PR storytelling,” says Ken. His agency currently has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, but services a global clientele.
All About That Rep
Chapter 2’s reputation was built on years of discovering and incubating young talent, fostering new and meaningful ideas, cultivating safe and collaborative spaces for its clients and team, and “spreading the impact of change,” Ken explains.
Clara Jeon - RIKKÍ WRIGHT
The agency has been instrumental to the early careers of highly recognized fashion designers like No Sesso, Pyer Moss, Rhude, Mr. Saturday, Reese Cooper, Tia Adeola, Tombogo, KHIRY, bstroy, Keiser Clark and Saintwoods. Cannabis ventures like Mellow Ice Cream, Identity, Hitoki and Perfect, have also found their place in the market through Chapter 2’s guidance.
“That early focus on emerging creatives and social impact has driven us to develop a diverse Chapter 2 ecosystem of brands we work with,” Ken voices. Among the brands he works with are industry leaders like Nike, The Emerald Cup, RAW Rolling Papers, Adidas, Levi’s, SevenPoint Interiors, Perfect Blends, HUF and Mendi.
The agency has been instrumental to the early careers of highly recognized fashion designers like No Sesso, Pyer Moss, Rhude, Mr. Saturday, Reese Cooper, Tia Adeola, Tombogo, KHIRY, bstroy, Keiser Clark and Saintwoods. Cannabis ventures like Mellow Ice Cream, Identity, Hitoki and Perfect, have also found their place in the market through Chapter 2’s guidance.
“That early focus on emerging creatives and social impact has driven us to develop a diverse Chapter 2 ecosystem of brands we work with,” Ken voices. Among the brands he works with are industry leaders like Nike, The Emerald Cup, RAW Rolling Papers, Adidas, Levi’s, SevenPoint Interiors, Perfect Blends, HUF and Mendi.
“I’m proud of all our clients, but especially proud that we represent, amplify, and have helped grow ceiling-breaking brands like No Sesso, a brand founded and led by the first trans-woman fashion designer to show on the official CFDA New York Fashion Week schedule; and Mendi, Rachael and Megan Rapinoe’s Olympic-fueled CBD recovery regiment. I’m also blown away that Chapter 2 has become the resource for celebrity-fueled concepts to launch in the market including G-Eazy’s Flowershop*, LeBron James’ UNKNWN, and Steve Aoki’s DIM MAK,” he continues.
And That Passion
Beyond reputation, coolness and hype, other elements are central to Chapter 2’s success.
A passion for doing things differently is one of them. “We are an extremely enthusiastic agency with a diverse team that reflects the various cultures we work in. Chapter 2 stopped being about Ken and Clara years ago: It’s now a reflection of like-minded people who believe that public relations should feel like chapters of an engaging and real story; a story that audiences are eager to follow, support and advocate for,” Ken voices.
“We tie all our initiatives together into a narrative format that continuously evolves. These stories are not some kind of Chapter 2 magic fairy dust that we sprinkled into brands, either: They already live inside the brand or label, initiated by the founders and brought to life through the brand, product and employees. It’s our job to help those brands uncover and tell that story.”
The Chapter 2 team is made up of storytellers who combine expertise with empathy. However, its success is ultimately fueled by passion in what its doing.
“We are a global resource for campaigns that support social equity and champion sustainability,” Ken declares. Chapter 2 also works with Saitex, often defined as the “cleanest denim factory in the world;” the cleanest silk factory, Bombyx; and Bluesign, a global chemical verification system.
These brands collaborate with the Chapter 2team to connect individual narratives and stories to a broader cultural context of our modern society.
And Fashion
The synergies and similarities between cannabis and fashion PR are very distinct.
Thanks to years of evolution, fashion now functions increasingly on a drop delivery model. And while Ken can (and will) go on and on about the intelligence behind this from an environmental and inventory management perspective, what’s pertinent to this story is how this new distribution cadence has instigated a big pivot in the way that PR campaigns are handled.
“It’s also why our philosophy of storytelling feels like chapters in a book where customers become truly engaged with the narrative. There are so many layers to the marketing and promotion of fashion brands: the personalities of the designer themselves, seasonal collections, collaborations, runway presentations and trunk shows. These individual activities are what keep the momentum of the brand going, building excitement, buzz and hype about what’s next,” Ken says.
Similarly, the fundamental element of his practice in cannabis is to advise its clients in the creation of these unique stories.
“The issue that we often encounter is that cannabis brand founders usually don’t think about what elements of the story need to be presented and amplified in a PR campaign beyond the initial launch,” the executive assures. “Nobody wants to hear how the owner of the company discovered weed from their older sister when they were 13 years old and how it revolutionized their life. They want to get to another piece of the story that’s newsworthy and interesting to the leaders of their audience. Brands need to really focus on building their brand stories.”
That’s where Ken and his team’s experience in the fashion world comes into play – and where Ken really becomes “the plug,” bringing partners together to create new individual stories.
“Coming from working with style-led creatives and designers into cannabis was a natural next step for Chapter 2. Clara and I saw the same opportunity in cannabis we saw early on in our work in fashion. Both industries are made up of, and driven by, a diverse cast of characters, categories and content.
“There is no question that cannabis is a young and vibrant industry that is creating culture. With the right communications approach, these assets can quickly become energized with relevant and earned media that helps validate the brand's value system and offerings.”
Queer In Cannabis
“I get asked this a lot and clearly the reason for that is because there are so few of us [LGBTQIA+] in the cannabis industry,” Ken declares, when prompted about being queer in the cannabis industry.
The LGTBQIA+ community has historically been marginalized and, although it’s made great strides in the last few decades, there’s still a lot of work to be done. For Ken, the most important thing anyone within the community can do is come out. This, he argues, contributes to the destigmatization of queerness.
Similarly, cannabis needs to fight stigma on a daily basis: “Quite a few people also think that the cannabis community is made up of criminals and drug abusers. What they don’t realize is that it’s really a group of people who are as passionate about the product they create and its various health-focused applications,” Ken explains.
“Large corporations want to make and responsibly distribute a product much like any other manufacturer of consumer goods. The consumer might be the soccer mom down the street who would rather smoke weed to relax, or the older couple who likes to enjoy craft-grown cannabis on the weekends; rather than the overblown trope of high school or college students who are so stoned they can barely function.”
In Ken’s view, the cannabis world is rapidly approaching a moment the LGTBQIA+ community experienced a decade ago. “[We are now] proud to say and be who we are, and the society at large is becoming much more accepting of — in some cases even celebrating — our presence.”
By case, Ken is in the process of launching Queer in Cannabis, an organization focused on serving this community, including those who are already involved in the industry, as well as those eager to enter it. The goal of the organization will be to connect expertise and resources to these new ideas and interests from within our overlapping communities. A few projects are already under the organization’s mentorship and incubation.
Understanding Chapter 2’s Cannabis Business
To better understand Ken and Clara’s business, we moved on to some more cannabis business-focused questions.
How would federal legalization change your business?
To a certain degree, we are already seeing what will happen on a smaller scale within the states (and Canadian provinces) where weed is already legal: Like so many other industries, in order to compete with economies of scale, we’re already seeing market consolidation at all levels of the business. Smaller craft growers and independent retailers will feel the same bottom-line pressure as, for instance, many fashion retailers and brands have, which has resulted in larger companies owning many brands, smaller brands forming regional cooperatives, and, sadly, many smaller companies going out of business.
Here at Chapter 2, we feel like we are in the right place at the right time because we not only already have offices in the largest markets, California and New York. I also believe Florida, and particularly the important Miami market, will join in legalization soon, where our company already has a longstanding footprint and network. But we also have a purpose-driven, culture-focused agency that can help regional brands stand out on a national stage.
In the short term,Chapter 2 is focusing on California for growth. I anticipate that, as we move towards federalization, the cannabis growing market will almost entirely shift back to the West Coast. The perception within the U.S market is that the best of the best cannabis is coming from this region. I think that when consumers are presented with more options, they will naturally gravitate to products from California, Oregon and Washington state.
California is also perfectly set up to dominate this opportunity because of the intricate supply chain and delivery systems that opened up within the region during the pandemic. The accumulation of capital and creativity allows for these models to be scaled quickly to take advantage of a national opportunity.
From that consolidation, things will begin to shift. It’s kind of like the wine market: Most of the best wines come from the same region in California. There's a reason for that and there’s a reason that the industry broadened there to include hospitality and travel. The “Grown in California” brand can be leveraged in much the same way that the Champagne region of France dominates the market for sparkling wine. We have also seen this in industries like fashion and technology.
Thoughtful public relations will be crucial to grow this perception and magnify the region’s dominance. Our strategic partners have been trumpeting the “rise of the flagships” and we believe many national chain weed retailers will also be West Coast-based, at least until New York State sorts things out.
The need for higher quality is another big dynamic I see unfolding through federalization. The incredible amount of value-driven and sub-par brands in the market is going to make the quality of cannabis products play a very important role moving forward. Again, we should take cues from the wine industry, holding ourselves accountable for cannabis product quality and consistency.
What are the main challenges that your company and the industry it operates in is facing?
To be super transparent, we are exploring the best options in accessing capital, expertise and resources to really see this idea of Chapter 2 reach its fullest potential. We are very blessed that our larger clients understand that the work that we’re doing with both emerging creatives and larger initiatives (like with social impact) is worth supporting. We are also very lucky to have the support of a lot of strategic partners who help us keep that aspect of our business growing consistently.
Times have not been easy and while we’re all very much drunk on a stimulus stabilized economy, I believe those heady days will be over soon and we’re likely facing a recession. Therefore the work that we’re doing is so important to keep the entrepreneurs and small businesses that are the backbone of this industry alive and to continue to diversify the people who are within it.
The only other challenge in front of us is something that I personally am working hard to change and that’s the stigma of people who actually work in our industry who are doing great things, but not being understood or accepted for working in cannabis. There are so many amazing projects and stories to be told in this industry, but many publicists don’t choose to come into this business for fear of some of the shady characters that are in the space.
I have to tell you that while I have kissed a lot of frogs and danced with a lot of monsters, that does not reflect this industry as a whole. The path that has been offered to us through our many partners and mentors has been amazing.
Stay tuned for more news on Chapter 2, its clients and the entire cannabis industry.
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This article was originally published on Forbes and appears here with permission.
Lead photo: MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ.
