VERNON, BC – April 17, 2018 – True Leaf Medicine International Ltd. (“True Leaf”), the quality of life cannabis company for people and their pets, announced today key leadership appointments to deepen team expertise in marketing, branding, and government relations.
Don Chisholm has been appointed True Leaf’s Chief Marketing Officer. His creative agency, Dossier, has been named the company’s branding partner. Hill+Knowlton Strategies (Hill+Knowlton) will be True Leaf’s government relations advisors.
The announcement builds on True Leaf’s focused effort to assemble a world-class team as it constructs the True Leaf Campus, a 25,000 square foot cannabis cultivation facility in Lumby, British Columbia, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2018.
Mr. Chisholm, a brand and innovation expert with more than 30 years of experience working with brands such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Vega, and Constellation Brands, will provide leadership within the True Leaf team, championing the development of multiple branded platforms and guiding the company’s overall innovation pipeline.
Mr. Chisholm is Co-Founder and Innovation Director of True Leaf’s branding partner, Dossier, a team that has extensive experience developing commercially successful brands in the health and wellness industry.
“We are positioning True Leaf to be a leading purpose-driven, plant-based healthcare brand,” said Darcy Bomford, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Leaf. “We are thrilled to welcome creative expert Don Chisholm to our team to help us strengthen the True Leaf Pet brand globally and effectively market our medicinal cannabis product line to patients.”
“We are honoured to partner with True Leaf to develop industry-leading breakthrough brands,” said Mr. Chisholm. “We are also excited to bridge the profound functional benefits of plant-based products with a highly emotional branding platform.”
True Leaf has also retained Hill+Knowlton, Canada’s top-rated government relations firm, to secure government approvals within an increasingly complex regulatory, social, and political environment for the cannabis industry.
“True Leaf has received approval from Health Canada to build our cannabis cultivation facility,” said Mr. Bomford. “We now have the accomplished team at Hill+Knowlton guiding us through the final stages of Health Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) licensing process. They will provide invaluable insight into the cannabis regulatory environment as we develop our medicinal cannabis product line and bring it to market.”
Since 2013, Hill+Knowlton’s policy and communications professionals have worked directly with the federal government and several provincial governments on cannabis policy development and have helped dozens of companies successfully navigate industry regulations setting the firm apart from its competition.
“As we continue to build our cannabis practice from both a public affairs and consumer marketing perspective, we are pleased to add True Leaf to our roster of clients in this fast growing sector,” said Goldy Hyder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hill+Knowlton Canada. “True Leaf’s focus on helping both people and pets live healthy, happier lives by providing effective plant-based treatments for pain and anxiety management is what makes them stand apart in this new marketplace.”
Last month, True Leaf announced the appointment of its Medical Advisory Board and the hiring of two cannabis genetics and cultivation experts. The team is set to collaborate on selecting effective strains and begin pilot trials on whole plant medicines and extractions.
