Are Baby Boomers An Untapped Market For Cannabevs?

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pharos Brands

A Montana-based entrant into the competitive THC beverage market is betting on seniors, who are often overlooked but represent significant disposable income.

Cannabis for grown-ups.

That’s the first headline you see upon visiting the website for Pharos Brands, one of many new brands who have entered the burgeoning, yet topsy-turvy world of cannabis beverages. It’s also the first signal of a company in the category swimming in a slightly different direction. Take a quick glance at Instagram for many hemp-derived, THC beverage brands and you start to see a clear pattern emerge - young(ish) looking, athletic people in their twenties and thirties frolicking on the beach, at a bar, or at a fabulous party, THC bevs in hand. Building an association with an attractive, younger demographic is nothing new in advertising, particularly for an adult beverage category that has always sought to glamorize the rituals of drinking. But for Pharos, that aspiration is different, as the brand unabashedly courts a baby boomer audience that mirrors the stage of life its co-founders Mary Bernuth and Ryno Stinchfield are also in.

The senior population in the U.S. is significant, and quietly becoming more so. It’s estimated that 1 in 5 Americans will be 60 or older by the year 2030, as all of the boomers have now aged into that cohort, with Generation X now coming in behind them. Those kinds of numbers also carry significant financial weight, as the demographic is already an economic powerhouse. It’s estimated that roughly two-thirds of all wealth in the U.S. is owned by those 60 and older, which is just one reason the “longevity economy” is now in full steam. While Pharos may not have gone into this market for the wealth, it certainly has taken notice of the statistics.

“I didn’t pursue this market due to the wealth and the disposable income in the market. We pursued this market because we made these drinks for ourselves,” explained Mary Bernuth, Co-Founder of Pharos. “We are going after the market to primarily educate them, first. While baby boomers are one of the fastest-growing segments in the market, they are still only 14% of the category.”

Interested to hear more from our conversation with Mary? Listen to our podcast interview, above. Also available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you consume your content.