RESPECT. Interview: MERRY JANE’s Jim Baudino Talks the High Road Tour

Jim Baudino: With the recent release of Snoop Dogg’s new album COOLAID, it was the perfect opportunity for him to go on tour with Wiz Khalifa, not only to promote the album, but to also give fans a unique, fully integrated performance between the artists.  This was also the perfect opportunity for MERRY JANE to support our co-founder Snoop and reach markets across North America. This was the first ever Live Nation partnership with a cannabis brand. It was a great experience to work with the great team at Live Nation, Wiz and all of the tour’s special guests including Kevin Gates, Jhene Aiko, Casey Veggies, and DJ Drama. All of them are incredibly supportive of MERRY JANE and how we are normalizing the conversation around cannabis.

The MERRY JANE Presents The High Road Tour stopped in 33 cities across North America including major US markets like New York, Austin, Atlanta, San Diego, and Wiz’s home town of Pittsburgh. We were amazed by how enthusiastic fans were at each stop. Snoop Dogg has always been recognized as an icon within hip-hop culture. The High Road Tour solidified that he’s still one of the biggest names in music, and now, with MERRY JANE, he’s also a leader within the tech and cannabis spaces.

MERRY JANE was the presenting sponsor of the High Road Tour. This was the perfect avenue to build awareness of our brand in major markets and have the opportunity to interact with fans on site through videos, promotions and the MERRY JANE App, which had a unique interactive section for High Road Tour fans.

MERRY JANE is the premier lifestyle media platform created by Snoop Dogg and media entrepreneur, Ted Chung. Through original programming, engaging editorial and live events, MERRY JANE looks to normalize the conversation around cannabis across the globe. MERRYJANE.com and our iOS and Android apps not only have a variety of original programming and editorial content ranging from politics to entertainment, but also have tools to learn more about cannabis products and where to find them. MERRY JANE is dedicated to staying at the forefront of all information pertaining to cannabis – its uses, legalization, and normalization.

MERRY JANE offers an ongoing slate of original programming that caters to a diverse audience. A few of the core programs include; GGN, a talk show in which Snoop hosts guests ranging from Ice Cube to Khloe Kardashian; Deflowered gives an exclusive look into the lives of artists and influencers, asking them about their “first time” with cannabis; Seed to Strain spotlights those who are behind-the-scenes in cannabis, examining growers and dispensaries; Highly Productive aims to dispel the myth of the ‘lazy stoner’ by profiling successful career-minded individuals who partake in cannabis use; Planet Snoop is a series of hilarious videos in which Snoop Dogg narrates Planet Earth clips; and Wide World of Cannabis investigates the use of cannabis across the globe. As you can see, we have programming that touches on a little bit of everything – politics, entertainment, business.

MERRY JANE wants to be a respected authority in providing news and lifestyle, while leading the movement of normalizing cannabis use. We want to drive the conversation when it comes to all matters related to legalization and regulation, we and fully understand the positive impact that cannabis can have on different facets of life from business to health.

MERRY JANE was a passion project that has been in the works for over two decades. By taking Ted and Snoop’s combined interests in media, technology, entertainment, and cannabis, the platform was born. The timing for launch was strategically aligned with the inflection point that the industry is going through toward legalization. It’s been rewarding to see the way the company has grown and how it has been recognized by so many respected publications. Not only that, but being able to work on projects like The High Road Tour demonstrates that, although we specialize in cannabis, we also are active in entertainment, music and more.

MERRY JANE continues to make huge strides in technology, business, and entertainment. MERRY JANE covered the Democratic National Convention and continues to provide the latest news on Election 2016. In addition to writing and producing our original shows and editorial content, MERRY JANE is executive producer on both an MTV scripted comedy, ‘Mary + Jane’, and a new cooking show featuring Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg on VH1. Both shows are first ever partnerships with a cannabis media brand and are scheduled to release soon. We also continue to make enhancements to our mobile apps to provide the latest technology to keep our audience engaged. We have a few more things up our sleeve that I can’t share, but we have some exciting announcements coming out soon.

MERRY JANE hopes to see cannabis culture as a normalized, legal part of everyday life – free of the stigmas and myths that are so often wrongly associated with marijuana use.

Whether you’ve been partaking in cannabis for years, or have never tried marijuana, MERRY JANE has something for you through the variety of fun, entertaining and educational content. While our audience is mainly millennial, we work according to our motto – CANNABIS. CULTURE. FOR ALL.