If you work in marketing long enough, you start to appreciate quirky phrases and things people say, knowing they may not know the story behind it’s origin. The phrases and the shorthand that somehow become universal, like “bite the bullet”, “give them the cold shoulder”, and “rule of thumb”. (I’ll let you look those phrases up).
In the cannabis industry, nothing fits that bill better than “420.”
A story to be told.
I think by now, we all understand that it’s a reference to cannabis and the culture. But why? Having marketed the industry for several years and now having clients in the field, we can honestly say April 20 is their national holiday… and rightfully so. But at some point I realized something funny. They were all celebrating the day and using the reference, but not everyone actually knew where it came from.
As someone who makes a living telling stories and building brands, that felt like a missed opportunity.
So here’s the story, the way I like to tell it.
High school kids create a national holiday.
Back in the early 1970s, a group of high school students in California started using “420” as a code. The story goes they would meet at 4:20 in the afternoon to smoke (of course) and search for an abandoned cannabis crop. Whether they ever found it is almost beside the point. What mattered is that “420” became their quiet signal. A way to communicate without saying too much out loud.
Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich were their names, also known as The Waldos. Turns out, one of them was friends with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, and the band’s followers helped spread the phrase. Eventually it found its way into pop culture, and now here we are about to celebrate it as a holiday again… a High Holiday if you will.
Brands plan for it. Retailers depend on it. Consumers celebrate it.
Our team at DOMORRE Marketing has been making 420 campaign graphics and scheduling posts all week for clients and from a marketing perspective, it’s actually kind of incredible. You rarely see something so organic turn into something so commercially powerful without losing its identity completely.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
If you sit down with a true cannabis connoisseur, someone who has been part of the culture long before it became mainstream, you know, the OG’s from the 70’s and 80’s, you’ll hear a slightly different take. They’ll tell you 420 is overused now. That it lost a bit of its edge. A bit of its “coolness.”
We’ll never have another “420.”
There was a time, prior to 2000, when you could be in a professional setting, surrounded by people in suits, and casually say, “it’s about 420, who’s with me?” And the right people would pick up on it instantly. No explanation needed. No awkwardness. Just a subtle nod, a shared understanding, and a plan forming without ever being explicitly stated.
That’s powerful. That’s what a real code word does. It creates connection without exposure. It builds community without broadcasting to the room.
Today, 420 is still loved. It’s still widely used. It’s still a nod to cannabis culture and, frankly, a marketer’s dream. It gives brands a moment to rally around. It gives consumers something to look forward to.
But it’s not really a code anymore. It’s a headline. And maybe that’s okay. Every movement evolves. Every insider language eventually becomes mainstream if it sticks around long enough.
If history tells us anything, it’s that culture never stops creating new ways to communicate. But perhaps with social media today, we’ll never have anything like “420” again. Trends spread way too fast. It took nearly forty years for “420” to become mainstream. With how quickly trends move now, we’ll never see that kind of low-key code word again. Any code words born today immediately get branded, packaged and turned into a promotional calendar event.
OG’s take pride.
As marketers, we spend so much time trying to create moments like this. But the truth is, the best ones are never manufactured. They’re discovered, nurtured, and then amplified once the world is ready.
420 wasn’t built in a boardroom. It wasn’t focus grouped. It wasn’t A/B tested. It just meant something to a small group of people. And that meaning grew. So while we’ll keep building campaigns around it, and clients will keep asking how to stand out on April 20, I think it’s worth remembering where it came from.
Not just a time of day. Not just a date. It was a signal. A wink. A shared understanding.
So if you’re a true OG 420er, slip on your cannabis socks this weekend and take pride. You experienced something truly amazing and something up and coming generations never will.
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