Brands to Watch: High LOVR
2023 was a landmark year for Missouri cannabis, bringing the start of recreational marijuana sales and a bevy of new products and brands to market.
Missouri is currently home to more than 200 different brands and more than 10,000 products. As the market grows and new brands and products continue to appear Greenway looks to highlight Brands to Watch. Companies and brands ranging from homegrown talent and design, to out-of-state players looking to make a big impact, the brands featured here are those that are moving the needle.
One of those brands is High LOVR.
High LOVR officially hit shelves in August of 2023, but Jill College has been working on the product for far longer than that.
College worked as a Senior Sales Specialist for Johnson & Johnson, helping sell pain medication for cancer patients. As she moved on from her career in pharma, College found a place for her passion for healthcare in the cannabis industry. That began her journey to creating High LOVR.
“They now call me the lube lady when I walk in the dispensaries, which I’m okay with that,” College joked. “But it’s not just lube, that’s the thing. We’re realizing this one-to-one is so amazing for so many other reasons. It has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties.”
How did the High LOVR come to be?
“The idea really came from Skinnygirl vodka. I watch all the Housewives shows, and Bethenny Frankel created her own brand. I thought to myself, here I am in cannabis and there’s nothing geared for women. I decided I would try to be that person.”
With a mission in mind, College put all of her effort into manifesting High LOVR.
“I did research and then I made a batch, did more research, made another batch, tested it. I figured out somebody was allergic to hemolyne, so we had to take that out.”
“The terpenes were the hardest part to figure out, and the most expensive part. It costs as much as the cannabis itself. But after several test runs and trials I finally got the right recipe.”
For College, the time and expense were the cost of creating something needed for cannabis patients and consumers.
“There’s nothing on the market that can go near our privates. We can’t put a salve or a lotion down there, so that’s my market. When applied topically it can help alleviate pain associated with gynecological and sexual health issues such as menstrual cramps, vaginal dryness, and discomfort during sex.”
What went into the design and execution of your packaging?
“I’ve always heard your brand should reflect you,” College said.
“I’ve been in corporate America for 25 years, working for Johnson and Johnson, and I grew up basically wearing a suit. In the old days, you had to wear pantyhose, high heels, and a blouse with the shirt underneath; that was our uniform style if you were a woman. I knew I was going to do something with a dark blue bottle or a pink bottle. I wanted it to be something that when you walk into Sephora, you could see this bottle sitting next to everything else there.”
Combining simplicity and sophistication made High LOVR recognizable on dispensary shelves, but it also came with the added benefit of being compliant.
“I actually got really lucky with the packaging and didn’t have to change anything when they made regulatory changes.”
What does 2024 look like for High LOVR?
“I want to have 4 products that come out over the next year,” she explained. “I am being asked to do bath bombs so I want to try doing that next. There are currently no THC bath bombs in the state of Missouri. They are a rare seller, but I think with the same terpene profile I could do one that is geared towards prep for the night and then the other relaxing side. I also want to do some type of sublingual spray.”
If you had to pick a favorite High LOVR product, what would you pick and why?
“I have to say the blue bottle just because that was what I was really intending to create a bottle for,” she continued. “The pink bottle has blown my mind because it’s the only one women can use near their kitty. I’ve had women come up to me and say ‘I can get on top of my husband again and I don’t feel pain while having sex’ or to have a young 23-year-old bartender say ‘I’ve had endometriosis my whole life, and I never knew I could have sex without pain. I just thought that was part of the deal.’ That’s amazing.”
“I’m really, really proud of how fast it’s grown and the reviews from the girls and the budtenders that have tried it first. They’ve pulled me aside and told me stories, and we both end up crying and then laughing about how High LOVR has helped them.”
