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R2C Group Joins Forces with The Initiative, an Accelerator Focused on Female-Founded Startups in Cannabis

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PORTLAND—July 10, 2019—R2C Group is proud to announce today that they are partnering with The Initiative, a first of its kind accelerator program with a focus on underrepresented startups in the cannabis industry. R2C Group will be supporting The Initiative’s efforts in making a significant shift in the number of female founders and leaders in the cannabis space. The agency will be leveraging over 20 years of business and marketing experience to empower female-founded companies to take an anti-establishment approach to driving revenue and scaling their brands.

The Initiative selected R2C because of its track record with putting D2C brands on the map. Very few marketing and advertising agencies are entering into the cannabis space, and those who do are focused on branding, while R2C Group boasts a depth of experience in performance marketing. R2C Group links strategy, creative and production with state-of-the-art audience targeting, dynamic media buying and advanced analytics to deliver on sales and branding goals simultaneously, without compromise.

“We saw a need and created a practice around it,” said Jane Crisan of R2C Group. “Our agency continues to innovate based on what we see in the marketplace and we have been watching cannabis for a while now. This partnership solidly fits into our mission to support female-founded businesses as well. We will be tapping our relationships with media partners to explore the boundaries of advertising for this emerging market. It’s very exciting!”

The Initiative works to ensure that female-founders have the greatest chance to be innovators, creators and success stories. Through its in-class accelerator model, networking events, retreats and access to funding, The Initiative can make sure that the cannabis industry remains the most progressive and gender-balanced emerging industry possible. Beyond the accelerator, The Initiative is set to host Females to the Front retreat at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs September 12-15, 2019, the largest confluence of female founders and funders in the cannabis space ever.

About R2C Group
R2C Group is an independent, women-led, performance-minded advertising agency for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. We link strategy, creative and production with state-of-the-art audience targeting, dynamic media buying and advanced analytics to deliver on sales and branding goals simultaneously, without compromise. Our approach, called Transactional Brand Building, is proven to produce transformational growth for clients ranging from D2C fast companies and category disruptors to established brands with traditional models. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon and co-founded in 1998 by Michelle Cardinal, R2C now has over 200 employees in four offices across the U.S. For more, visit https://www.rainforgrowth.com

The Initiative
The Initiative is an accelerator program for women providing the necessary tools to succeed – education, mentoring, confidence in raising money, and one of the largest networks in cannabis. Amy Margolis started The Initiative to rebalance the gender discrepancy in the cannabis industry. Women in the industry face many of the same challenges they do elsewhere in business including gender bias in funding. Having touched the industry for more than two decades, Ms. Margolis has spoken across the country and internationally on cannabis policy, infrastructure creation, implementation of medical and adult use legalization models and investment strategies.