Methodology

The Pioneer Index ranks the hottest brands in cannabis. How do we do that?

Our database, which was created in 2017 and now grows by more than 100,000 data points each week, aggregates metrics which track brand marketing performance through three silos: web-related activities, social media and earned media. This still-expanding index currently includes more than 750 brands operating in 32 states.

A proprietary, comparison-based scoring system evaluates cannabis brands, their marketing activities and digital properties. Our weighted-features construct includes metrics and measurements commonly employed when evaluating consumer-facing brands, but is built with the nuances of cannabis marketing in mind.  A recency bias in the index slightly favors relative change, or delta, over absolute position, and our algorithm is designed to account for size: enabling mono-state, single-product sellers to stand alongside multi-state operators with more expansive product offerings.

While we have our eyes on the CBD market, the Pioneer Index currently does not include CBD-only brands.  Similarly, we are tracking Canadian brands, but they won’t be found in the index at this time. Also, at present, inclusion in the active brand pool requires a brand to have wholesale operations;  there are plans to add retail-only brands in the future.  Sales performance plays no role in our ranking.  

Six months of historical data is required before a brand can be included in the index. Also, changes made to website URLs and social media handles, including temporary account suspensions, can impact results.

Our index is not fixed.  Our data collection efforts continue to expand and our feature-weightings are periodically adjusted in order to ensure we remain an effective, unbiased measure of performance across our industry.

And finally, these are a few of the partners we work with to evaluate brand marketing performance…