How All Fun Gifts found its voice with a muscular marketing team and the powerful Pulsar Chorus
Many companies are good at being just good enough. For a long time, they got the job done. Everyone went home at the end of the day. It’s fine. It works, most of the time, as long as business is going well enough.
And that’s a rut All Fun Gifts (AFG) had gotten into. They’d been around for 25 years, and they were a solid member of the industry that had emerged from the cannabis-and-accessories parking lot scene at ‘90s Phish concerts.
Demand for its products was solid. But as new distributors and brands emerged, goosing the competition, it was time to shake things up.
The culture of AFG was ripe for innovation.
Members of their team, even people who had begun as product pickers before they had joined R&D, became pioneers. They brainstormed and built the perfect dabbing device: the Pulsar Chorus. And customers liked it. A lot.
But what they also needed was someone to keep them tight and let the world know what they were doing.
A catalyst arrives—and converts the culture
Will Lewis is a former US Marine. When he got injured on his base in California, he found that conventional remedies were not as good as cannabis products.
“I was always interested in the business of cannabis,” says Will. “When I was in the military, I broke my back, and instead of managing pain with pharmaceuticals, I preferred edibles. That was my step into it.”
When he got the chance to work in the industry and move back to his home in Asheville, NC, the headquarters of AFG, he jumped at the opportunity. He saw a chance to revolutionize their marketing department, and from Day 1, he began to boost AFG’s signal and exceed expectations.
AFG had experienced recent success with the Choris, but the culture felt disjointed. People in different departments did their own thing, communicating only when necessary. But when Will got there, he instituted a culture of collaboration. Soon, employees from all departments were speaking to each other, hanging out, and having fun.
“The whole team is talking now,” says Will. “Before I came on, there wasn’t much cross-team communication. I came in and made sure that departments speak to each other to make sure releases are going off well. Not hitting any unnecessary snags.”
Will’s other big move was a massive social media outreach. He shifted focus to Facebook, Instagram, and boosted the number of AFG’s followers. Paired with the resounding success of the Chorus, AFG was becoming known by many new potential customers, generating buzz, and sliding into a slipstream toward success.
“I told my team to avoid paper marketing. It’s all digital now. Understand the market, research the market, follow its trends. See what the company is doing, how we’re dropping the ball, and turn it around.”
With this pivot, Will expanded AFG’s visibility in the market. Dramatically.
“Within the first two months, we essentially doubled our following on social media from the beginning of the year. Going from 60,000 to 120,000 followers in two months. We’ve seen some explosive growth in the company, and it’s not accidental. It’s intentional.”
Will wanted to make this more than a company; he wanted a team. With the world finally learning about AFG’s incredible products and world-class crew, he tried to inject a sense of purpose into the ethos of the group.
“Instead of chasing expansion for expansion’s sake, as a company, especially in an industry that grows so fast, we are looking to find that maturity. We took a step back and asked ‘How do we build something sustainable?” We don’t want to inflate and deflate right away. We are trying to respect the long-term of what this industry is. That meant tightening operations, modernizing our marketing, improving supply chain discipline, and building stronger relationships with both brands and retailers.”
Everyone has great ideas
“We fully leverage the experience we have inside our walls. It’s the culmination of all these people and their concepts that make the products.”
These days, the Pulsar Chorus is the flagship product of AFG. It emerged from everyone putting their heads together and coming up with something useful.
“That wasn’t just a one-person job. That was us all being like, ‘What is something that we all want in our pocket that’s gonna be a hit?’ And it shows through the device.”
If you don’t already know, the Pulsar Chorus is a concentrated vape that comes with its own storage case. It has a hot knife built into it and a 2000 mAh battery. So it can go all day—or all weekend if you’re not a crazy dabber. It’s an everything-you-need device that slides into your pocket. A seamless, all-in-one product you can carry around for the weekend.
“Our R&D team is phenomenal. They came up with the Chorus, and it’s making its waves across the industry right now.” Will adds that it’s a multipronged effort to extend its reach. “We made a big push to show how Pulsar shows up visually, digitally, and culturally, in this industry.”
Looking forward with purpose and excitement
“Since the Chorus’s release, everyone has been excited,” says Will. “It’s hit the market the way we want it to be hit. We’re releasing devices that make a difference now. At work, there’s booming energy, and people are making sales. The noise is fantastic!”
And Will is determined to keep the momentum going. To make sure AFG can fulfill its potential.
“I’m trying to take this next year to move AFG and Pulsar from a strong product company, which they are, to an industry platform driven by the purposes and the processes of the company.”
For fans of AFG’s products and services, including their blockbuster Chorus, that’s music to their ears.
Check out HQ Magazine’s Product Spotlight on the Pulsar Hot Knife Box HERE.
