01
Brand Development & Product Strategy
First Fire
Building an original cannabis brand rooted in Cherokee storytelling and extending it across packaging, products, apparel and customer experience.
View Case Study →Portfolio • Brand Strategy • Product Marketing
Charles “Jerae”Jackson
Building brands where culture, cannabis, technology & strategy meet.
Brand & Marketing leader showcasing the strategy, campaigns, product launches, digital growth, retail marketing, and brand-building work developed through Great Smoky Cannabis Company.
Cherokee, North Carolina
Brand leadership from inside the operation — strategy, product, retail, digital and creative.
Featured Work
Featured Work
Selected projects across brand building, digital experience, customer growth and creative direction.
02
Website • E-Commerce • CRM
Great Smoky Digital Experience
Leading the evolution of the customer journey across website, e-commerce, loyalty, mobile and digital communications.
View Case Study →03
Advertising • Media Strategy • Customer Acquisition
Regional Market Expansion
Developing geographically targeted campaigns designed to build awareness and bring new customers into Cherokee.
View Impact →04
Creative Collaboration • Packaging • Cultural Storytelling
Cherokee Culture × Grove Bags
Working with Cherokee artist Waylon Long and Grove Bags to translate traditional basket-weaving inspiration into modern packaging.
View Case Study →05
CRM • Retention • Lifecycle Marketing
Loyalty & Customer Engagement
Helping scale an integrated loyalty ecosystem connecting rewards, SMS, promotions and digital customer engagement.
View Impact →Selected Impact
From Strategy to Impact
A selection of outcomes from my work across brand development, digital experience, customer engagement, market expansion and strategic partnerships.
Growth
Supported Record-Setting Sales Periods
Helped coordinate integrated marketing across seasonal campaigns, loyalty, digital channels, advertising and in-store execution during multiple record-performing periods.
Retention
Built a Large Loyalty Community
Helped scale Great Smoky’s loyalty ecosystem beyond 82,000 members while connecting CRM, SMS, e-commerce and promotional strategy to repeat customer engagement.
Digital
Led Website & Customer Experience Improvements
Led the website redesign and helped connect the digital customer journey across the live menu, promotions, loyalty, app, social media and visitor information.
Market Strategy
Developed Regional Customer Acquisition Campaigns
Identified emerging market opportunities and helped build targeted regional advertising strategies designed to increase awareness and drive visitation to Cherokee.
Brand Development
Expanded First Fire Across Product Categories
Helped develop First Fire into a broader brand system spanning concentrates, edibles, flower, hardware, packaging, apparel and cultural storytelling.
Partnerships
Created Vendor-Funded Activations
Developed partner activations that supported customer education, product awareness and incremental sales while minimizing additional company marketing spend.
82K+Loyalty Community
Record GrowthSupported Record-Setting Sales Periods
Sold ThroughNew Product Launches in Days
RegionalCustomer Acquisition Strategy
No-CostVendor-Funded Activations
Website Leadership • UX • E-Commerce • Loyalty
Great Smoky Digital Experience
A look at the customer-facing website I led the build on—bringing together brand storytelling, product discovery, e-commerce, loyalty, promotions and visitor information.
My Role
Leading the digital storefront.
I led the build and ongoing development of Great Smoky Cannabis Company's website, helping shape how customers discover the brand, understand the dispensary, access the product menu, find weekly promotions, connect with rewards and navigate important visitor information.
The goal was to create a digital experience that feels connected to the physical dispensary while reducing friction between marketing, e-commerce and the customer journey.
Website LeadershipBuild direction and ongoing site development
UX DirectionClear paths for shopping, deals and visitor information
E-CommerceConnecting the website to the live Dutchie menu
LoyaltyCreating pathways into rewards and repeat engagement
Content StrategyBrand, product and customer education content
Campaign UpdatesWeekly deals, promotions and timely messaging
ComplianceImportant 21+ and cannabis-related visitor information
Digital EcosystemWebsite, app, CRM and e-commerce working together
Customer Journeys
DiscoverUnderstand who Great Smoky is and why the experience is unique.
ShopMove directly into the live product menu and current inventory.
EngageAccess rewards, weekly deals and the Great Smoky mobile app.
VisitFind directions, hours, FAQs and important customer information.
Creative Production
Great Smoky in Motion
Building a reusable visual library that captures the dispensary, brand experience and atmosphere beyond static creative.
Great Smoky • Brand Content Production
Bringing the Great Smoky experience to life.
Worked directly with a professional videographer to coordinate and capture B-roll for Great Smoky Cannabis Company. The project focused on creating high-quality visual assets that could help showcase the dispensary and overall brand experience across future marketing channels.
This work reflects the production side of my role—helping translate the brand into motion and developing reusable content that can support digital campaigns, social media, advertising and brand storytelling.
Portfolio sample • B-roll / brand content production
Featured Brand Case Study
First Fire
A product brand built to connect premium cannabis with Cherokee storytelling, visual identity, packaging and retail culture.
Brand Development
Built on Cherokee storytelling.
First Fire was developed around the Cherokee story of Water Spider carrying the first ember back to the people. The goal was to create a premium cannabis identity with a story strong enough to live across multiple product categories—not just one package or campaign.
The visual system uses fire-inspired reds, black, warm gold tones and Water Spider imagery to build a recognizable family across hardware, concentrates, pre-rolls, apparel and other limited product drops.
Explore the Brand ↓
Pre-Roll Packaging
Dablicator
Glass Taster
Concentrate Hardware
Brand Apparel
Concentrates
Edibles
Brand Origin
From cultural reference to modern consumer brand.
The First Fire identity began with the Cherokee First Fire story and visual research around the Water Spider / Fire Spider motif. Early development explored Cherokee syllabary, the concepts of “first” and “fire,” and ways to translate a culturally rooted symbol into a contemporary product identity.
This process gave the brand a clear foundation before it ever reached packaging.
Brand Journey
01 / InspirationCherokee First Fire story and Water Spider visual language.
02 / IdentityLogo, color palette, typography, spider mark and cultural cues.
03 / Product SystemFlower, concentrates, pre-rolls, hardware, edibles and accessories.
04 / Brand WorldApparel, retail presentation, launches and limited product extensions.
Premium Flower
Night Gummiez ExtensionBrand Extension
Apparel Development
Early apparel exploration shows how the identity was adapted into lifestyle merchandise while maintaining the core First Fire visual language.
01 / Story
Cultural Foundation
A brand narrative rooted in the Cherokee First Fire story gives the product line meaning beyond the package.
02 / System
One Brand, Many Formats
The identity was designed to translate across vapes, concentrates, pre-rolls, edibles, apparel and promotional items.
03 / Execution
From Concept to Shelf
The portfolio shows the full marketing process: concept development, visual direction, packaging, launch support and retail presentation.
Featured Collaboration
Cherokee Culture × Modern Branding
A local-artist collaboration that turned traditional Cherokee basket-weaving inspiration into a physical packaging experience.
Great Smoky × Waylon Long × Grove Bags
Culture
you can
hold.
you can
hold.
Community • Art • Packaging
One of my favorite collaborations.
We partnered with local Cherokee artist and fourth-generation basket weaver Waylon Long and Grove Bags to create a custom cannabis bag inspired by traditional Cherokee basket weaving—with a modern twist.
Projects like this are what I love most: finding ways to bring Cherokee culture, local artists, and modern branding together in something people can actually hold and experience.
“The spotlight is on us right now, and I just want to introduce the world to Cherokee culture.”
Front • Basket-Weaving Inspired Design
Back • Artist Credit & Packaging Details
Design → Cultural Story → Artist Credit → Finished Production
From Concept to Production • Finished Custom Grove Bags
About Me
Culture. Business. Technology.
I'm a brand and marketing professional focused on the intersection of creative storytelling, business strategy and customer behavior.
My work spans brand development, loyalty and CRM, product launches, advertising, packaging, digital marketing, retail promotions, partnerships and performance analysis.
More About Me →