David Hartigan was a quintessentially entrepreneurial teenager, brewing beer at home to sell to his friends. “It was strong but it didn’t taste great,” he says.
It set him up for a degree in business management at IT Tallaght – now TU Dublin – which in turn bagged him a scholarship to UCD’s Smurfit business school, doing a master’s degree in management consulting.
Hartigan loved it. He adds: “I like the consultancy idea of going into all kinds of businesses, seeing where the problems are and the opportunities, and basically trying to improve things.”
He spent six years doing just that for PwC, working across the finance, emerging technology and healthcare sectors.
‘Huge opportunities’ for Irish farmers to enter hemp business, says entrepreneur
Full podcast with Kneecap manager Dan Lambert: When it comes to values, authenticity trumps all
Is your brand being seen on the telly? If not, you may be missing out
LADbible’s leprechaun campaign highlights online threats
In his time off, he started Hemp Heros, a food supplement company which manufactures premium cannabidiol (CBD) products.
It began as a result of another side hustle, managing MMA fighters, one of whom was offered sponsorship from a CBD brand in the UK.
Made from the same plant that produces tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that produces a “high” in cannabis, CBD has no intoxicating effect whatsoever. Rather, it is used for its potential therapeutic benefits, which are “mainly around sleep, stress and recovery”, he says.
The product which the potential sponsor offered was low in quality and its packaging and presentation was poor, says Hartigan, who quickly reckoned he could do better.
“I put my consultant hat on and said: ‘Okay, how do we fix this problem?’ After eight months of research I used money I had saved for a new car to launch the company,” he says.
Initially, one of the biggest problems facing him was market education around hemp-based products. This required endless interviews during which he explained that no, there is no high.
“The analogy we always gave people is that what we do is like non-alcoholic beer, while the other stuff is like a bottle of vodka.”
Only now, seven years on, is that message finally understood, he says.
Having put in the ground work, he left PwC to work on Hemp Heros full-time three years ago.
Today, the company makes all its own products at his production unit in Wicklow and recently launched a second manufacturing site in the US.
It has more than 30 different supplements selling either direct from its own website or through health food stores such as Holland & Barrett. It is stocked in about 140 retailers across Ireland, with products ranging from chocolate with CBD to topical balms for sportspeople.
The company has also developed a hugely popular range of CBD products for animal health, to aid with joint issues and anxiety.
In fact, animals are perhaps the best proof of the efficacy of CBD products, he points out, because there are no marketing gimmicks or placebo effects with an animal. A product either works or it doesn’t.
We’re one of the very few who can go in there and say look, we’re actually manufacturing our products from seed to shelf
— David Hartigan
Unfortunately, while consumers have been quick to cut through the fog surrounding hemp-based products, the powers that be have less clarity on the issue.
“One of the biggest issues is still that education piece,” says Hartigan.
“If you speak to any TD or someone in a Government department, nine times out of ten they think CBD (and cannabis) is all the one. That’s still a big issue because it means there’s a massive lack of support for hemp farmers in Ireland, or hemp businesses.”
State development agencies still won’t provide business supports to this sector, he points out.
“Enterprise Ireland are brilliant but their hands are essentially tied. Let’s fix this because hemp has huge opportunities for farmers in Ireland. It would give them great revenues and it’s great for the environment; it takes more CO out of the atmosphere than trees,” he adds.
Sustainable solutions
At least some of the heavy lifting in terms of market education is being done by the fact that Hemp Heros is the first hemp company in Ireland or the UK to receive B Corp accreditation, a widely respected business standard. The company is also certified organic and works directly with organic hemp farmers.
Having a production site in the US is a valuable hedge against the prospect of tariffs, but it also makes sense because it is the market with most potential for growth. “You’re talking 300-plus million people and huge spending power,” he says.
Right now 90 per cent of CBD-based products in the US are white label, so the opportunity to differentiate itself from the competition on the basis of its quality and its sustainability credentials is huge, he tells Winterlich.
“We’re one of the very few who can go in there and say look, we’re actually manufacturing our products from seed to shelf. We’re working with organic hemp farmers in the US, using that raw hemp and manufacturing it into the finished product we are handing to you. There are hundreds of CBD brands in the US, but we’re one of 15 hemp companies in the world that have B Corp,” he says.
It doesn’t charge a premium for that either, says Hartigan. “We don’t try to pass on the cost (of being sustainable). We do it because it’s the right thing to do.”
He is currently growing the business through fairs and festivals, including consumer events such as Dogitude in Ireland and Superzoo, North America’s largest pet industry expo.
Working with selected influencers or, as he prefers to call them, “trusted voices”, is also paying dividends.
But one of the biggest marketing challenges remaining is the fact that CBD-based product can’t do paid advertising on social media channels. “It’s this kind of weird grey area that’s seen as high-risk. I might as well be trying to sell hand grenades, even though there is no intoxicating element,” he says.
Ever the entrepreneurial optimist, it’s a marketing challenge that’s “both a blessing and a curse”.
Hartigan adds: “Most of our advertising comes from word of mouth and Google and Trust Pilot reviews. When people try our products they tell all their friends and family – it’s old school.”
To hear more from podcast and content series Inside Marketing, click here
