Leafy Laney

About Elaine (Leafy Laney)

Co-Founder of A.V.O Brands. Brand strategist and copywriter for cannabis, beverage, and CPG brands that refuse to be commodities.

Mission before margins. Values before vanity metrics.

Elaine (Leafy Laney)

The Story

Elaine started A.V.O Brands with Naphtali because they were tired of seeing purpose-driven brands get swallowed by commoditization. Cannabis brands racing to the bottom on price. Beverage brands with mission statements that ring hollow. CPG brands that talk sustainability but optimize for margins alone.

The market punishes brands without strategic foundations. Without positioning that differentiates, messaging that resonates, and visual systems that scale, brands become interchangeable. Price becomes the only lever. Mission becomes marketing fluff.

A.V.O builds strategic foundations first. Brand strategy, copywriting, SEO: the work that lets mission-driven brands scale without selling out. Get positioning right, and everything else (design, marketing, sales) follows.

Multi-Industry Expertise

Cannabis

Brand strategy, SEO, and copywriting for cannabis brands navigating regulation and commoditization.

Clients:

  • Cheech & Chong
  • Terrapin Care Station
  • MediaJel
  • Mary Jones (Jones Soda)

Craft Beverage

Strategic positioning and packaging design for beverage brands competing with Big Bev budgets.

Clients:

  • Jones Soda (Mary Jones line)
  • Snow Monkey (award-winning packaging)

Purpose-Driven CPG

Brand foundations for CPG brands with conservation, sustainability, or social impact missions.

Focus:

  • Mission-driven positioning
  • Purpose beyond profit
  • Values-aligned growth

How A.V.O Works

Founder-Led Consulting

Strategy is collaborative between founders (Elaine + Naphtali). You get founder-level thinking, not junior account managers executing templates. A.V.O is small by design: fewer clients, deeper work, more care.

Hybrid Model: Strategy + Execution

Elaine and Naphtali lead brand strategy (positioning, messaging). Once foundations are set, execution (design, content, SEO) is handled by trusted collaborators or your internal team. Best of both worlds: founder intimacy + team capacity.

Mission Before Margins

A.V.O only works with purpose-driven brands. If your mission is growth at any cost, it's not a fit. But if you're building something meaningful and need strategic foundations to scale without selling out, let's talk.

What A.V.O Believes About Brand Strategy

1. Strategy before creative execution

Design without strategy is guessing. Get positioning and messaging right first. Then every design decision becomes deliberate, not subjective.

2. Strategy compounds over time

Strategic foundations aren't sexy. But they compound. Invest in positioning once, leverage it for years. Brands that skip this step pay for it later in rebrands, confused messaging, and commoditization.

3. Mission before margins

Purpose-driven brands don't sacrifice values for growth. Mission and profit aren't mutually exclusive, but mission comes first. If you're optimizing for exits over impact, A.V.O isn't the right fit.

4. Founder-led beats cookie-cutter agencies

Agency templates don't build differentiated brands. You need founder-level thinking from people who care. A.V.O stays small by design: fewer brands, deeper work, giving a damn.

5. Multi-industry experience = better strategy

Working across cannabis, beverage, and CPG builds pattern recognition: what's working, what's overhyped, what's emerging. Specialization is overrated. Cross-industry experience builds better brands.

AVO Brands

Let's Build Your Brand Strategy

Book a free 30-minute discovery call. Expect a review of your current positioning, blind spots identified, and an honest take on whether A.V.O is the right fit for your brand.

Book Discovery Call