How 3 Chilean Brothers Built A Global Cannabis Platform Embraced By Big Sponsors Like Adidas And Crocs
It was the year 2013 and Santiago, Chile’s capital, was unknowingly about to become the epicenter of a digital phenomenon that would redefine the perception of cannabis in the Spanish-speaking world. Simón, Pascual and Joaquín Espinosa, three brothers with unparalleled vision and connection, breathed life into En Volá, a project that started as an exchange of humor-filled messages and deep reflections under the influence of marijuana.
This exchange, initially private, found its way into the public domain thanks to a friend who saw potential in their conversations. “I really like this story,” Simón recalls, “it happened in 2013… One day, a good friend accidentally read our conversations and… emphatically told us that we should publish them.”
The Espinosa Brothers. COURTESY OF EN VOLÁ
As En Volá began to take shape, the country’s cannabis market was in a promising growth phase. While nascent at the time, it’s estimated that cannabis market revenues in Chile reached $175.7 million in 2023, with an expected annual growth rate of 16.76% until 2028. This economic potential reflects not just the growing acceptance and regulation of cannabis in Chile but also in many other countries in Latin America and Spain, where the market size is even bigger. Countries like Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia have already regulated cannabis for either medical or adult use, with sales already in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
In this context of expansion and change, En Volá positioned itself not just as a pioneer in digital cannabis content in Spanish but also as a key player in the emerging cannabis industry, connecting with an increasingly wide and diverse audience seeking information, education and cannabis-related products.
The creation of En Volá wasn’t just about launching a website; it was the beginning of a cultural dialogue that would address cannabis topics from a perspective never before seen in the region. With a focus on user-generated content at first, the project quickly evolved into a cannabis content platform that has now accumulated nearly 62 million views on YouTube alone. This compares to Cannacribs’ 31 million views, House of Weed’s 49 million and Forbes’ 200 million; not too shabby, right?
“A community quickly began to grow around this portal,” Simón notes, highlighting the rapid acceptance and explosive growth of En Volá. All one needs to do is walk the streets of Santiago de Chile with Simón to realize how beloved the platform and its team members are: not one hour will pass without Simón being stopped by a random person asking for a selfie or looking to deliver a gift.
What started as a modest Tumblr blog transformed into an authoritative voice in cannabis culture, both nationally and internationally. The company’s strategy, deeply rooted in listening to its community, allowed the Espinosa brothers and their team to capture the needs and curiosities of their audience. This closeness with followers became the engine of their growth: “The base of our strategy is quite simple: we listen to our community, or read them, actually,” Simón says.
Humor And The Mainstreaming Of Cannabis
Simón wearing Crocs. COURTESY OF EN VOLÁ
The leap from a blog to becoming a phenomenon on digital platforms like YouTube and Instagram not only demonstrates the team’s ability to adapt and evolve but also its commitment to creating content that educates, entertains and connects the global cannabis community, all at the same time. Authenticity and genuine interest in cannabis have been key to attracting meaningful collaborations, including renowned brands like Adidas and Crocs, which no longer see weed as a niche or fringe topic, …