With brands as diverse as Coca-Cola, The North Face, Toyota and TUI all embracing weather targeted ads, weather is fast becoming a mainstream component of the digital marketing mix. The trend is set to continue as the advent of GDPR along with the end of 3rd party cookies, means that accurate real-time audience behavioral data will be at an all-time premium. Weather signals fit that bill perfectly, not least because they are an excellent predictor of consumer behavior.

For brands and agencies, weather signals are a powerful tool to legitimize communications and contextualize ads. In our previous post, we explored several case studies of brands (stellar Cidre, Molson Coors, La Redoute, and Bravissimo) that had deployed weather-targeting across a variety of channels, with stellar results.

This article examines 5 more exemplary ad campaigns that turned weather into wins:

Burton

‘Fast fashion’ brand Burton sought to create a customized and contextually relevant experience for their website visitors. They integrated a weather-responsive ‘tile’ on their homepage which referenced the user’s local weather, and linked it to a product recommendation.

Burton used a weather API delivering real-time weather information which triggered the relevant creative to be displayed.

Richard Wilson, Head of Digital at Burton said: “One of our most innovative tests has been weather targeting which we’ve had shortlisted for the Etail Innovation Awards. We personalized the homepage by making product recommendations based on the weather of the visitors’ location.”

Results

As a result of linking live weather data to related products, Burton saw an 11.6% uplift in website conversions.

Pantene

In 2013, Pantene saw a decline in sales as a result of losing touch with their consumers, a lack of new product innovations, and stiff competition from other brands.

In order to regain market share, Pantene focused on weather-affected hair problems. They identified key meteorological triggers for bad hair days including humidity and dry heat. Pantene partnered with TWC to serve ads on pages forecasting these ‘problem’ conditions, along with discount coupons and directions to the nearest store.

Results

As a result of serving meteo-targeted ads to consumers experiencing the ‘problem’ conditions, Pantene saw a 28% sales increase as well as 600,000+ social impressions.

TUI

TUI, previously known as Thomson Holidays, wanted to increase holiday bookings by driving more quality traffic to their website. TUI partnered with a weather website, implementing a brand-takeover of both desktop and mobile app properties. When users experienced rainy, cloudy, snowy or cold weather, they were shown creative executions of ‘sun and sea’ holiday destinations, designed to create consumer desire.

Results

Due to the significant success of the first campaign, 300% of the original campaign budget has been re-invested in further campaigns with the intention of replicating the success of the inaugural campaign on a larger scale.

Lipton Ice Tea

Liptons’ aim was to drive brand awareness amongst 18-24 year olds during the summer months – a time of the year when traditional media channels typically underperform. They identified Facebook as the ideal channel for their mobile ad campaign. Liptons deployed a thermo-activated mobile campaign on Facebook. The ad, together with supporting photo and video content was triggered by warm temperatures.

Results

Liptons achieved exceptional results, reaching 6.9 million people, and commanding a 12.8% video view rate - which equated to just £0.06 cost per view.

ASDA

The beginning of April 2014 saw ASDA’s clothing brand George launch its summer campaign called ‘Real Summer Days’. In response to the notoriously changeable British weather, Asda created a weather-triggered landing page for their online store which displayed personalized product recommendations based on the visitor’s local weather.

This follows a similar strategy to last year’s ‘Wear Your Summer’ campaign where dynamic, weather-responsive banner ads were employed across their online properties

Results

George was able to drive sales by reacting quickly to temperature drops and changing stock, bringing forward their autumn/winter collection to “weather proof” their summer turnover.

Key Takeaways

The above case studies highlight the effectiveness of weather-triggered advertising. Creating more personalized customer experiences using weather data can significantly boost sales and drive brand reach. Hyper-contextual ads combat consumer ad-fatigue, delivering more relevant content, and minimizing wasted impressions – making your ad dollar work harder. After all, why waste money when you don’t have to?

For more examples of weather-based marketing campaigns check out our own case studies section.