What’s the weather got to do with Marketing?

MC2 Business Campaign Planning Media 2 August 2022 | 0

As temperatures hit an all-time high in July, I’ve been thinking about how the weather affects Marketing. Does it affect the way we plan advertising campaigns?

Thermal Marketing – Is there such a thing?

What sparked the thought was an interesting article from PR Week, spotted in my inbox shortly after ’the hottest day on record’ last week. The intro, by editor John Harrington, posed the question “When to newsjack and when not to newsjack?”

Usually I’d say it’s good to be current. I refer back to an email I received from a print supplier in the run up to the platinum jubilee weekend.

It was addressed ‘Dear Prints and Printsesses…’!

Hats off to Solo Press. I’d be very proud of that, if it had come out of one of our ideas sessions.

But the recent high temperatures were no laughing matter and, as John said, nationwide messaging was mostly about ’stay safe, stay inside’. “Given the seriousness of the situation, relatively few brands jumped on the heatwave for a quick creative execution.”

However, one brand that couldn’t resist referring to the heat, was Nando’s.

In the PR Week Opinion piece, Phoebe Russell, brand director at Rise in Seven, includes the Nando’s ad in her selection of work up for discussion. She said, at Rise at Seven, they call it ‘fast-vertising…advertising at the speed of culture” and the Nando’s ad was a perfect example.

The ad, by Jules Middleton and Peigh Asante at New Commercial Arts, tweaked Nando’s ‘PERI-ometer’ and replaced ‘extra hot’ at the top of their heat-rating graphic with ‘19th July’.

Some might say it was risky but it has gone down well, within the creative industry anyway.

But newsjacking aside, the weather DOES affect marketing!

I learnt, just this week, that there’s something called Thermal Marketing.

Apparently, it’s a way for brands selling products that do well in warm weather (sunscreen, ice cream, holidays etc) to buy media and advertising space.

The product companies have campaigns ready and contracts in place with media owners (particularly in radio and TV) and, once the temperature reaches a certain level, their campaign is automatically triggered.

It makes sense now I know about it, but I had do idea. It explains how they’re so quick off the mark!

#alwayslearning

You can see the full PR Week article here:

www.prweek.com/article/1793796/love-hate-it-its-people-talking-%e2%80%93-creative-hits-misses-week
Campaign also wrote about it (you have to sign up to read the full piece - you can read three articles a month for free):

www.campaignlive.co.uk/the-work/advertiser/nandos/10143

And Newsworks:
www.newsworks.org.uk/news-and-opinion/nandos-tactical-ad-puts-tuesdays-heatwave-on-the-peri-ometer/

By Jan Lewis – Head of Graphic Design & Brand Identity

What’s the weather got to do with Marketing?