(Newser)
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When the weather turns cold, retailers swing into action, targeting ads toward areas where the mercury's dropping—even in normally temperate markets like Florida. “Marketing into a situation that's favorable for your product” is the key, one analyst tells Advertising Age. Take Campbell’s Soup, which uses a “misery index” based on local temperatures, precipitation, and how those relate to past conditions. When people in a certain area are 5% miserable, they start seeing and hearing ads for soup.
The Weather Channel helps advertisers target cooped-up viewers, and when they bundle up to venture out, Zappos knows the routine. The online shoe retailer switched a planned fashion spread on its website’s front page to one that trumpets “Cold Weather Outfits Are Hot!” Just in time: Google says searches for “snow boots” are beating out “cheap boots” for the first time in almost a year.
