In my humble opinion...

7th Stream’s MBA Program – Marketing, Branding and Art (as advertising)

Today: The Weather Channel – it’s not all about “the weather.”

What the weather will be, day-to-day, has always been a part of the marketing mix – especially for Moms – prepping kids off to school, after school sports activities, checking flight arrangements for husband’s travel plans, driving to complete errands, walking the dog, playing in golf tournaments, planting flowers, seasonal allergies, beach house barbecues, and much more. These are just a few of the “content categories” that have been, and continue to be, relevant to me.

The upcoming weather channel is a land-grab opportunity for content – relevant content – to distribute across multiple platforms. Reuters reported earlier this month that several media companies, including Comcast, and Time Warner, are interested in bidding for The Weather Channel.

Weather is a commodity, always relevant, even when the forecast is not what you were hoping it would be – sometimes similar to pizza. I believe, more of any product means less revenue for that product or service – unless, of course, you are the weather or pizza delivery.

Moms are a marketer’s dream. We actively seek out advice and information, and like our children, we share, make decisions and spend money. I’ve already predicted, in my former post, that I believe Comcast is the media company that purchased the domain name, www.pizza.com. If Comcast is the winner of The Weather Channel, it can associate its products, TV, Internet and Voice, with all those things that get the attention of Moms, in addition to weather and pizza. Comcast will then have valuable platforms with which to communicate marketing messages and relevant advertising opportunities.

Warm weather or white pizza, like I said, a marketer’s dream. Ownership of select generic keywords connected to a brand identity that fuel searches by zip code or destination afford many opportunities on the publisher side, the provider side and the advertiser side. The web is a powerful branding channel. The boundaries between targeted ads and branding ads are not always clear-cut. Weather and pizza deliver to both mass and niche audiences.

Second round bids are due in May. Whose bid will ultimately win The Weather Channel? My bet’s on Comcast.

Check out The Weather Channel and its many new content categories.