Seasonal advertising feels the heat from climate change

Businesses are feeling the effects of climate change on their bottom lines, and while this may be good news for some industries and for the majority of people, there isn't much to be happy about.

Extreme climate events and changes in weather patterns have a number of consequences that are both horrifyingly obvious and hazier the ultra-rapidity of the seasons' shifts is what really stands out (multiple parts of the country experienced one of the hottest February on record, with the heat wave expected to dominate much of the country in the coming weeks). Anything that is affected by this, including holiday preparations and marketing initiatives.

Unexpected weather patterns are increasingly becoming the rule rather than the exception, as Vivek Das, CEO of FoxyMoron (Zoo Media), notes. As businesses and governments are working hard to develop new ideas and supply chain solutions, marketing and advertising must employ flexible data and tech-enabled methods.

Ayush Wadhwa, the founder of OWLED Media and a digital content developer, believes that it might be difficult to develop advertising campaigns that successfully draw customers' attention during a specific season because temperatures change quickly from cold to hot and vice versa. The reason for this is that conventional seasonal advertising techniques that depend on particular temperature ranges or weather patterns are no longer as effective as they once were.

For instance, if a company develops a spring-themed campaign but the season is excessively warm, the campaign might not be well received by customers who are dealing with summer-like temps.

A connected data ecosystem can enable signals from sales/consumption patterns correlated with weather changes across geographies, and ad tech can enable fast creative customisation, activation, and optimization at scale, according to Das. Das believes that MarTech transformation is key for this because it can exponentially enhance the response time. He adds that advertising needs to learn from the supply chain to be better equipped for future situations like these.

According to Vikas Kumar Mangla, the founder of Digital ROI, advertisers are adjusting their strategies to better suit shifting weather patterns and customer behavior as India's traditional spring and fall seasons become less distinct.

Marketers now focus more on marketing adaptable, weather-appropriate collections that may be worn in a number of situations rather than seasonal clothing lines. For instance, they advocate wearing airy materials like cotton and linen, which are suitable for both hot and cold climates, he said.

The ability to better understand a customer's behavior through weather, according to Tanvi Bosmia, Associate Account Director, Brand Experience, SoCheers, makes it easier to demonstrate the value of the product and its features in order to further influence their purchasing decisions. "A consumer's psyche and overall purchasing behavior are profoundly impacted by the weather. It's interesting that brands always work to develop marketing tactics that take that into account," she says.

Iceberg Creations co-founder Deepak Pareek says, "Many advertising methods are thrown to the wind in light of the recent weather changes and sharp shifts in temperature. For instance, a company may have considered developing a cream during the colder months, but what if the cold weather is only temporary? In that situation, the strategies will go awry.

Speaking more seriously, Pareek adds, "Holismically speaking, I don't see a lot of changes in advertising methods as a lot of it is already pre-planned. Pharma businesses will benefit from seasonal shifts and the consequences on health. We really like the way clients approach their vision, regardless of the modifications, and that's a good sign for us as someone running a media production company."

Experts are convinced that agile businesses and marketing firms will and are adopting more adaptable and flexible techniques to produce ads that can effectively reach customers regardless of the weather, even though solutions to climate change are still a fiercely contested topic.