Digital Brown Bag: The Weather Channel’s Ashley Bene
Digital Brown Bag: The Weather Channel’s Ashley Bene
Tuesday, the New Media Institute was visited by representatives from The Weather Channel: Campaign Specialist Ashley Bene, and John, who is Manager of Operations at The Weather Channel. Ashley shared her career journey thus far from Media Mind to iWonder to her current position at The Weather Channel. She and John discussed the importance of knowing how to talk about digital media and keep up to date with new digital findings to run the company more effectively. "I wouldn't be where I am today without the New Media program. The curriculum taught me the basics, so I could discuss things like HTML and Flash with clients." She says “There are simple things that we learn in the New Media program that people who are already working in the industry don't even know.” Media is especially important in the use of advertising through digital platforms. In America, The Weather Channel has become a staple source of weather information, so they are now trying to expand to global markets. They have 22,000 partners who contribute weather information. In the marketing of digital products, The Weather Channel sees ESPN and CNN as competitors, rather than other weather sites. Their primary support comes from advertising clients. Companies can target their advertisements depending on the type of weather. In other words, a consumer may see a different ad on a rainy day than on a sunny day. The Weather Channel and its supporters actually benefit from severe weather, such as hurricanes and tornadoes because viewers tune in more, causing advertising from clients such as Ace and Allstate to increase dramatically. Demographics are important to consider as well. Ashley says adults will watch the weather on their television, but young adults rarely ever turn to TV for their weather information. In order to better reach this market, The Weather Channel released a new Facebook application in May, called “My Friend’s Weather,” which tells a user which of his or her “friends are in the path of severe weather.” They also can target advertisements toward people based on what pages they view on the website. This “cookie-ing” proves beneficial for the consumer by providing the consumer with a more personalized user experience. However, the website offers users the option to opt out of this process if they so choose. They also have an iPad application which is ranked second only to the popular gaming application Angry Birds.
