• by Les Luchter , July 5, 2023

Ball Park, the brand behind Ball Park Franks, and its media agency, WPP’s Mindshare, have teamed with The Weather Channel (TWC) to serve consumers hyper-local ads using the Hot Dog Index, a custom-built algorithm that looks at more than 40 data signals -- such as temperature, UV index, cloud cover, precipitation, humidity and wind speed -- to determine whether or not it’s a good day for outdoor grilling.

Through Labor Day, when a day – or night -- makes the grade, Ball Park ads will appear on TWC’s app and on its digital out-of-home displays.

Ad tags include “Sun in the sky means dogs on the grill,” “Experience summer in a bun” and “A night like this calls for the taste of summer.” All ads feature a photo of a frank with trimmings and declare, “It’s Ball Park Season.”

Ball Park points to an IBM behavior survey last summer in which 65% of consumers said the weather impacts their summer grilling plans.

Ball Park worked with its media agency Mindshare on the campaign.

The brand, whose franks were born at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium in 1957 before going CPG with the slogan, “Plump when you cook ‘em,” now also includes turkey hot dogs and frozen beef patties in addition to six iterations of beef hot dogs (regular, prime, Angus, Grillmaster hearty, lean beef and classic).

Originally from Hygrade Foods, the brand is now is now marketed by Tyson Foods.