• by Aaron Baar , November 12, 2013

For the people working at The Weather Channel (and for many of the people watching the network), the weather is not just a diversion or mundane topic -- it's a passion.

Now the company is looking to express that passion with a new brand positioning, “It's amazing out there,” that gets at how the network, its affiliated Web sites and the people behind them all approach the weather. 

“What we're trying to do is articulate what was understood but not said,” Scot Safon, chief marketing officer at the Weather Channel, tells Marketing Daily. “When you’re following what’s going on with the weather, you're tuned into something amazing.”

The new brand articulation is being communicated through video commercials and print advertisements. A 90-second video traces the Weather Channel's history, including video from its first years on air, showing off current personalities and stunning imagery of weather and the outdoors. “It started as an idea, and the idea grew into a destination,” reads onscreen text. As the video showcases the different platforms consumers can view The Weather Channel (including on a smartphone), the text continues: “Today, we all check the weather, but inside the bubble of daily life do we really grasp what’s going on out there? The weather defines our world.” Shots of people playing in the rain, rock climbing and doing other outdoor activities are met with a challenge to “explore and investigate, share and connect [and] question and enjoy the full experience of the weather. When you see the world through weather, it's amazing out there.”

The introduction of a thematic line for The Weather Channel is a new one for the brand. Previously, the company relied on its name to articulate what it was about, Safon says. But with weather becoming a more predominant story in the general news, an expression of the passion people have for weather and The Weather Channel (and the channel’s expertise behind the scenes) was necessary, he says. 

“Lots of news organizations will cover these stories,” Safon says. “Our coverage will be different because our organization is filled with scientists and meteorologists. And scientists, when they cover these things, are fascinated by it.”

The new positioning -- developed by three agencies: Trollback + Co, mono and Man Made Music -- will be expressed not only through the video and advertising channels, but also through programming and other communications, Safon says. “We’re trying to use this to build the vernacular into our communications,” he says. “Any time we want to call attention to the drama and the story of the weather, we’re going to use that line.”