technology

AccuWeather CMO Relates Marketing Challenges, Triumphs


By gathering real-time feedback and data, AccuWeather has worked to build relationships where users can be part of on-the-scene weather reporting. This has allowed the company to better connect and personalize its content for its audience, according to CMO John Dokes.

With over 20 years of marketing experience with major brands including Marvel Entertainment, Viacom/MTV Networks, Dokes is focused on reinventing the brand for both customer and business audiences. He shared some of his thoughts on AccuWeather recently with Marketing Daily

What are some of the marketing challenges AccuWeather has faced as of late? 

As the world’s largest weather company, digital and big data leader,  and the proven most accurate forecast provider, AccuWeather has an audience of nearly 2 billion relying on our work every day worldwide. Communicating with that broad and diverse audience in a way that is personalized and relevant is a mammoth undertaking, especially with the rapid pace of technological change and the way consumers and business take in information. 

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How have you responded to those challenges?

We start with the benefit that our weather is hyper-local around the world and our customers understand that providing us their exact localization will allow for the full utilization of products like our patented MinuteCast, minute-by-minute forecast. This allows us to be the first to understand and reach those audiences in a compelling way that is contextually relevant with messages that have real impact in driving app downloads, social media interactions, and adoption on all platforms.

How does the task of heading marketing at AccuWeather compare to Marvel Entertainment and MTV Networks?

During my time at MTV Networks, we were pushing the boundaries of innovation in media. I took a lot of that energy and enthusiasm back to Marvel where we were able to make great strides in bringing digital advancement to the house of ideas. 

Since AccuWeather is primarily a digital media and data solutions company, it allowed for a smooth transition in bringing new ideas to the user experience and customer outreach. Content is key with today’s screen-savvy audiences, whether you are getting your information from a mobile phone or a wired cable TV. At AccuWeather, we are offering content on all platforms and that has great meaning for our audience – but in this case, the information is critical to saving and improving the lives of our global audience.  

Why do you think AccuWeather is so popular, what are you doing right from a marketing perspective? 

To be effective our message and forecasts need to reach our audience. AccuWeather uses a marketing mix of paid, earned, and owned media to broaden awareness – from online advertising to public relations and social media events – to our target audience. We have unique multi-platform reach to cross promote our platforms and drive additional consideration, plus partnerships in wearables, connected car, smart TV, smart home appliances, and more.

Our goal is to reach each B2B and B2C user in a way that is personalized and impactful so they can use the most accurate weather in the world to make decisions that help their lives. We closely measure a range of primary and secondary metrics to continually evaluate and optimize campaign channels and tactics, ensuring the highest impact based on ROI. 

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