Weather Targeting: The overlooked force in healthcare marketing

As the wellness movement swept through society four years ago, it sparked discussions far beyond the headlines. Everyone from investors to business leaders to consumers debated whether this was just a fleeting trend, or the dawn of a new cultural era that would shape consumer behavior for years.

That question has long since been answered. The $1.8 trillion global wellness market¹ is showing no signs of slowing down. Rather, its growth is not only reenergizing consumer focus on health, it’s reenergizing competition between brands who are trying to solidify their spot in shopping carts of health-minded people across generations.

A growing wellness market also means growing expectations. According to a recent report by Accenture, nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers wish that companies would respond faster with new offerings to meet their changing needs. As health brands and businesses in a competitive space face an ongoing challenge to balance personalization with privacy, finding the right contextual data, strategy, and message to meet in-the-moment needs is a top priority.

Easier said than done. But, one of the most overlooked — yet impactful — forces influencing people’s health is the weather. And that signal is becoming one of the biggest strategic opportunities for health marketers today.

The weather-to-wellness connection

A strong advantage for health marketers, weather already plays such a significant role as people manage their daily health and wellness choices. Research shows 76% of health-minded consumers use weather forecasts and information to manage their health condition(s) — a 33% increase since 2020² — weather drives actions like making plans (or changing them), optimizing the right medicine dosages, and of course, purchases we make. With seasonal weather norms shifting, people need to be constantly monitoring those changes so they can take steps to prevent or minimize adverse symptoms while maximizing the potential of living well.

It only makes sense, then, for marketers to integrate weather data into marketing and media strategies. Weather data is a privacy-forward signal that offers businesses a predictive view of consumer behavior that can power the most holistic, contextual relevance.

Driving market share among qualified audiences

Weather Targeting equips and empowers healthcare marketers with trusted and synthesized weather and anonymized health data, placing brands in the direct path of qualified audiences and health decisions across the digital ecosystem.

Because we are The World’s Most Accurate Forecaster,³ brands and businesses trust The Weather Company as a valued partner. And since weather is pivotal for people’s daily health, so is accurate, comprehensive data in weather forecasting. We examine historical trends, current conditions, and future projections to provide accurate, relevant insights, and seasonal benchmarks. This information proves valuable for learning how weather impacts people’s activities, health, and purchasing decisions. But, it also helps us deliver cookie-less, hyperlocal ads that resonate with audiences, based around current and predicted weather effects on both symptoms and behaviors.

While the signals on their own can supercharge advertising and media targeting strategies, weather data is more powerful together with other synergistic data sources.

Take, for example, first-party audiences. By combining weather data with your first-party audience data and other diverse datasets, marketers can unlock a richer audience understanding that transcends the boundaries of individual data sources. This collaborative approach reveals insights that neither data source could discern alone, enabling marketers to connect with their audience across digital, physical, and emotional contexts with unparalleled relevance. In fact, according to Salesforce,⁴ only 31% of marketers are fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources, limiting their ability to glean insights, plan campaigns, and sustain relevance across the customer journey.

Enhancing targeting through weather and data integrations

Health marketers are already starting to see the power of weather when combined with other targeting layers. For example, a leading pharmaceutical company wanted to increase awareness of, and prescriptions for, a specific diabetes prescription brand. Leveraging the insight that cold weather can exacerbate symptoms and drive a need for diabetes medications, CMI Media Group chose to harness real-time weather data from The Weather Company within Pulsepoint to anchor their campaign. Layering weather data onto an existing HCP target list, the brand was able to message the right HCPs when they’re most likely to consider appropriate pharmacologic therapy. This campaign showed significant impact, driving up the total number of prescriptions written in the impacted ZIP Codes. Results included:

Another recent data partnership that proved successful involved a type 2 diabetes prescription brand utilizing The Weather Company’s diabetes signals in The Trade Desk for programmatic advertising across various media platforms. The campaign was primarily measured through Crossix’s “Cost Per Unique Patient Reach,” which analyzed media exposure and its impact on diagnosed audiences, new prescriptions, and total prescriptions. The partnership proved so successful that the parent company launched a second type 2 diabetes brand using the same targeting strategy. A few results:

Creating purposeful connections and better health outcomes

Weather’s impact on our day-to-day health and wellness decisions isn’t changing and successful marketers are taking notice. Weather signals are a trustworthy, innovative, and meaningful way to meet the needs of a healthcare marketing industry where personalization and privacy are paramount. Through Weather Targeting solutions from The Weather Company, you can connect contextually across physical, digital, and emotional realms to influence purchase decisions that support health and wellness goals. What’s your weather strategy?