Editor’s note: This article was originally published on The Current by The Trade Desk.

Remember your favorite neighborhood business — the one that knows your name, anticipates your needs and makes you feel like you’re part of something real? That connection isn’t just good business; it’s the essence of humanity. What brings us comfort, peace of mind and trust in our communities is no different from how marketers are approaching 2025.

We’re witnessing a transformation in advertising, driven by both consumer advocacy and regulatory frameworks that seek to harness technology’s potential while safeguarding privacy and overall well-being. The next frontier isn’t about more technology — it’s about using it wisely to foster real human connections that matter.

Based on the fundamental human truths of community, trust and authentic connection, here are three transformative trends in advertising that will define 2025 onward.

Think globally, act locally

The numbers tell a compelling story: 60% of marketers and content creators localize their content, and 68% of U.S. internet users believe that when national brands adapt their messaging to reflect regional nuances, it enhances the relevance of ads and demonstrates that advertisers are investing in local communities. This isn’t just a trend; it’s foundational to how brands create relevance.

Local advertising taps in to the immediate reality of your audience’s environment. The most successful brands speak to consumers in their immediate context, tailoring messages to what matters most in that specific moment. Weather patterns offer a perfect paradigm for this approach, where global systems manifest in highly specific local impacts that shape consumer behavior and needs.

Consider this: A national quick-service restaurant might leverage real-time weather data to adjust its promotions based on patterns in a given neighborhood, offering refreshing drinks during heat waves or seamless delivery services during inclement weather. Similarly, energy providers could craft their messaging around regional weather events, alerting and educating communities to preparedness measures during severe conditions.

While localization creates the foundation for relevant messaging, the next evolution in advertising authenticity comes through reimagining what true influence means in consumers’ lives.

Influencer marketing that doesn’t sacrifice trust

In 2025, authenticity will be the most valuable currency in advertising. As people become more skeptical of traditional influencer marketing, they are gravitating toward sources of influence that feel genuine, trustworthy and meaningful to their lives.

Consider weather: it’s the original influencer, and the most universal of all, affecting everything from our moods to our purchasing decisions. This makes weather an incredibly powerful and trusted source of influence (maybe even more so than the acclaimed Martha Stewart).

Leading brands are already operating at the intersection of trust and impact. Weather-informed campaigns in the home-improvement sector have seen engagement rates soar by 320%, as measured by Meta Ads Manager and Google Analytics. Why? Because they connect with consumers at moments of genuine need, not manufactured opportunity.

As brands master the art of authentic influence, they’re turning to AI-powered solutions to scale these meaningful connections without losing the human touch.

AI-powered personalization and consumer experiences

The conversation around AI is shifting from “what’s possible” to “what’s meaningful.” The most successful marketers are leveraging AI purposefully, ethically, and as an amplifier of human insight and connection. The key to AI’s potential is not the technology alone, but finding data sources that are universally relevant while respecting consumer privacy — sources like weather.

Weather is nature’s own predictive algorithm, influencing how we feel, what we buy and how we live. By layering AI’s pattern-recognition capabilities with human behaviors, brands can unlock new dimensions of consumer understanding, driving more effective and relevant interactions across the digital ecosystem. When weather and AI come together, you create deep, authentic, personalized experiences. For example, a mosquito-repellent brand reaches parents with education and awareness messaging to keep their families safe, while also influencing weather data in advanced multivariant modeling to ensure their product is on the shelf when consumers need it the most.

With 89% of business leaders believing ethical use of AI can be a competitive business advantage, forward-thinking brands are prioritizing data signals that are both powerful and inherently consumer-centric. The key is not how much data you have, but how well you translate that data into scaled experiences that still feel personal and add value to people’s lives.

Looking ahead

As we accelerate toward 2025, the forecast is clear: The future belongs to brands that can harness technology to make every interaction feel as personal as your favorite local business, at a global scale.

Collaborations with OFF! Brand, Professional Pickleball Association, Strava and Supreme Golf
Enhance Consumer Experience

ATLANTA – December 18, 2024 – The Weather Channel mobile application, the flagship consumer app of The Weather Company, delivers weather expertise and trusted data and insights to consumers. To provide the best app experience and to help people plan beyond the forecast, the leading weather app now offers Activities Forecasts to help track when conditions are ideal to get out and do what you love. Together with trusted brands across industries including OFF! Brand, the Professional Pickleball Association, Strava and Supreme Golf, The Weather Channel App helps people plan their next outdoor adventure and make the most of valuable time, no matter the season.

According to research, people are using weather information to help plan their activities – 72% of surveyed app users say that checking the weather plays a key role in activity planning.¹ The Weather Channel App, from the world’s most accurate weather forecaster,² continues to be the leading weather app people turn to to help them make confident decisions to live their best life.

“In our research with app users, outdoor enthusiasts plan activities in cold or hot weather, rain or shine, no matter the season. It’s clear that people want relevant, digestible weather that explains how weather impacts their activities and their health,” said Rachel Chukura, head of consumer product at The Weather Company. “Whether you’re going for a run on a sunny day, booking a tee time during allergy season, or planning a camping trip around mosquito activity, The Weather Channel App brings together weather insights with content from industry leaders to help connect the dots between weather and what matters most to people.”

Get forecasts and additional information tailored to specific activities that can be impacted by weather, such as camping, hiking, running/walking, cycling, golf, gardening, and tennis & pickleball. Even more, the app also helps you better understand how weather may impact well-being with information tailored to health conditions such as skin health, breathing, allergies, and cold & flu.³ For example, keep up with cold & flu season, sunburn risk or dry skin risk before you head outside, no matter the weather.

Activities Forecasts, available on The Weather Channel App for iOS and coming next to Android, let you check when weather conditions are best for planning your next activity or adventure:

• Help protect loved ones from mosquitoes with the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast: Optimize outdoor time with tips, content and an at-a-glance risk level of mosquito activity by ZIP code based on local weather conditions for today and the days ahead, together with OFF!®, America’s #1 trusted Insect Repellent brand in 2024.⁴ Available in The Weather Channel App’s Activities Forecasts for camping, hiking, golf and gardening.
• Plan for your next match with help from the Professional Pickleball Association: Check out how the weather might affect your tennis or pickleball game. Get pro tips from the Professional Pickleball Association, the global governing body of men’s and women’s professional pickleball and pioneering organizer of the PPA Tour.
• Get popular running and cycling route recommendations with Strava: Find recommended running or cycling routes by easy or moderate difficulty with the help of Strava, the app for active people with more than 135 million athletes in more than 190 countries. Routes are currently available in the app for Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia.
• Search courses and book your next golf game with Supreme Golf: Align your game with optimal weather conditions and find a curated list of nearby golf courses, check availability and book tee times at over 9,000 U.S. courses with Supreme Golf, a leading tee-time marketplace and golf course software company. Customize your search by current location or selected city, and filter results by distance, price and rating.

As weather changes and becomes more impactful, it’s never been more important for people to have a weather app they can trust to learn what to expect when deciding on their next activity. The Weather Channel App offers reliability, combining nearly 100 forecast models through a proprietary mix of AI and human expertise to create the freshest, highly personalized forecast for any time and location requested, unique to you.

The Weather Channel App is a helpful, free tool for activity planners, with the option for additional features and services for paid subscribers of The Weather Channel App Premium. Download The Weather Channel App on your device from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

About The Weather Company
The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com.  

• Weather conditions are a critical factor affecting the effectiveness and safety of military drone operations.
• Weatherverse Planner™ provides real-time weather data and forecasting tools tailored to help optimize drone missions.
• Continuous monitoring and automated alerts help ensure drones can safely adapt to rapidly changing weather conditions.
• Leveraging advanced weather insights helps enable military planners to optimize operational efficiency and reduce mission risks.

As the reliance on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) increases, the military’s use of drones has become essential for modern warfare and tactical operations. From surveillance and reconnaissance to communication relays and logistical support, drones are now vital tools in defense strategies. However, one factor that consistently challenges their effectiveness is weather. Whether it’s sudden wind gusts, visibility issues, or temperature extremes, weather conditions can significantly impact the safety and success of drone missions.

The growing importance of weather readiness

Today’s drones are sophisticated systems equipped with state-of-the-art navigation, sensors, and payload capabilities. Yet, even with these technological advancements, drones are vulnerable to adverse weather conditions. For instance, strong winds can destabilize drone flight, heavy rain can disrupt sensors, and extreme temperatures can drain battery life or affect the precision of onboard electronics. Given these challenges, understanding and leveraging accurate drone weather forecasts is critical for mission success.

In military contexts, where drones are used for high-stakes tasks like reconnaissance, targeted strikes, or electronic warfare, access to real-time weather is critical. Without precise weather data, missions may face delays, equipment could be damaged, or worse, operations could fail. For defense planners and analysts, real-time weather insights are essential to mitigate risks due to volatile or extreme weather.

Leveraging the power of Weatherverse Planner

To address these challenges, The Weather Company developed Weatherverse Planner, a powerful tool designed to help improve operational decision-making by delivering real-time weather monitoring and advanced forecasting capabilities tailored for military use. This tool bridges the gap between volatile weather and mission-critical decisions, providing actionable insights which can help optimize drone deployment and overall mission planning.

Weatherverse Planner enables:  

Continuous weather monitoring and contingency planning: Military teams can establish and routinely update contingency plans based on the latest weather conditions. Weatherverse Planner provides a continuous flow of data, helping operators to identify and plan around potential weather disruptions in real time. This facilitates rapid adjustments to mission schedules, flight paths, or equipment configurations, ultimately helping to reduce risks and strengthen mission reliability.

Advanced weather tools for dynamic operations: Weatherverse Planner leverages The Weather Company’s proprietary Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting (GRAF) model, which offers precise predictions tailored for UAS weather conditions. Utilizing this tool helps enable commanders to gain insights into how specific weather patterns might impact their drones’ performance, to help ensure that operations are executed with maximum efficiency and safety. Weatherverse Planner is available both as a hosted solution (Planner Hosted) and as an integrated plugin for existing command and control (C2) systems (Planner Plugin), providing flexibility for defense teams to seamlessly integrate Weatherverse Planner into their existing infrastructure. Weatherverse Planner leverages forecasting models validated by ForecastWatch, with The Weather Channel achieving two to four times as many first-place points in wind forecast accuracy as competitors for each forecast day horizon¹, delivering reliable support for military operations.

Utilizing probabilistic forecasting for mission success: Weatherverse Planner’s probabilistic forecasting capabilities help users evaluate multiple potential weather scenarios before a mission. For example, if a forecast predicts moderate rain, commanders can review a range of outcomes to determine the likelihood of more severe weather. This helps in making informed decisions about whether to proceed, delay, or adjust mission parameters, which is especially crucial in high-risk environments.

Probabilistic Forecast feature

Identifying optimal weather windows: The “Weather Window” feature helps identify the most favorable periods for drone operations, helping to optimize mission timing. It’s an invaluable tool for scheduling activities in highly variable weather conditions. Aligning drone missions with optimal drone weather conditions can help defense teams reduce operational costs and minimize mission risks.

Optimal Weather Window feature

Automated weather alerts and impact analysis: Quick response times are vital in dynamic combat zones. Weatherverse Planner’s automated alerts provide real-time notifications about sudden weather changes that could affect active missions. Whether it’s a drastic drop in temperature or a developing storm, mission commanders can receive updates directly on their dashboards, helping them to swiftly modify routes or postpone operations if needed.

Augmented data visualization and decision support: Weatherverse Planner’s intuitively designed interface includes color-coded visualizations and condition-specific dashboards, helping to simplify the display and understanding of complex weather data. Military analysts are better able to quickly assess high-risk periods at a glance allowing for more efficient decision-making under pressure. These visualizations help reduce the cognitive load on operators and empower them to focus on mission-critical tasks rather than deciphering weather data.

Enhanced adaptability for operations in low bandwidth areas: The Weather Company also anticipates completing work on ATAK integration in Q1 2025 so that critical weather updates reach personnel even in contested bandwidth environments. This integration will be vital for one-way drone missions covering distances of 300 to 500 km, where limited connectivity allows teams to receive real-time weather alerts without data transmission bottlenecks.

Real-world applications: Strengthening military operations

Condition Manager feature

Weather readiness translates to mission readiness. With capabilities such as real-time weather APIs and customizable weather thresholds, military personnel can proactively adjust mission plans to align with changing weather dynamics.

In addition, the Condition Manager tool continuously monitors weather impacts along predefined flight paths. This feature is particularly useful when drones are tasked with flying low-altitude missions where terrain and microclimates can drastically alter weather conditions. By tracking weather against predefined thresholds, the Condition Manager helps alert commanders well before conditions worsen, helping enable better-prepared, safer missions.

Empowering defense teams with advanced weather solutions

Military operations are complex, where precision is key. By integrating advanced weather monitoring systems like Weatherverse Planner into their operational toolkit, defense teams can augment their strategic capabilities and reduce weather-related risks. Leveraging UAS weather data and real-time insights helps military units deploy drones at the most opportune times to minimize delays and maximize the success rate of their missions.

As weather volatility increases globally, the need for accurate, timely weather intelligence has never been greater. The Weather Company’s solutions are designed to provide defense teams with the tools to help navigate increasingly uncertain and volatile weather conditions, mitigating the impact of weather conditions on achieving mission objectives.

By embracing advanced forecasting tools and continuous monitoring solutions, military planners can better anticipate challenges, allocate resources more effectively, and improve the overall resilience of their operations.

Editor’s note: All data sourced from Weather and Health Impact Study, Sago for The Weather Company, March 2024, unless otherwise noted.

As the mercury dips and the days grow shorter, the connection between weather and health is unmistakable — in fact, 89% of consumers believe weather impacts their health. This link often drives decisions related to winter health and wellness, as people frequently use weather as a signal to plan their day, make informed decisions about dosage and frequency for certain medications, and prevent symptom flare-ups by understanding optimal times for activities.

So, how might this winter’s forecast influence consumers and health and wellness marketing campaigns? Let’s start with a few highlights from The Weather Channel’s winter outlook 2024-25:

• A mild-to-warm winter overall: Most of the U.S., except the Northwest, is forecast to bask in above-average temperatures, but prepare for potential cold bursts that could keep people inside and send health conditions into a flurry.
• Wetter than average conditions: From the Northwest to The Northern Plains, expected above-average precipitation could cause people to seek comfort indoors.
• Early spring: Southern regions might get an early taste of spring, which could signal an early start to allergy season.

2024-25 winter outlook

The intersection of winter weather and wellness

You may not realize it, but winter weather can actually improve health and wellbeing. From joint pain relief, sharpened focus, improved sleep, or even weight-loss,¹ cold weather has its benefits. It also has its drawbacks, heightening health conditions like cold and flu, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and asthma. With 76% of consumers using weather to manage their health — a 33% increase since 2020 — understanding how weather patterns impact daily habits is vital for crafting effective wellness in winter campaigns. So, bundle up and explore how the winter chill can be to your advantage this season.

View and download infographic

Embrace the elements this season: Leverage the power of weather and digital advertising to ignite brand relevance and growth. Three ways health and wellness brands can put a weather strategy into action:

• Engage with qualified audiences across The Weather Channel app and weather.com premium consumer health experiences and content as they look to inform daily plans and health decisions from weather information.
• Activate health ads with Weather Targeting that leverages an intelligent mix of weather and anonymized health data to anticipate consumer behavior and drive action featuring over 100 health signals. With over 50% of Gen Z saying the most challenging thing about winter is lack of motivation, sleep, or energy (vs. 31% across demos),² we’re launching three new signals to meet consumer needs during winter season: stress, anxiety, and sleep.
• Transform data into business intelligence with Weather Engine.^TM Powered by AI and machine learning, Weather Engine is a decision-making platform and API integration that builds insights for businesses to optimize operations across the enterprise.

Make this winter your strongest season yet: Trust The Weather Company’s advertising solutions for insights and tools to elevate your brand and create better decisions for consumers.

Look no further than The Weather Channel’s winter 2024 outlook to discover how the season is shaping up across the country. And as those chilly temperatures arrive, so does something else: spring break weather wanderlust. For marketers, this presents a golden opportunity to showcase exactly what travelers need to turn their daydreams into reality, from short-term packing decisions to long-term destination planning.

Strike while the iron is hot, but the temperatures are not

Nearly half of consumers admit that winter weather fuels their desire to escape to warmer destinations.¹ To help travel-related brands deliver real-time, personalized relevance, they can tap into weather’s proven influence on mindsets and behaviors. Bringing weather data together with impactful first and third-party datasets can enable better decisions for consumers, and a competitive edge for brands and businesses. So, when decision-making kicks in for the ultimate spring break travel adventure, we’ll help you reach consumers at the optimal time and place.

Weather impacts travelers emotionally and physically, making it a key factor for brands to consider. Because weather intelligence allows brands to reach people during specific conditions and when they are in the right mindset, marketers can use this valuable tool to influence consumer behaviors.

From choosing a beach or ski resort to deciding what to pack, the forecast plays a role throughout the entire travel journey. And let’s not forget the impact of weather on air travel — because nothing says “vacation vibes” like a surprise snowstorm canceling your flight. In fact, a recent Expedia Group report named “weather” as the top influencer of trip destinations for travelers considering multiple destinations. It’s no wonder 67% of people use The Weather Channel, the world’s most accurate forecaster, to research or plan their trips.²

Take it from Mother Nature: Real-time weather drives winning campaigns

Weather doesn’t only come into play when planning the perfect vacation during spring break, it shapes the trip itself. Nearly two-thirds of people say weather and travel conditions impact their enjoyment of a trip while more than half of travelers are open to trying new product brands during their travels.² This means all brands can benefit from using weather data to reach those travel-savvy consumers at the right moments.

Capturing that moment when consumers are in the right mindset, at the right time, is precisely the use case for Weather Targeting’s predictive and performant capabilities driving relevancy, action, and effective messaging. For instance, when a hotel brand wanted to increase awareness and consideration of its beachfront resorts, they leveraged Weather Targeting to efficiently reach consumers when cold, wintry, and rainy weather was present in their local area. Compared to third-party cookie targeting, using Weather Targeting to engage travelers and loyalty members helped their campaign break through the clouds:

Remember, the daily forecast isn’t just a local phenomenon; it’s universal. As the ultimate contextual signal, it influences every aspect and decision of people’s lives – consciously or not. It affects how we feel, what we do, where we go, and what we buy. In this late-winter limbo, kickstart spring travel campaigns by integrating weather targeting solutions and data into marketing plans to drive relevance, awareness, and ultimately, conversion.