Weather-trigged billboards remind us summer – and swimsuit-clad lifeguards – are coming
With the first official day of spring still nearly two months away, the studio behind the upcoming Baywatch reboot wants to remind viewers in some of the coldest climates in America that relief is (sort of) in sight, much like the lifeguards in the movie itself running in slow motion toward a beachgoer in distress.
Paramount is running weather-trigged billboards for Baywatch.
In order to do so, Paramount Pictures and outdoor advertising company Lamar Advertising have launched a digital out-of-home campaign that changes in real time based on local weather conditions in 16 US markets.
According to Lamar, its “digital capabilities” enable each of the 52 billboards in these markets to display a contextually relevant Baywatch ad triggered by the weather. In fact, a rep said the campaign creative is coded and programmed to pull weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website through an RSS feed. Each digital billboard reads the feed and determines which creative will run based on the current weather in that location. Once the creative files have been coded and programmed, there is no other human interaction, the rep added.
That means passersby will see…
A general cold weather ad that runs when the temperature is between 1 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit:
A subzero/icy weather ad that runs when the temperature is 0 degrees and below:
A snowy weather ad that runs when snow is in the forecast:
Or a rainy weather ad that runs when rain/sleet is in the forecast:
The campaign will run January 24 to February 5. Baywatch will be in theaters May 26.
“Since this is a summer-themed movie, running this message in the coldest [markets] during the winter makes for an extremely relevant campaign when people are longing for summer,” the rep said. “It's a similar to a cruise line running images of a tropical island during the winter to entice consumers to book a cruise to escape.”
These cold markets include: Albany, New York; Casper, Wyoming; Des Moines, Iowa; Dubuque, Iowa; Flint, Michigan; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Lincoln, Nebraska; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Moline, Illinois; Rapid City, South Dakota; Rockford, Illinois; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; St. Cloud, Minnesota; Syracuse, New York; Waterloo, Iowa and Worcester, Massachusetts.
Lamar has run similarly triggered outdoor executions for brands like Google Play and Allstate, the rep added.