MUMBAI: The Weather Channel has teamed up with Sony Pictures Animation to promote Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which is scheduled to release in 2D and 3D on 18 September.
The partnership will include custom offerings created by The Weather Channel (TWC) for cross-platform distribution, including lead-ins of "Local on the 8s" by the film’s talent and specialized food-centric forecast segments for TWC air and unique online advertising creative for the weather.com site.
The Weather Channel did enter new territory covering phenomena such as ice cream snow, a spaghetti tornado and an avalanche of leftovers. The partnership offered a chance for The Weather Channel to have fun with weather while displaying the range of opportunities TWC can create for advertisers.
Some of the customizations that are being carried out for the movie are:
1) Four 30-second, on-air segments feature on-camera meteorologist Adam Berg presenting Chewandswallow forecasts, the town featured in Cloudy, and will air on TWC beginning 14 September through 18 September, movie premiere.
2) A custom 15-second spot with Berg forecasting different food systems will air on NBC Prime.
3) Out-of-banner advertisements on the weather.com site will be weather triggered during rainy forecasts to show meatballs falling on the local forecast pages four days leading up to the premiere.
4) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will have exclusive ownership of the weather.com homepage on 17 September with a 970×418 window shade unit and a 300×600 ad unit that features an embedded movie trailer.
5) Cast members from the movie will introduce segments of "Local on the 8s."
"This unique promotion for a cool film centered around weather is a natural extension for The Weather Channel, and it allows us to have fun, integrate talent and be creative while working with Sony Pictures Animation," said The Weather Channel vice president and western region manager in Los Angeles Eric Gronemeyer.
