Weathermen = great marketers.
Let me start by saying, yes, I know weather prognosticators get a lot of flak. The accuracy of their work is always in question. They’re the butt of countless jokes. All in all, it’s not the most glamorous profession (though they do get to play around with a green screen every day, which is pretty cool). So I’m not here to scorn weathermen. Rather, I’d like to praise their marketing acumen.
Be honest, you freaked out about this week’s winter storm, didn’t you? You made the emergency trip to the grocery store for BMTP (bread, milk, toilet paper). If you’re a teacher, you crossed your fingers for a snow day. If you’re not, you were filled with jealous rage at the teachers bragging about their snow day on Facebook. You hunkered down, and prepared yourself for the “Snowpocalypse” or “Snowmageddon” or the “Snowicane” or whatever clever name they dubbed it this time.
Of course, you also soaked in any weather-related media you could get your hands on – The Weather Channel, weather.com, the local news, newspaper, or, if you work at Crowley Webb, hourly email updates from Mary Kroll. All the while, those silly weathermen – the same ones we all mock for being dummy dumb dumbs – are reaping the benefits with increased ratings and impressions. Then the next day arrives – and SURPRISE! – it’s not nearly as bad as they promised. Just like the past 27 storms.
There’s a saying that a good salesman can sell “a snow cone to an Eskimo.” Even more impressive, today’s meteorologists have made it newsworthy that it snows in Buffalo. Well done, weatherpeople.
Tagged with Buffalo, snow, weather