forecasting trends

You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the marketing winds blow.

Or do you?

Tony Frierson, director of business development for tech startup Atmospheric Prediction Systems, claims the Tallahassee, Fla.-based company’s new meteorological tool—Climate Assisted Marketing and Operations—can produce highly accurate regional weather forecasts three months in advance. These forecasts include temperatures and the likelihood of rain, he said.

The technology, according to Frierson, has tremendous possibilities for both advertising agencies and clients’ marketing departments.

Coca-Cola, for example, can have “advance notice that a particular region will be hotter than normal, affording them the opportunity to increase their media buys accordingly,” he said.

Similarly, Home Depot can know when it’s going to snow well in advance, giving the company “a chance to stock more shovels … and advertise those items more aggressively.”

Atlanta ad guru Joel Babbit is among those who have endorsed the system.