The Weather Channel Resolves to Make It Easy for Everyone to Become 'Weather-Ready'

The Weather Channel Resolves to Make It Easy for Everyone to Become 'Weather-Ready'

ATLANTA, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Weather Channel announced today a cross platform weather safety and preparedness initiative, "WeatherREADY," a vigorous new effort to persuade people to take action to be safe and prepared. Building on its existing safety initiatives for preparedness during severe weather and against the damaging rays of the sun, The Weather Channel will expand on helping people prepare for and stay safe during threats they may face, not only during emergencies but also in everyday lifestyle situations. For the first time, all the means by which TWC communicates with the public -- from on-air and online to radio, new media and mobile -- will be used to help spread these messages.

Joining the all-weather information provider to spark attention and motivate people to take action are blue chip advertisers such as The Clorox Company, Hyundai, and State Farm Insurance. On-air content will include new and highly relevant seasonal safety and lifestyle vignettes. For example, Clorox will be the exclusive sponsor of the WeatherREADY Health section, and Hyundai will take on the role of exclusive Driving Safety Partner. State Farm Insurance will exclusively become the Severe Weather Safety Partner.

"State Farm is all about helping people prepare for the unexpected," said Mark Gibson, Assistant Vice President - Advertising, State Farm Insurance. "This opportunity with The Weather Channel enhances our ability to reach people who are directly affected by severe weather."

Behind the resolve taken by The Weather Channel to further the WeatherREADY cause was a survey showing that while most people agreed that it is important to be prepared for catastrophic events, only 22 percent felt that they were "very prepared." Beyond establishing a good intent, people were still lagging behind in doing the actual work. What they needed was a way to make things more easily capable of being accomplished.

"The Weather Channel understands first-hand how critical it is for people to be ready for severe weather when it occurs. And, we are intensifying our efforts to help them do so," said Debora Wilson, president, The Weather Channel. "WeatherREADY is an important part of the responsibility we are taking to help people have better control over this part of their lives."

Ms. Wilson invited all of the company to be involved in testing one of the key components of the new WeatherREADY campaign. Over 70 percent of the associates took part in preparing their own Family Preparedness Plan. Available at weather.com/READY, the short questionnaire helps consumers concentrate on assembling the important information and consumables necessary to be truly prepared.

Viewer and user-friendly public service announcements will be bannered as "WeatherREADY" and designed to drive consumers online in order to complete their own Family Preparedness Plans. Similar messaging is also designed for delivery on TWC's radio network, mobile and desktop applications. Public service announcements on Weatherscan, the media company's all-local weather network, will offer preparedness and safety tips. The robust Education initiative of The Weather Channel, which includes safety curricula and simulations, will be augmented with WeatherREADY content and activities.

Future plans call for interactive "WeatherREADY Fairs" at selected venues across the country, where a Weather Wall will be displayed with participants videotaped on-camera, preparing their own forecasts and dispensing personal safety advice. A "WeatherREADY Challenge" will be extended to engage officials at major cities in a competition to ascertain their weather readiness status.

TWC Boilerplate:

The Weather Channel(R), a 24-hour weather network, is seen in almost 90 million U.S. households. Its Web site, weather.com, reaches more than 30 million unique users per month and is consistently ranked #10 among all Web sites by Nielsen//NetRatings. The Weather Channel also operates Weatherscan(R), The Weather Channel Radio Network, The Weather Channel Newspaper Services, an education Web site at weatherclasssroom.com, and is the leading weather information provider for emerging technologies. This includes PC applications, broadband and interactive television applications, with wireless weather products accessible through high-speed Internet services, mobile phones, pagers, and other personal digital assistants. The Weather Channel is owned by Landmark Communications, Inc., a Norfolk, VA-based, privately held media company.

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Source: The Weather Channel

CONTACT: Kathy Lane of The Weather Channel, +1-770-226-2102, or
klane@weather.com

Web site: http://www.weather.com/
http://weatherclasssroom.com/

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