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From Metservice to meat service: Hellers and Simpatico cook up another online feast

Metservice launched its new redesigned website in December, aiming to make Kiwis’ weather needs more easily accessible. The redesign included new opportunities for targeted advertising that allowed brands to advertise next to specific weather types. And interactive manager at Metservice, Craig Delaney described it as being “like Google AdWords, but instead of bidding on words you buy space next to a weather type.” And, following on from a similar contextual campaign last year, Hellers has again teamed up with Christchurch ad agency Simpatico to launch another meaty weather-based campaign on the site.  

On fine days, the standard image is replaced by a Hellers branded shot alongside the daily temperatures and other stats, accompanied by the somewhat personalised message ‘Looks like a great day for a BBQ in…(insert region here)’. Pilkington suggests the close visual link between a fine day and the meat brand will “subtly convey that the Hellers brand is a part of the summer landscape and summer barbequeing, in an environment that is highly relevant.” Hellers will be grateful for the bounty of fine days this northern summer, compared to last year when constant rain in northern regions resulted in a serious decline in sausage sales.

This kind of targeted advertising on weather sites is common around the world and Metservice, which gets over 150,000 unique users a day according to Nielsen Market Intelligence, have provided it in the past, with companies like Video Ezy advertising on rainy days, and paint company Resene encouraging people to get outside and paint their houses on fine days.

According to Simpatico media director Nathan Pilkington: “With Media savvy consumers becoming increasingly efficient at filtering out online advertising, Simpatico believes it’s important to look at harnessing new territory in order to deliver higher levels of consumer cut through.” So Hellers has decided to associate its brand with the idyllic Kiwi summer, a sunny day at the park with friends and, of course, a whole lot of charred creature. 

 “New Zealanders are very fanatical and emotional about the weather, which is understandable because of how much it impacts us,” says Delaney, who hopes the site will become a daily visit for users. 

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