The Weather Channel celebrates its first birthday this week with an
animated television campaign featuring line-dancing sheep and cows
having a picnic.
Created by Grey, the first spot, ’cows’, opens on a man going for a
walk.
Suddenly an old country saying, ’Cows lying on the ground, rain soon to
be found’, appears. Worried, the rambler struggles to get his raincoat
on and umbrella up before the rain starts, but the scene switches to
reveal that the cows were lying down to eat a picnic.
In a similar vein, a second commercial disproves the ’red sky at night,
shepherd’s delight’ saying to show sheep line-dancing and holding a
barbecue around an unwitting shepherd’s hut. Both spots end with the
strapline: ’Weather you can rely on.’
Written by Kevin Morris, art directed by Kevin Ferry, and illustrated by
Andrew Higgins of Picasso Pictures, the work is the Weather Channel’s
first UK TV push.
The ads break this Thursday on satellite and cable channels, and are
scheduled to roll out on to terrestrial TV next year. Media is being
handled by MediaCom.
