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Marketers get excited about data, artificial intelligence and the internet of things because of their combined power to potentially impact consumers’ everyday lives. Across the commerce landscape, the potential applications may be limitless: Farmers are now using satellite data to help increase crop yields and improve the quality of the food we eat. Shippers are deploying blockchain technology to modernize the supply chain and get products into stores more safely and quickly. Banks are relying on encrypted mainframe computers to help protect consumers’ personal data and prevent cybercrime.

One of the areas in which marketers have only just begun to tap the exponentially increasing unstructured data of the internet is the weather. Corporate America’s growing interest in weather data makes sense, given the near universal influence of environmental factors like weather on consumer purchase behavior. Fluctuations in weather can determine the frequency and timing of everything from doctor visits to shopping trips to attendance at entertainment and sporting events.

New and emerging technology platforms allow marketers to leverage weather data and connect with consumers in more targeted and relevant ways. For example, IBM Watson Advertising has informed its WEATHERfx platform with the Truven MarketScan database, which includes more than 250 million unique patients from across the health care spectrum, through a strategic partnership with Watson Health called WEATHERfx Health with Watson. A wide array of the platform’s triggers can help predict when certain weather patterns may exacerbate particular health conditions. By analyzing the two sets of data, WEATHERfx Health with Watson empowers brands to connect with consumers during these critical moments in order to drive both awareness and action.

Continue reading at AdAge.com