Jan Böhmermann reveals strategy behind International Weather Summit

“ZDF Magazin Royale”
Surreptitious advertising and nobody notices? Böhmermann uncovers weather PR strategy

The International Weather Summit takes place once a year in Tyrol. What is it about? Weather reporting – and advertising. Jan Böhmermann took a closer look at the summit.

The last few minutes of every newscast traditionally belong to the meteorologists. After the news has documented and reported the past, they are the only ones who talk about the future, philosophize Jan Böhmermann in his “ZDF Magazin Royale”.

“ZDF Magazin Royale”: Jan Böhmermann takes on the weather summit

In his new show, the satirist takes on the weathermen of German television. They are the jokers of reporting, says Böhmermann. “But serious and independent. Or are they?” he asks the camera and it is immediately clear what “Böhmi” is getting at.

But it takes a while before the satirist really comes out with the language and takes a closer look at the German weather experts. “The International Weather Summit has been held in Tyrol for 17 years,” he says, and then shows various clips showing TV weather experts on site in the mountains reporting. Once a year, experts from Germany and other countries meet in the Tyrolean mountains. “But why does the International Weather Summit always take place in Tyrol?” Böhmermann asks the camera. He immediately provides the answer.

Regular meeting in Tyrol

The meeting is organized by a Tyrolean PR agency together with the tourism marketing organization “Tirol Werbung” and the respective region. But that’s not all: the guests in attendance are offered a lot on site. Accommodation, food and drink, but also the opportunity to broadcast from beautiful, snowy locations. They don’t need to bring anything with them except a microphone with the station logo.

It is almost a “television advertising campaign that no one has known about for 17 years,” speculates Böhmermann. Because the experts – as Böhmermann proves with several clips – present happily in front of a snowy backdrop and Ischgl logos, rave about the great region and praise the powdery snow. “It’s hidden advertising,” he judges. And the companies behind the weather summit don’t even try to hide it.

“The International Weather Summit is an important building block in our communication due to its reach and credibility. When more than 30 weather presenters meet in Tyrol every year and some even report live from our beautiful country, then that is a priceless image asset for the tourist region of Tyrol,” Böhmermann quotes the PR agency as saying.

For the “ZDF Magazin Royale” and Jan Böhmermann it is clear: the weather summit is not compatible with the rules of the Interstate Media Treaty, which applies to both public and private broadcasters. After all, it states that advertising of any kind must be labelled.

This year, the weather summit will once again take place in Tyrol. “How about a change of location?” asks Böhmermann at the end of his show. “Why not a weather summit from the burning Brocken? Or from parched Sicily? Or from flooded Bavaria?” There, the weather forecasters could at least address the most pressing issue for them: climate change.

source: “ZDF Magazin Royale”