As soon as a prediction of a cold Arctic air mass and snow hits the news, the buying begins. Consumers stock up on non-perishable foods in preparation for restricted travel and potential power outages. Manufacturers and retailers rush to stock the shelves of every supermarket in anticipation of the spike in demand.

In terms of overall winter precipitation - snow, ice and cold rain, the 2007/2008 winter season has clearly been active, breaking records for snow across the United States from deep snow packs on the western Rocky Mountains, to frequent snow and ice in the Midwest, to record breaking snow in eastern cities. Temperatures varied greatly day to day and week to week as well.

Consumer goods companies that are prepared for these frequent changes in weather ultimately end up winning with the consumer.

Stocking Up
Campbell Soup Company, a well-known global manufacturer of high quality soup, beverage, confectionery and prepared food products, is 139 years old, boasts more than $7 billion in annual sales and features a portfolio of market-leading brands. These include Swanson broths, Pepperidge Farm cookies, breads and frozen products, Pace Mexican sauces and Prego pasta sauces.

Most of Campbell's product lines are non-perishable. As such, the consumer demand for these products is greatly impacted by severe winter storms. The colder and damper the weather gets, the higher the consumption. The challenge is to ensure household cupboards can be sufficiently stocked meeting the consumption demand before a storm reaches its peak.

Of course, the ability to get advanced notice of a major storm would be, a significant advantage. It would allow Campbell to use various advertising means to remind consumers to purchase soup before their desire to consume soup peaks. Campbell always has enough safety stock in its system to handle huge spikes in demand caused by winter storms. Based on historical data, it understands the SKUs that will be heavily consumed because of these storms. As soon as they know the storm's timing and location, they can pull the "advertising trigger."