The Marketing Brain Behind the Weather Company

A sit down with The Weather Company CMO, Randi Stipes

Author

Carlo Palomino
February 07, 2025

Welcome back to The Friday Fortune! February is here, which means we’re officially past the January honeymoon phase of the new year—resolutions are either thriving or ghosting us, and the Super Bowl is about to hijack every marketing conversation for the next two weeks.

Take a break from debating which brand will win the ad battle and enjoy this moment of productive procrastination. Each week, we bring you fresh insights from top CMOs, marketing disruptors, and bold strategists to keep you inspired—even as your inbox fills with Valentine’s Day promo emails.

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

  • A sit-down with The Weather Company CMO, Randi Stipes

  • How Hulu’s fortune cookie ads broke through the noise

  • What viewers actually want to see in Super Bowl ads

📈 Marketer of the Week

If there’s anyone proving that data and storytelling go hand in hand, it’s Randi Stipes, the Chief Marketing Officer of The Weather Company. With a career that spans journalism, digital media, and marketing leadership, Randi’s journey is all about embracing the unexpected and innovating at every turn.

Growing up, Randi never imagined she’d be a marketer. Her early ambition was to become a broadcast journalist, inspired by icons like Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer. That path led her to an ABC affiliate in Sacramento, where a simple directive changed everything.

When tasked with creating a website for the station, she took matters into her own hands, learning HTML from a book and launching its first-ever website. That experience catapulted her into the digital world and set the stage for her future in marketing.

From there, she moved into content strategy roles at major media companies before joining The Weather Channel. A pivotal moment in her career came when she accidentally sideswiped the Chief Revenue Officer’s car. Instead of frustration, their conversation led to an opportunity—he saw her potential and encouraged her to step out from behind the desk and into a more client-facing role. That moment ultimately put her on the path to becoming CMO.

Now, Randi leads The Weather Company’s efforts to blend meteorology, technology, and marketing. Whether optimizing media strategies based on weather patterns or providing businesses with meteorological insights, her team plays a critical role in how weather impacts both consumers and industries.

Her leadership philosophy? “It’s my responsibility to set the vision, give people the tools to do their best work, and then get out of their way.” This balance of guidance and autonomy has helped her team navigate a space where consumer trust is paramount.

One of her biggest challenges as CMO is ensuring The Weather Channel app remains relevant in a crowded space. With over 10,000 weather apps available, awareness isn’t the problem—it’s about maintaining preference and emotional connection. Their new brand platform, ‘Be a Force of Nature,’ focuses on helping people make the most of good weather and navigate the bad, going beyond just delivering accurate forecasts.

On the enterprise side, The Weather Company plays a massive role in various industries, from aviation to retail. With weather influencing over $13.5 billion in e-commerce last year alone, the company helps brands use this data to make informed decisions, from supply chain optimizations to targeted marketing.

Randi’s Takeaway

For Randi, success in marketing isn’t just about understanding data or crafting the perfect campaign, but about building relationships.

“Find your allies. They don’t have to look like you, think like you, or be in your function. The relationships I have been fortunate to develop are cross functional—they’re with people I can learn from and in return provide value to them as well.”

To hear more about how Randi is shaping the future of marketing at The Weather Company, listen to the full episode of CMO Weekly.

Crack open a handful of the week’s best marketing links—because good fortune favors the curious.

That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday fortune.

If you enjoyed the read, pass it along to your favorite marketer who could use a little extra inspo in their inbox.

Until next time, may your marketing be memorable and your cookies always be fortunate!

— The OpenFortune team