New Zealanders love the outdoors. So much so, that we get up at pretty crazy hours to get on the ski slopes, on the water, or just out the front door to do the things we love.

But the outdoors don’t always love us back. We’ve got some of the world's most changeable weather – and there’s nothing worse than dragging yourself out of bed, only to see that the weather has turned overnight.

So when Metservice – New Zealand’s weather site – asked us to increase their relevance to New Zealanders (and their advertising revenue to boot), we saw an opportunity for a whole new service – and a whole new revenue platform.

‘Weather to Wake’ is a phone-based alarm clock that only sounds, when the weather's worth getting up for. Whether you’re planning on golfing, fishing, cycling, surfing, skiing or just an early morning jog – you select the time, place, and conditions you want.

The app wakes before you do, and checks the conditions against your preferences. If they’re right, you wake up. If not, you sleep in.

In a country where outdoor pursuits are mainstream, and the weather’s rarely certain, the app delivers huge value to numerous highly targeted audiences – golfers, yachties, fishermen and so forth – who deliver huge value to Metservice’s advertisers.

With most of these activities having an inherently social component – we knew it would be natural for our audience to spread the app among their fellow players and groups.

So instead of burning budget on paid promotion, we invested in outstanding functionality and user experience – and used Metservice’s own properties as our primary launch channels – with friend-get-friend sharing driving ongoing downloads.

The app will launch – in late April – through promotion throughout the Metservice site – particularly around specific content such as surf, marine and snow reports – and to Metservice’s 30,000 strong Facebook & Twitter community.

We’ll drive further coverage through outdoor & technology blogs.

And to maximize friend-get-friend, we’ve made the choice to share an alarm with playing buddies – via email, SMS or Facebook – a standard step in the alarm process.

This will highlight the app to millions of potential users, with a paid media budget of $0.

And – with May weather looking quite unpleasant – we’ll be giving tens of thousands of Kiwis a much-appreciated sleep in.

With most of these activities having an inherently social component – we knew it would be natural for our audience to spread the app among their fellow players and groups.

So instead of burning budget on promotion, we invested in outstanding functionality and user experience – and used Metservice’s properties as our primary launch channel – with friend-get-friend driving ongoing downloads.

The app launched in late April on the Metservice site, visited by 550,000 Kiwis each week, tailored around content such as surf, marine and snow reports and to the 30,000 members of their social media community.

And to maximize friend-get-friend, we’ve made the choice to share an alarm with playing buddies – via email, SMS or Facebook – a standard step in the alarm process.

This will put the app in front of hundreds of thousands of potential users, with a paid media budget of $0.

With the app launching in late April / on April 28, this innovation is too fresh to deliver measurable results.

But Metservice’s generic weather app became the most downloaded app in NZ within 3 weeks, and remains in the top 10 a year later.

With the unique nature of ‘Weather to Wake’ delivering real PR value and substantial word of mouth – not to mention it’s the inherent shareability – we’re confident it’s ongoing success is assured.

And with May weather looking typically unpleasant – we’re looking forward to giving tens of thousands of active Kiwis, a much-appreciated sleep in.