The Met Office partners with Giphy to bring a bit more character to our weather reports

Rain or shine, every Brit’s favourite topic of conversation has now come alive with the Met Office’s unofficial new brand mascot: a charming cloud character called Christopher Cumulonimbus. Brought to life by Manchester-based animation studio Flow Creative, the character kindly visualises all the colours of the weather and some of the moods they might leave you in. Animated in a range of expressions – impatiently waiting for the rain to pass or riding over a rainbow in glee – this new friendly face is the weather service’s bid “to engage a younger audience and add a fun shareable twist to the topic of conversation”.

The studio teamed up with the government agency and the gif platform to realise the series of weather-themed animations, following the success of the launch of the Met Office’s Giphy channel last year. After testing a number of quirky character designs – ducks and seals, to name a few others in the lineup – Christopher the cloud won over the many as the newest addition to the Met Office’s existing collection.

“Our goal was to create something that was not only visually appealing but also emotionally resonant and fun to share,” says Karl Doran, creative director at Flow Creative. For the agency, the character had to be one personable enough to not only illustrate the weather conditions but also be able to express a wide range of emotions and humorous responses to the (mostly awful) weather here in the UK. It’s safe to say we might not get to see little Christopher greeting the sun in shades very often.

The sticker pack is now available on the Met Office’s Giphy channel, with all nine weather scenarios ready to add some play to everyday references to the subject. It aims to add a little more entertainment to our very regular weather checks, forming part of the Met Office’s initiative to “explore ways of reaching new audiences” with informative but playful content. As Christopher’s fame grows, Flow Creative are hoping to develop the character in a host of fun ways including “educational content for those younger audiences”.

Becky Dole, senior director of partnerships at Giphy says: “Users come to GIPHY to express themselves and often our users are reacting to weather patterns and events. For this campaign, we worked with the Met Office to reflect user search data in a fun, playful and eye-catching way. I can't wait to see users reacting to the weather with Christopher Cumulonimbus."