Burger King has created their own body spray, called Flame. It is available here just in time for Christmas. Finally we can smell like a delicious grilled beef patty, without actually grilling in the cold.
This is a great idea for many reasons. The most obvious reason is that men deserve Read the rest of this entry »
There are several Wordpress plugins available that are designed to encourage visiters to leave comments. I recently added two of these plugins to my blog.
The first plugin that I added is called subscribe to comments. This plug-in allows commenters on my blog to check a box before commenting on an individual post. By checking the box, the commenters will get Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks to a helpful article by Steve Dembo at Teach42.com, I added a new contact form to my blog. This new feature is located inside the About page of this Cakeblast site. In order to secure my e-mail address’s privacy as well as the privacy of my readers, I chose a fantastic little plugin that I found at Green-Beast.com. The plugin is located in Beast-Blog Main / Free Downloads. If you use the plug-in, drop The Beast a message and be sure to tell him I sent ya 
The article that inspired me to search for a WP contact plugin, is part of a blog improvement project headed by the aforementioned Steve Dembo. This project began November 1st, and is called 30 Days To Being A Better Blogger. This program is a Read the rest of this entry »
With TIVO and other DVRs gaining popularity, product placement is set to be the future of advertising. The is due to DVRs allowing viewers to fast forward or even skip over commercials. In June 2007, it was reported that *17 percent of Americans have DVRs. By June of 2008, that number had increased to **25 percent.
According to the June American Public Media (AMP) study, about half of the Americans with DVRs, use them to avoid commercials. Some people simply wait until a program has been on for 10-15 minutes, and then watch it commercial-free.
The June 2007 article from AMP, citing the 17% figure, actually explains how advertising dollars won’t drop in the near future due to so few people having DVRs. They failed to realize how quickly the number would increase. I think the number will continue to increase, as prices for the devices keep dropping, and they are sometimes given away for free to encourage subscriptions. As this happens, commercial revenue will drop, and product placement will increase.
Product placement dollars jumped ***70% between 2004-2006, and has continued to grow exponentially. I envision a future where product placement is the main form of revenue for television shows. Maybe commercials will be phased out altogether. Could it be possible for television and advertising to integrate completely?
If commercials were phased out, three twenty-minute shows could be aired every hour, instead of the current two half-hour shows containing twenty minutes of commercials. This would offer more opportunities for product placement, and make it impossible/unnecessary to skip through advertisements, since the ads would be part of the program content. Another bonus for advertisers, is that recordings of programs that are broadcast online (even illegally) would still contain the product placements.
The way television and the internet are integrating, it is possible for products to promote shows on their packaging, the shows to promote the products, and both can promote websites where bonus footage and extras are available for download/viewing. This is happening in a limited way, but once network bigwigs see the money potential, it will be the norm rather than the exception. The television landscape is changing; just watch.
* source: American Public Media
** source: SFNblog
***source: USAToday
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