Peel n' Taste

First Flavor Inc. of Bala Cynwyd and US Ink, a Carlstadt, NJ–based company that provides ink for the newspaper industry, recently launched “Taste-it Notes” – newspaper front-page sticky notes that double as flavor strips. Now you can smell and taste a food or beverage product in your morning newspaper!

So far, flavor strips have been used in national campaigns for Welch Foods, Arm & Hammer, SKYY Vodka and Campbell’s Soup. In addition to newspapers, the ads have appeared in People and Rolling Stone magazines.

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Taste-it Notes are being billed as “a new way for struggling newspapers to build up ad revenue. … This delivery leverages the power of print advertising and brings an interactive experience that is not possible with online, television or radio ads.”

Now I’m not sure if Taste-it Notes will revitalize the newspaper industry, but this is an interesting new take on product sampling.

The reality of print advertising.

Well, maybe not greatly exaggerated, but there’s a sliver of hope for the faltering industry – at least for the time being.

A new survey of American readers by The Rosen Group, about the state of current and future media, found that nearly 80% of respondents still subscribe to magazines; 83% find that daily newspapers are still relevant. Of those surveyed, though, 40% were uncertain whether newspapers and magazines would exist in 10 years.

The results suggest that although there’s a strong shift to online news consumption and a strong preference for online sources for breaking news, Americans still believe print publications are important to their lives.

The research brief was published by the Center for Media Research – online.

Targeted cable advertising

Ads specifically geared to your household! Yes, cable companies are finally going to be able to do what the direct mail business has been doing since the beginning of time. The New York Times reported that Cablevision Systems is planning to announce the largest project yet using targeted advertising on television. Read the rest of this entry »

Image courtesy TVGuide.

According to Nielsen, nearly 37.8 million U.S. viewers tuned in between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to watch inauguration events on a total of 17 broadcast and cable networks.

This is the most viewers on an inauguration day since Ronald Reagan's in 1981 (41.8 million viewers).

Read the rest of this entry »