• by Dacia Ray , June 22, 2005

When I subscribed to Everyday Food, I was surprised to find myself paying attention to the ads.

Take, for instance, a four-page spread in a recent issue, "Glad presents make-ahead meals." The advertorial's design, from the sans-serif font to the arrangement of the food on the page, mimics the look of the magazine itself. The ad features a tear-out recipe card for Savory Ribs.

This got me thinking. What if all ads were this relevant?

What if when you sat down to watch an episode of "Trading Spaces," instead of seeing the same Home Depot 30-second spot time after time, you saw a commercial pod that showed how to update a bathroom, mimicking the style of The Learning Channel show?

In the age of consumer control, why not give the consumer the content he or she wants, and demonstrate what your brand has to offer?

You'd be taking a page from the collection of regional cookbooks I recently inherited from my grandmother, which featured branded recipes most likely copied from newspaper ads.

That tear-out ribs recipe may influence generations to come, who may one day inherit the recipe box of their grandmothers, who only today bought a copy of Everyday Food.