The Halloween shipping deadline is rapidly approaching.  Have you figured out what you will be this year?

The idea behind a great costume is that it should be recognizable, but not so obvious that you are constantly bumping into other people who quite possibly ‘wore it better.’  US Weekly helps narrow down a few costume ideas in their latest edition.  The problem is, how do I know which is the best bet?

I decided to turn to Google Insights for help.  The first suggestion from US Weekly was Kim Kardashian.  It was obvious from Google Insights that this is not a popular costume idea, so while it might be unique, there’s a good chance nobody will know what I am; unacceptable.  Lady Gaga is wildly popular for Halloween this year.  However, I’m sure someone will achieve the meat dress look better than I can and the logistics are less than ideal.  Snooki is on the radar, but not overblown like Lady Gaga.  This could work.  Now if I could just remember where I put my Bumpit…

Whenever you think of boeuf bourguignon, think of cross-promotion.

Remember how hungry you were after seeing Julie & Julia?  It’s inadvisable to see this movie on an empty stomach.  People left the theater murmuring how delicious the food looked – and searching for better food options than the stale chips with squeeze cheese being offered up in the theater lobby.

Well, it seems what they really did was go home (or whip out their mobiles) and search for some of the featured recipes in the movie.  Boeuf bourguignon became an inadvertent celebrity, according to Google Insights for Search: searches for the dish spiked after the theater and DVD release dates.

Foodies, take note: similar patterns cropped up following Ratatouille’s 2007 release….

…and after Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle’s release in 2004/2005,  White Castle restaurants saw unprecedented surges in popularity.  This phenomenon continued when Harold and Kumar escaped from Guantanamo Bay in the 2008 sequel: White Castle’s popularity saw a second spike.

What’s the takeaway from this talk of fast food?  Cross-promote.  Search is ripe for cross-promotions – it’s not just display or offline that should get all the action.

Look for opportunities from unlikely messaging in a film from beyond the core plot.  Go the extra yard to integrate opportunities too: Sony is promoting Julia Child’s recipes through their proprietary Movie IQ offering, which requires a DVD purchase.  Why not negotiate rights to Julia’s boeuf bourguignon recipe, publish it on the movie site and promote it through search and other media?  Drive more affinity for the film and the subject matter… and drive tickets, DVDs, and digital movie sales.  You might be leaving revenue on the table if you don’t pay attention to the boeuf bourguignon.

And, for those ready to turn on the oven, here’s Julia Child’s famous boeuf bourguignon!

Disclosure: Disney is a Razorfish Search client.

Season 7 of Top Chef concluded on Wednesday, with underdog Kevin Sbraga taking home the big prize.

Although Kevin was a personal favorite of mine and many of my friends, search interest in him remained low throughout the competition.  As you might recall, I took a look at search interest in Top Chef contestants a few weeks back, and predicted that Kelly would be the winner.

At the time, Kevin had the least interest and based on the chart below, searchers remained uninterested. On the other hand, search volume for Angelo and Ed, the other two contestants in the finale, increased quite a bit over the past couple weeks.

Unfortunately, Google Insights for Search doesn’t give us a glimpse into the very latest Top Chef trends for the last few days. I turned to Google Trends, but Kevin is missing there too, upstaged by Prince Poppycock of America’s Got Talent fame.

The self-professed “Barack Obama of the cooking game” may not have piqued America’s search curiosity, but the judges were impressed enough by his mastery of the kitchen to make him Top Chef.

Top Chef is nearing the end of yet another absolutely addictive season and the competition is getting hotter than the Kenmore ranges used by the chefs.

While catching up on some recent episodes on my DVR, the search geek in me started thinking about a correlation between a chef’s performance on the show and the interest they are generating on the search engines.

Unlike shows like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, Top Chef winners are decided by the panel of judges instead of audience votes.  But are the judges thinking along the same lines as the rest of America?  Is the most searched chef really the Top Chef? I took a look at Google Insights for Search to understand the trends.

Angelo, who had been quite popular early on in the competition has seen his interest simmer down (pun intended) since the first few weeks of competition.  Maybe viewers lost interest due to his abrasive personality.

Kelly has seen her chicken stock rise over the course of August.  Maybe it’s her skills or maybe it’s because she’s just so darn cute.

If Google Insights can predict a winner, Kelly might be our next Top Chef.  Let’s see if Padma and company agree in the upcoming weeks.

As they say in TV-land, stay tuned.