Nokia faces key test under new CEO, launches mobile streaming music in US and expanded app library as part of today's reveal of Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices. HTC's Windows Phone series will also be branded under 8 series following Samsung's mobile rebranding move.

Audi to build plant in Mexico as automaker markets S series with NFL tie-in.

Method sold to European green-cleaning rival Ecover.

3M drops planned acquisition of Avery Dennison under U.S. antitrust threat.

Amazon adds movies to streaming service in new challenge to Netflix.

American Airlines can reject pacts with pilots, judge says.

Apple is embarrassed by data leak ahead of iPhone 5 reveal on Sept. 12.

AT&T and Texas to test text-to-911 safety initiative.

Best Buy's new CEO hits the store floor in first week.

BP dinged as U.S. reiterates gross negligence charge in oil spill.Continue reading...

For decades, Procter & Gamble has been pitching laundry detergents, promoting a dizzying array of different brands that all basically do the same thing — get clothes clean. Typically, detergent advertising concentrates on the features of the product and the benefits the consumer derives from using it.

So how does a niche detergent brand break through, especially when it doesn't have the luxury of the ginormous promotional budgets of a Procter & Gamble? For Method, the answer is simple: Be quirky.

Method, a pioneer in earth-friendly detergents and cleaning products, has fought against the Tides of the world since its founding 12 years ago. But it is only in recent years that the brand has faced its toughest competition.Continue reading...

Sick of all of that ocean garbage washing up on shore, especially on the west coast in the Pacific? Method cleaning products may have the solution — to not only get rid of ocean waste and promote marine conservation, but to salvage and re-use ocean-salvaged plastic and even create jobs with it.

Method co-founder and "chief greenskeeper" Adam Lowry stated that "Our ultimate goal is to raise awareness that the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet." That's why the brand has put R&D focus into an innovative way to use plastic washed up on the shores from the North Pacific Gyre, often referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The bottle is 100 percent post-consumer polyethylene, 25 percent of which is plastic from the Gyre. Partnering with Envision Plastics, one of the largest recyclers in the U.S., Method was able to make bottles out of a novel and potentially profound new plastic material – Ocean PCR, or post-consumer recycled plastic packaging.Continue reading...

There's a battle being waged in laundry rooms throughout the world and it's all about environmentally friendly laundry products. This product category has seen significant growth recently, and the fight among brands isn't always friendly. 

Witness the dispute last year over the use of a yellow daisy — that's right, a daisy — in product packaging. Clorox, maker of Green Works, took legal action against Method, the manufacturer of non-toxic laundry and personal care products, because Green Works wanted the exclusive right to use the yellow daisy in its product packaging. Method, it seems, was displaying a yellow daisy in some of its promotional material, claiming that a yellow daisy couldn't be owned by anyone, since it was a product of nature.

That's old dirty laundry. This month, Method sprouted a new campaign called "Laundry Love" that has nothing to do with flowers.Continue reading...

AT&T introduces first prepaid smartphone with LG.

BP readies to argue about financial assessment of Gulf spill damage, and scrambles to save deal with Rosneft.

Cisco cheered on Wall Street for killing the Flip video camera.

JPMorgan quarterly profit surges.

Kroger fuels up gas-reward program.

Levi Strauss plans to bring Denizen jeans brand to U.S. after Asian success.

Method launches new green campaign.Continue reading...

When a consumer reads the tiny type on the side of a can of furniture polish, window cleaner, or air freshener, they may be puzzled, surprised, or even angry —depending on their knowledge of chemicals and additives. But these days, with increasing concern about product contents, some manufacturers are making sure consumers are well-informed.

SC Johnson & Son, a leading maker of household products such as Glade, Pledge and Windex, is taking consumer empowerment one step further. On Thanksgiving, the company will begin to air ads in which its chairman and chief executive, Herbert Fisk Johnson III (known as Fisk) will commit to disclose the ingredients of all of its household products.Continue reading...

Anheuser-Busch InBev reaps volume gains from its big marketing bet on the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Apple, Method and Virgin Atlantic succeed in creating “brand experiences,” according to a new Forrester report.

Barnes & Noble is seen as likely to settle its litigation with investor Ronald Burkle.

Best Buy and Macy’s get behind store-based Shopkick mobile-phone app.

ESPN partners with Gas Station TV for brand integration.

Facebook objects to the net-neutrality plan hatched by Google and Verizon.

GM's turnaround continues with $1.3-billion second-quarter profit, bolstering the case for an IPO.Continue reading...

Seventh Generation Inc. co-founder Jeffrey Hollender has been quoted as saying "hell would freeze over" before his environmentally friendly household products would be sold in Wal-Mart's stores.

Good thing his words are non-toxic, as he's now eating them. Starting in August, Seventh Generation's eco-friendly laundry detergent, dish soap, all-purpose sprays and disinfectant wipes will be available in 1,500 Walmart-branded stores. And by September, additional cleaning products, diapers and baby wipes will be available on walmart.com.

Why the sudden change of mind?Continue reading...