As part of its "Better World" corporate citizenship commitment, Nike is working with some of America's brightest governmental minds on an initiative to create more sustainable materials. 

Founded in 2010, LAUNCH is a strategic collaboration between NASA, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US State Department and Nike to seek out visionaries whose ideas and technologies can create a more sustainable world. 

This week, Nike convened 150 materials specialists, designers, academics, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and NGOs in green manufacturing at the two-day LAUNCH 2020 Summit, part of a multi-year incubation process. 

“Innovation is most powerful when it’s activated by collaboration between unlikely partners, coupled with investment dollars, marketing know-how and determination.” said Nike President and CEO Mark Parker. “Now is the time for big, bold solutions. Incremental change won’t get us where we need to go fast enough or at a scale that makes a difference.”

To propel the innovation, Nike is sponsoring the LAUNCH Systems Innovation Challenge, which is an open call competition for innovative ideas and processes to transform the way fabrics are made. The challenge will result in 10 product innovations which will be matched up with a team of investors and marketers to aid in the manufacturing process.Continue reading...

As brands around the world celebrate Earth Day, it is becoming more apparent that creative, effective marketing will be a vital factor in the adoption of green consumer products and practices. Years have passed since terms like "green" and "sustainability" became part of the lexicon, but little has changed when it comes to consumer behavior that effects the environment. Joel Makower, author and chairman of GreenBiz Group blames "half-hearted, humorless and uninspired," marketing efforts that push "underwhelming, overpriced, inconvenient, ineffective or unavailable," green products. 

Initiated in 1970 by Denis Hayes, 20 million Americans gathered for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform. Today, more than one billion people in nearly 200 nations recognize Earth Day and its goals. This year's Earth Day theme revolves around climate change and all those affected by it, from "a man in the Maldives worried about relocating his family as sea levels rise," to "the orangutan in Indonesian forests segmented by more frequent brushfires and droughts."Continue reading...

Social media mavens gathered in New York City Monday night for the 5th annual Shorty Awards, which honors the best short form content across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Foursquare and more. 

Considered the Oscars for Twitter, the of-the-moment awards ceremony garnered more than 1.8 million tweet nominations during this year's voting process. With acceptance speeches limited to 140 characters, the awards capture the brightest spots on social, from the most viral memes to the most shared social campaigns. 

Started in 2008 by tech startup Sawhorse Media, the first Shorty Awards catered to a small audience of 300, but since then, the importance of social media campaigns have grown exponentially.Continue reading...

The idea of launching the Axe Face Line with a Facebook promotion obviously was too literal. So the Unilever brand is launching its new line of facial-care products instead with a "Facescore" campaign on Tumblr as a social face-off, supported by ads running on various media websites — and, of course, a presence on Facebook too.

In doing so, Axe is entering a segment of the men's care business of the first time — a more challenging territory than when it had a fairly singular focus on helping young guys simply smell great so they could attract hordes of women.

The launch of the Axe Face Line—including a face wash, shave gel, and post-shave hydrator in four variants—also gives the brand a chance to circle back to promoting Unilever's "Astronaut" marketing platform for the Axe brand (and Lynx brand, in certain territories) grand giveaway of 22 trips to space in 2015.

"Research has shown that a majority of guys don't use facial cleanser; they reach for bar soaps or shampoos or other things to wash their face," Mark Link, Axe US brand manager for Unilever, told brandchannel. "We're launching [the Face line] to address their skincare needs."Continue reading...

When it comes to crowdfunding NASA, the sky's the limit. 

At least that's what a group from the aerospace industry was hoping for when it created an IndieGoGo campaign to fund a NASA PSA to be aired before showings of this summer's Star Trek Into Darkness. 

“NASA recently made an inspiring new online video narrated by Mr. Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, to show the progress being made on these new systems, but the agency is barred by law from buying advertising time for such a spot,” states the campaign page. “Today we’re running a crowdfunding campaign to edit this video into a 30-second spot, and place it in over 50 movie theater screens around the country.”Continue reading...

As we reported on Wednesday, Unilever's AXE brand is launching a Red Bull-challenging space program related to its new line of Apollo men's personal care products — taking 22 fans (men only, sorry ladies) from around the world to the edge of space as part of its Apollo Space Academy program in December 2013.

The last day to apply is February 3rd (aka Super Bowl Sunday) at AxeApollo.com (terms and conditions are here) or LynxApollo.com in the UK, Ireland and Australia, where Axe is sold as Lynx.

Below, watch Buzz Aldrin announce the AXE Apollo Space Academy (Lynx Apollo Space Academy to some), along with related videos and commercials related to Axe's new Apollo product line and contest:Continue reading...

HP CEO Meg Whitman pilloried over $8.8 billion start-up acquisition charge for Autonomy as stock plunges and former CEO comes out of woodwork.

News Corp. reportedly eyeing Simon & Schuster as add-on to HarperCollins and acquires 49% of YES Network as former newspaper execs charged with bribery. YES, meanwhile, extends Yankees TV rights through 2042.

Amazon unveils brand pages and looks to reinvent publishing model with Tim Ferriss book.

Apple products top kids' holiday wish lists, while spaceship-like campus delayed until 2016.

BlackBerry dropped by US agency over device reliability concerns.

Big Ten college sports conference brand could be diluted by eastern driven.

Darden CMO defects to Ruby Tuesday.Continue reading...

When there's already a Lego parody of your extreme marketing stunt, it's safe to say that pretty much the entire planet now knows the name Felix Baumgartner, thanks to the 43-year-old Austrian skydiver's record-breaking supersonic freefall, 24 miles out of the sky, straight down to New Mexico. He made breaking the sound barrier look so easy that he landed on his feet, and you nearly expected him to land right into a moving convertible (or one of those Red Bull Mini Coopers), James Bond style. 

His main benefactor since 1988, Red Bull, deserves to milk the historic feat for all its worth for some time. After all, the whole thing came about from Red Bull Stratos, a challenge put forth by the brand back in 2005 that nobody could beat the standing world record. Well, Baumgartner did — so what does Red Bull do now? And how much does the brand stand to reap on what one observer calls "the greatest marketing stunt of all time" after financing the research, training, team, equipment and PR?Continue reading...