While Facebook fans spend more money on brands they've 'liked' than on ones they haven't, is there any real value hidden behind that thumbs-up?

On average, a 'like' is worth $174.17. “Superconsumers,” says a study by Syncapse, have significant power to effect products. "Not only do they tend to be brand users first, they spend more, engage more, advocate more and are more loyal. The significant and increasing value of a Facebook brand fan affirms past social marketing investment and mandates deeper commitment and accountability in the future."

But while brands navigate the tides of "like-currency," it turns out that the gesture by "slacktivists" doesn't translate into anything significant for social causes. After years of encouraging consumers to click for issues of conscience, UNICEF Sweden is the first major international charity to restate the obvious, pre-'like' era fact: donate money and supplies—not just virtual support.Continue reading...

When UNIQLO CEO Tadashi Yanai set his sights on the US in 2007, the fast-fashion retailer that combined the back-to-basics approach of American Apparel, the competitive pricing of Old Navy, and the foreign edge of a Zara or H&M, was already "a retail juggernaut in Japan, with 760 stores in six countries, 20,000 employees, and earnings of US$ 3.5 billion in 2004," as we noted.

The Fast Retailing Co.-owned brand, whose name is derived from "unique clothes," is now the leading global Japanese retail holding company (and Yanai its richest citizen), posting global sales of 820 billion yen for its 2011 fiscal year, making it the world’s fourth largest apparel retail company and a true innovator thanks to its Heattech heat-generating fabric.

That innovation is now being turned to help individuals affected by Super Storm Sandy as the northeastern US braces for winter cold. The brand announced today that it has just kicked off United in Warmth to bring about just that. The 10-week program will donate and distribute 100,000 Heattech items to men, women and children and 10,000 Ultra Light Down jackets to adults affected by Sandy through a 10-week volunteer program on Saturdays, holding true to its brand commitment of “changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world.”Continue reading...

An estimated 3,000 kids die daily, and more than 3.5 million children do not live to the age of five, largely due to diarrhea and pneumonia – both manageable with soap and water. People worldwide wash their hands with water, but far too few use soap, particularly at crucial moments such as after using the toilet, cleaning a child, or before handling food.

In 2008, Unilever, its Lifebuoy soap brand, and Population Services International (PSI) joined forces to declare October 15th Global Handwashing Day. Last year, the public-private partnership produced a PSA starring actress Mandy Moore, among other efforts.

This year's Global Handwashing Day bring a new partnership with the Millennium Villages Project, a joint effort by the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Development Program. The PSA simply asks for support for an initiative working with 500,000 people in rural villages across ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa as part of a bigger goal to reach one billion people:Continue reading...

When you manufacture electric razors, you spend a lot of time thinking about the shape of people’s faces and noticing how much the simple construction and care of a face communicates about somebody.

Procter & Gamble’s Braun brand took that notion and created the “Wear your face” campaign, which is now turning into a book that will benefit UNICEF. The book, Wear Your Face: Portraits of Men of Varying Ages, Origin, and Character, was the idea of BBDO Proximity Duesseldorf creative director Olaf Reys, who worked on the Braun campaign for P&G.

Reys teamed up with some of the world’s best-known photographers to capture some of the world’s best-known faces, including George Clooney, Robert de Niro, Mickey Rourke, and Mick Jagger.

“Today the male public image is multifaceted and malleable, presenting a kaleidoscope of diversity and sophistication,” Reys said in a press release. “The work I amassed is a visual documentation of how far society has moved towards a more tolerant interpretation of masculinity – and femininity.”Continue reading...

Hark! It's Monty Python's new iPad app.

Below, watch the Huggies commercial that has dads up in arms, and more.Continue reading...

Waterborne illness is the second leading cause of preventable childhood deaths worldwide, killing an estimated 4,000 children every day. That's why the UNICEF Tap Project, now in its sixth year, is asking thousands of volunteers, restaurants, partners and individuals to protect young lives with safe, clean water.

A donation of $1 for a glass of tap water during World Water Week, March 19-25, at participating restaurants across the U.S. will give a child clean, safe water for 40 days, or 40 children safe water for one day. 

“Many of us consume and use safe, clean water every day without thinking twice. Meanwhile, in communities across the globe, disease can spread with lethal swiftness for the millions of children and adults who lack access to a safe water source and adequate sanitation,” said President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Caryl Stern. “Today, for too many of the world’s children, clean water can mean the difference between life and death.”Continue reading...

Internet real estate as we know it will change irrevocably on January 12th, when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) starts taking applications for its new Top-Level Domain Program.

There are (currently) 22 generic TLDs (gTLDs) such as .com, .org and .net, and 250 specific country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) like .ca for Canada, .uk for the United Kingdom, .jp for Japan and .mx for Mexico. Come January, however, virtually any word or brand name can become a gTLD for a $185,000 application fee, proof of being able to pay for the gTLD going forward, and sufficient justification by the brand.

Dotbranding introduces a whole new way to surf the web, enhancing companies’ SEO strategy, heightening protection against interlopers and cybersquatters, and letting brand names serve as web addresses with the potential for a variety of sub-domains.

Deloitte, Canon, Hitachi, Motorola and UNICEF are filing for their .brand web addresses, according to Marketing Week in the UK.Continue reading...

Trending on YouTube, and probably in the minds of most guys, is the newest short film by Armani. The unlisted video (teased on Twitter, Facebook and the just relaunched Armani.com) features Rihanna in a parked car in a garage, film noir style, changing her clothes into stylish Armani jeans and underwear.

Rihanna and Armani (let's just call them Rihannarmani already) teamed up with photographer Steven Klein and the director behind some of Madonna's biggest videos, Johan Renck, for the shoot, which was filmed in a garage in New York. The reason for the video? Rihanna is the new face of Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear.Continue reading...