Having conquered the internet, video and now launched into music, Google is moving into shopping through YouTube's new "channel gadget."

"To shorten the path to purchase and translate video views to sales, today we’re introducing a new channel gadget on YouTube that will enable consumer goods brands to connect consumers directly with retailers throughout the entire YouTube experience," Google wrote in a blog post. "This new channel gadget will enable shoppers to seamlessly move from browsing how-to videos and featured products to finding which retailers carry them, check availability, compare prices and make a purchase, all with fewer clicks than today." 

Google's first client is Unilever’s Tresemmé, which already has a robust YouTube channel in place featuring celebrities and style setters. Now users can click on the products in demo videos for purchase information, a perk that will only appear on brand channel pages.Continue reading...

Hellmann’s mayonnaise turns 100 this year and its owner, Unilever, is celebrating with the brand’s biggest marketing campaign ever.

"It's part of the culinary heritage of America," said Brian Orlando, Hellmann's senior marketing director, the Associated Press reports. "After 100 years, we decided it was worth going out and revisiting this brand and what it is today."

Unilever is shelling out for TV, print and digital ads for its “Bringing the Best Together” campaign as well as a Facebook page and YouTube videos “featuring chef Mario Batali cooking up Hellmann's recipes, a Smartphone app and a September event that will include the world's largest picnic table,” according to AP. 
Batali has been asked to create 30 recipes that incorporate Hellmann's to be shared via Facebook and the app. The TV ads, however, will focus on founder Richard Hellmann’s New York deli where the brand was first sold.Continue reading...

Dove is not resting on its digital laurels. The latest installment in its ongoing Real Beauty and self-esteem campaign this time targets kids. 

The Dove Self Esteem Project, working with Lisbon agency Torke+CC, created the Carbon Paper Ad campaign, placing an ad (and a pen) in a parenting magazine, asking adults in Portugal to write down the worst name they remembered being called as a child. 

When the written page is turned, the hurtful name appears printed across the shirt of a child—through the use of secreted carbon paper—illustrating that, "Words mark children forever."Continue reading...

DreamWorks acquires Awesomeness TV, a YouTube teen network.

Walmart retools e-commerce and mobile.

Facebook says 30 percent of revenue now comes from mobile ads.

Boeing moves to upgrade popular 777 passenger jet.

Bud Light launches Music First initiative.

CBS scores big from Super Bowl ad revenues.

Cablevision adds Glenn Beck's network.

Del Taco emphasizes freshness of its food in campaign.

Disney rethinks role in Bangladesh supply after building collapse and deaths.Continue reading...

Only four percent of women worldwide consider themselves beautiful according to Dove, whose latest installment of its famed Real Beauty campaign presents a social experiment to dispell negative personal perceptions. 

The tagline of the campaign, "You are more beautiful than you think," demonstrates the disparity between a woman’s self-image and a stranger’s perception, playing on the common saying , "You are your own worst critic."

Created by Ogilvy Brazil, FBI-trained artist Gil Zamora, an forensic expert who has sketched more than 3,000 eye witness reports, first drew portraits of seven women of different ages and backgrounds according to their own description, followed by sketches of those same women according to strangers who had just met them on the same day. 

In the "Dove Real Beauty Sketches" video (watch below) produced for the campaign, the participants say things like, "My mom told me I had a big jaw," "I kind of have a fat, rounder face," and "I'd say I have a pretty big forehead."Continue reading...

Deutsche Telekom raises bid for MetroPCS.

The Masters begins at Augusta National today with Tiger Woods again among the favorites.

Toyota and other Japanese automakers recall 3.4 million vehicles over Takata airbag.

Applebee's led first-quarter social media engagement by restaurants.

Barnes & Noble rebrands self-publishing platform PubIt! as Nook Press as it continues to invest in future of Nook brand.

Justin Bieber backs a debit card for teens, from parents.

ConocoPhillips suspends Arctic drilling plan.

Daimler says worsening Europe puts its 2013 profit outlook in doubt.

Dell plans to double sales outlets in China.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...

Somewhere, a world exists where more people have access to smartphones than toilets. Oh, wait. That's us.

Today marks the 20th annual World Water Day, observed on March 22 since 1993 when the United Nations General Assembly declared a global effort to improve access to clean water. Today, hundreds of multinational brands, political figures, celebrities and NGO's are offering up innovative ways to participate. 

While Americans are drinking more water than ever before, the rest of the world's water crisis is becoming increasingly pressing, making it to the agenda of the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos. That's when a report ranked water among the top five global factors equal in impact to systemic financial failure and fiscal imbalance, with 2.7 billion people affected by water shortages, compounded by climate change and a global population nearing 8 billion.

Two official meetings—in The Hague, The Netherlands and at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City—are taking place today to facilitate a global conversation on water cooperation, this year's theme, but hundreds of initiatives have launched across the globe in support of the effort.

In keeping with the theme of 2013 being the year of water cooperations, we've found some inspiring examples of the type of public-private partnerships spurring sustainable innovation to address the world's water crisis.Continue reading...