For some, the very term "climate change" is open to debate — witness the comments on our Coca-Cola scrapped polar bear white can blog post — but a just-issued report card by Climate Counts suggests major corporations are taking their impact on climate very seriously.

Climate Counts, a nonprofit collaborative effort to bring consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change, scores the world's largest companies on their climate impact each year to spur corporate climate responsibility and conscious consumption.

This year's Scorecard, the organization's fifth annual report, is particularly encouraging because 13 companies scored 80 points or higher (out of a maximum of 100 points), representing more than triple the number of companies to achieve that threshold in 2010. "Of the twenty largest companies scored," says Mike Bellamente, Climate Counts Project Director, "seventeen are scoring at the highest level."Continue reading...

ABC finds that Dancing With the Stars rates — ahead of President Obama’s Libya speech.

Aldi thrives in opening urban locations in the U.S.

Amazon beats rivals into the cloud.

Apple’s iPad could one day be charged by the human heart.

AT&T sees 4G issues, girds for T-Mobile deal scrutiny.

BP is making death settlements in the Gulf oil spill beginning at $8 million per person.Continue reading...

Well, this is uncomfortable. Hong Kong-born soy sauce and food brand Amoy is attached to a Facebook app that allows people to Asianate themselves. British marketer Gavin Marshall asks on Twitter, "Is this the most inappropriate use of Facebook by a brand yet?" It's certainly one for the social marketing hall of shame.Continue reading...

In-text advertising can be a balm to brands. So says Vibrant, a US-based specialist in premium contextual advertising solutions, that shared with us the results from a recent campaign with Vaseline.

The firm's recent online campaign for Unilever's Vaseline Intensive Rescue brand scored in five key metrics, according to Vibrant: brand awareness and favorability; message recall; purchase consideration and share of mind against other brands.

Creating interactive custom content where the target audience (women, in particular moms) would be browsing online (such as iVillage.com), Vibrant employed in-text advertising used a scrolling section below a Vaseline-sponsored video player, encouraging users to explore the full product range.Continue reading...

Conan O'Brien is dubbed "the king of social media" by Fast Company, which praises his mix of social platforms with (of course) funny content. One particularly creative stunt building buzz ahead of his debut on TBS: Team Coco's use of Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare and a blimp, which you can see in action above.

Corona's new Facebook campaign will put fans' faces on a billboard in New York’s Times Square in a promotion starting Nov. 8.

More about Ning, Vaseline, Twitter and why CEOs are social wallflowers, after the jump.Continue reading...

"One time a thing occurred to me. What's real, and what's for sale?" That's the opening line from the rock band Stone Temple Pilots' song Vasoline. But it works nearly as well as a line of questioning regarding the Vaseline brand's latest social marketing campaign in India: A Facebook application inviting Facebookers to lighten their skin.Continue reading...

Real men have touchably smooth skin! At least, the men who use the newly branded Vaseline for Men. The lotion claims to be for the face and body, and comes with an advertising campaign encouraging men to tone up their skin the way they do the rest of their bodies.

Which is great – but is it really going to have men buying lotion in droves?

Branding lotion specifically for men is a tough task, as Nivea proved last year. When they attempted to stock Nivea for men in the Men’s aisles of department stores, sales in the past year totaled a mere $210,000. No wonder Vaseline has chosen the unisex aisle.Continue reading...