Tropicana UK's new TV commercial, "Awake to Alive," shows how the world wakes up to a brighter morning with Tropicana. The PepsiCo-owned brand, the top-selling juice in the UK, is also giving away 1,000 litre cartons of Tropicana on its Facebook page — and used the ad as the inspiration for an eye-opening event: an artificial sunrise in London's Trafalgar Square on January 23rd. Watch below.Continue reading...

Having just extended its sponsorship as a top-tier Olympics partner through 2020, McDonald's is rolling out its London 2012 marketing plan for the Games, including introducing a #mcolympics hashtag on Twitter to talk up its ongoing commitment to the IOC, which started with the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble.Continue reading...

As many as 25,000 people died in India back in 1984 due to the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, and residents are still understandably upset about the experience that left many without family members, spouses, or friends.

In 1999, Carbide was bought by Dow Chemical, a purchase that Dow execs are likely muttering about to one another these days. The lasting unhappiness with Union is now being manifested in what seems to be a growing protest against Dow having anything to do with this summer’s Olympic Games in London.

Dow has forked over big bucks to be a top-tier IOC sponsor and was all set to “wrap” the main London 2012 Olympic stadium in a massive banner as part of its deal. However, the company responded to activists last month by scrapping to scraps its plans for the stadium wrap. That, apparently, has not been enough.Continue reading...

When it was announced in August that Dow Chemical planned to spend $10.8 million to have its name emblazoned in a fabric wrap around London’s Olympic stadium for the Games next summer, there was an angry outcry, particularly by athletes and Olympic organizers in India.

After all, it was there that the Dow subsidiary Union Carbide leaked enough gas and chemicals to kill approximately 15,000 and leave many others sick back in 1984. There was even talk that the Indian Olympic team would boycott the Games, but that was rejected on Saturday.

Dow didn’t own Union then, but Indian residents are feeling the fallout and Dow’s name doesn’t exactly inspire the Olympic spirit in many Indian residents. Now TheHindu.com reports that Dow has “agreed to remove all its branding from the London Olympic stadium.”Continue reading...

Walmart has just released Shopycat, a standalone Facebook app to make shopping, holiday and everyday, smarter and stress-free (hopefully). Shopycat mines social data to recommend items from Walmart.com, Walmart stores and other partner sites including RedEnvelope, Barnes & Noble, NBC Universal and ThinkGeek.

“We’ve been working on how to add a social layer on top of e-commerce. One of the key areas where we thought we could make a difference is in gift-giving … we thought if we could take a person’s interests and ‘likes,’ that are expressed on Facebook, and tie those with a vast product catalog, then we could make gift-giving much more enjoyable,” commented Anand Rajaraman, head of WalmartLabs, to Venture Beat.

Shopycat currently passes users to other websites for purchase, but by this time next year, shopping will be done directly on Facebook, as Ravi Raj, VP of product for WalmartLabs told VB.Continue reading...

Abercrombie & Fitch tells investors it discounted prices too much.

Accenture calls on clients to help make a statement.

American Airlines and union plan to return to talks.

Apple's iPhone passes BlackBerry as business favorite.

BP faces charges over Alaska spill.

Chrysler plans to invest heavily in building Jeeps in Toledo, Ohio.

Corona brings back long-time holiday spot.

Delphi prices IPO at $22 a share.

DirecTV unveils dramatic man-vs.-wolf action in new spot.

GE bets on software development.Continue reading...

P&G delays $1.5 billion sale of Pringles.

Facebook struggles to get advertisers to pay for exposure.

Los Angeles Dodgers are for sale, owner Frank McCourt confirms.

Apple sees new CEO Tim Cook make it his own.

Bank of America blinks and withdraws $5 debit-card fee.

Bloomberg Businessweek ad campaign pitches personality.

BMW may see profit lead evaporate as new 3 Series eats into earnings and is topped by Mercedes-Benz in U.S. October sales.Continue reading...

It's been a year since we profiled Recyclebank, and a lot has changed since then. Green activism is now officially social as Greenopolis and Recyclebank have merged to create the largest social recycling system to date.

Greenopolis is the social arm of Waste Management, a leading provider of waste and environmental services, which just made a strategic investment in Recyclebank. WM's stake in Recyclebank gives it access to a community-based green rewards program for its nearly 20 million North American customers.Continue reading...