In 2010 Volvo launched a green living experiment, called One Tonne Life, to see if one family could learn to live more sustainably. That experiment, which involved other Swedish brands (Siemens, A-hus, Vattenfall, ICA), saw the Lindell family adopt a low-impact lifestyle that reduced their carbon dioxide emissions from 7.3 tonnes per year, the Swedish average for a family, to 1.5 tonnes — just shy of the one tonne goal of the project.

Now Unilever is running a UK-wide consumer challenge with 12 families to see if they can lead more sustainable lifestyles and save money on household bills. The goal is to address food waste, according to the press release for Unilever’s Sustain Ability Challenge.

Developed in partnership with The Futures Company, the challenge aims to bust the myth that it costs more to live in an environmentally-friendly fashion. The Futures Company's recent survey of 1,975 UK consumers found that seven out of 10 (68 per cent) identified the main barrier to living a more environmentally-conscious lifestyle is that it costs more — a myth that Unilever wants to overturn.

“We know that nearly 70 per cent of our environmental impact occurs when consumers use our products at home so changing consumer behaviour is one of the biggest challenges we face in achieving our Sustainable Living Plan goals," commented Amanda Sourry, chairman of Unilever UK and Ireland.Continue reading...

Lynx, which is sold by Unilever as Axe everywhere but Ireland, the UK and Australia, is expanding on its heavenly angel-themed Lynx Effect campaign with its latest campaign: preparing mankind (as befits the world's biggest-selling male toiletries brand) for the end of the world. Watch the full-length version below.Continue reading...

P&G sees profit soar and revenue drop in latest earnings report.

Kimberly-Clark pulls back in Europe.

Twitter encourages brands to find and use their authentic voice.

Apple earnings report on Thursday will be closely watched.

AT&T sees slowing in wireless-subscriber growth.

Barbie CMO looks to Royal Caribbean cruise experience launch in new year.

Best Buy shakes up management.Continue reading...

In a world that is constantly shoving the idea of a woman only being beautiful if she looks like Kate Upton or Kate Hudson or … well, whoever the latest aesthetic ideal is, it can be hard for a preteen girl to figure out how to own the fact that she’s beautiful, too, no matter how different her body is from the supermodel du jour.

Along with most of American society, Unilever’s Dove soap has girls becoming more anxious, instead of more confident. And rather than prey on that lack of confidence by offering beauty "solutions" and use that info to their marketing advantage, Dove is actually trying to get at the root of the problem and boost girls' confidence and self-esteem.

For three years, Dove has been hosting events for preteen girls across the globe to help them feel better about themselves, according to Cincinatti.com. The aim is to reach 15 million young women globally by 2015, thanks to Dove's Self-Esteem Fund, with an empowering message that takes the brand's highly praised Real Beauty campaign to a critical age.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...

"It's time to get the dough out of politics." Maybe not in real life but we know that's at least how Stephen Colbert and Ben & Jerry's feels about it — by showing it (or tasting it).

The latest edition of "AmeriCone Dream" ice cream, first released as a tie-in with the Comedy Central wag back in 2007, is timed to the upcoming U.S. elections. This “2012 Collectable Election Year PACkage!” is also complete with election streamers, an Uncle Sam hat, red, white and blue motif and messaging around the company’s social mission to "Get The Dough Out" of politics, as cofounder/activist Ben Cohen has been promoting.

The container pays homage to Colbert’s own Super PAC, labeled on its lid skirt: “SUPERPACK!” and clearly noted (just in case you miss the PAC reference) on the front: “2012 Collectable Election Year PACkage!” The reverse side (see below) includes Colbert's editing notes and signature.Continue reading...

Adele captures iTunes download record overnight with Skyfall theme song release at 00:07 on global James Bond Day.

Apple pays tribute to Steve Jobs as his legacy celebrated on the one-year anniversary of his death.

Starbucks to allow digital tipping.

American Airlines keeps finding more seat problems.

Arby's fixes TV spot that dissed Subway and angered Iowans.

Chipotle voted favorite Mexican chain in survey.Continue reading...

KitchenAid apologizes for anti-Obama tweet during presidential debate, the most-tweeted event in US political history, which saw Mitt Romney gain the upper hand on Barack Obama. Romney's anti-PBS comment on Big Bird also took over social media, while "Walmart mom" is the new soccer mom. The campaigns, judged the most negative in recent times, inspire JetBlue to offer chance to pull an Alec Baldwin and leave the country after election result.

HP warns about grim outlook, sending shares to lowest level in almost a decade.

Facebook passes one billion users with plans to charge to promote user posts, while Twitter measures brand impact with Nielsen.

Amazon now offers loans to small businesses.

American Airlines pulls 47 jets after loose-seat debacle as image suffers.

Apple rumors of smaller iPad persist as the #2 Best Global Brand earns kudos for admitting maps screw-up.Continue reading...