Australia's Qantas is expanding into Asia with a joint venture between budget carrier Jetstar and China Eastern airlines. The new regional discount airline, to be branded as Jetstar Hong Kong, will launch as HK's first low-cost carrier in mid-2013. Qantas also just announced it's launching Australia's first commercial flights using biofuels, with the first flight using SkyNRG's World Wildlife Fund-endorsed sustainable fuel scheduled for April 13th.

Even the big guys occasionally get it wrong. Coca-Cola is pulling back on its limited-edition white cans designed for the holidays, reverting back to its traditional red background can amidst consumer confusion and criticism.

As announced on Oct. 25, 1.4 billion white cans and caps on bottles of Coke (the first time the brand ever changed from red) were planned to blanket the U.S. and Canadian markets through March, featuring the iconic Coke polar bear in a holiday promo with an environmentally-friendly related cause dubbed Arctic Home.

In addition to boosting holiday sales, the white can heralded Coca-Cola’s partnership with the World Wildlife Fund with white bottle caps, on these and other Coca-Cola brands, including a special code for texting $1 donations to the WWF in their campaign to protect the polar bear's Arctic home. Coke committed up to $1 million to match consumer donations. 

"It's the most important holiday program we've ever launched," stated Katie Bayne, president of sparkling beverages at Coca-Cola North America, about the campaign whose messaging included "We're turning our cans white because turning our backs wasn't an option."

The cans hit store shelves Nov. 1 and were supposed to remain on shelves through February. "We were very careful to make sure people know it's the same Coke they've always loved," Bayne added. Now, Coca-Cola is pulling back on the limited-edition white cans due to customer confusion and complaints, with the first batch now in stores the only batch (good news for collectors, at least).

"We are not pulling our white cans from store shelves or replacing them with the red can," Coca-Cola spokesman Ben Sheidler tells brandchannel. "The limited-edition white 'Arctic Home' cans will remain on store shelves until supplies last and then we will switch out to a red Arctic Home holiday can" with the same polar bear motif.

Good intentions, a smart tie-in with Coca-Cola's brand mascot (the polar bear) and the best laid plans for a polar-white cause this Christmas were all foiled by social media, it seems. It was through the social web that Coke heard growing rumblings that all was not well.Continue reading...

This holiday season, Coca-Cola is changing the color of its iconic red can for a cause in honor of the polar bear, the brand's longstanding favorite animal at the holidays, in a partnership between Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund.

The "Arctic Home" campaign will help raise awareness and funds to support WWF efforts to protect the polar bear's habitat. More details, and a closer look at the limited-edition white Coke can coming to the US and Canada, are below.Continue reading...

Our most-read blog posts of the past week range from the Starbucks' "Black Guy" Receipt Scandal to Skype on Facebook:

#1 Starbucks Latest to Suffer "Black Guy" Receipt Scandal

#2 Transformers 3 Product Placement: If Tom Hanks Gets a Pass, Michael Bay Does Not

#3 BP Returns to TV

#4 Facebook Launches Video Calling With Skype

#5 Petite Lap Giraffe: A Tiny Viral Marketing Success

#6 Coke and WWF Green the Philippines with “Living Billboard”

#7 Target Aims Logo at Chicago Landmark

#8 Duane Reade Opens Premium Drugstore 'Experience' on Wall Street

#9 How Moleskine Converts Fans (and Retailers) to Brand Ambassadors

#10 Colgate Puts Teeth Into Social Marketing

Big-name brands are loathe to be accused of greenwashing these days, but Coca-Cola is proud of its commitment to sustainability.

That's why Coca-Cola Philippines and the World Wildlife Fund have teamed up to create a billboard there totally made up of plants that will suck air pollutants from the surrounding environment.

The 60x60 billboard is covered with thousands of Fukien tea plants with a Coke-bottle-shaped space in the middle surrounded by the words, "This billboard absorbs air pollutants."Continue reading...

Larry King is back! With his wife Shawn! For BreathGemz! Er, sorry, Lar... not a great follow-up to your cameo in Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Governator. You're turning your golden years into our golden fears.

Below: Chipotle goes for the gold, a shaggy dog's tale and more.Continue reading...

YouTube is celebrating the WWF's global Earth Hour event today with a visual twist. All video-watchers today will see a light switch above each video player, to the left of the video name and beneath a special Earth Hour logo. Click the switch to view the video in the dark via a black background, just as Earth Hour is asking consumers to switch off for their light for an hour tonight, starting at 8:30pm.

Below, how Coca-Cola is supporting Earth Hour.Continue reading...

8:30pm on Saturday, March 26th marks the fifth Earth Hour, an annual switch-off eco-event that was started as a single-city event (Sydney) by the WWF and the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in 2007.Continue reading...