The chemical engineers at Dow Chemical have a new renewable, organically based material called Renuva that is made from the waste material of soybean processing and can be turned into plastics and gels not much different than those derived from petroleum, blogs Kaomi Goetz. But how to get consumers to notice, no less care? Eric Pfeiffer, a San Francisco-based industrial designer, is helping Dow by turning the raw material into products like end tables, stools and wall mounts that consumers can see, relate to, and understand. "It took a little bit, to get our mind around …

Little know fact: According to Diamond Foods, Americans will consume 3.8 million pounds of popcorn and 2.5 million pounds of snack nuts on Super Bowl Sunday. Littler known fact: the content of Diamond's upcoming Super Bowl spot beyond the four-second sneak-peek that Barry Janoff writes about. In the clip Janoff saw, the "world's most flamboyant dolphin trainer" stands on top of a prefabricated volcano in the water of a marine park and yells, "Let's get aquatic!" The clip ends with the text, "Awesome + Awesome = Awesomer." The spot is part of a larger campaign that …

Virgin America's six-figure ad spend through the first 11 months of 2009 was meager compared to its competitors, but Todd Wasserman reports that it's flying high with savvy PR and integration deals. Google provided free hi-fi -- and a lot of buzz -- on holiday flights; this month a flight of rescued Chihuahuas purportedly suffering from "Paris Hilton Syndrome" garnered international headlines. Wasserman talks to Porter Gale, Virgin America's vp-marketing, about these coups, as well as a new CW reality show, "Fly Girls," that will follow five Virgin flight attendants. Gale acknowledges that the show …

Jean Halliday reports that Nissan's Infiniti marque is unifying its brand image across the globe with two ads breaking online and in full-page ads in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal today. Previously, marketing teams in other countries could decide for themselves if they wanted to use ads created by Infiniti's team in North America, which is responsible for 75% of sales. "You'd end up with an inconsistent strategy and look," says Jon Brancheau, global marketing director since April. Not all markets are required to use the exact same ads going forward, but "the intent is to …

Burger King will announce today that it will sell Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors beers at a new concept restaurant called Whopper Bar that is opening in Miami's South Beach neighborhood in mid-February, Bruce Horovitz reports. It will compete with casual dining restaurants. "You can have America's favorite beers with America's favorite burger," says Chuck Fallon, president of Burger King North America. Other labels will be added in the future, as might locations in other tourist hot spots such as New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. A beer and a Whopper will cost $7.99, which is about two …