Lexus is launching a new installment of its Lexus Eco Challenge, designed to empower the younger generation to partake in making the world a better place to live through technology. The auto giant is encouraging teams of American school students in grades 6–12 to submit their STEM-driven submissions that potentially can help tackle Land/Water or Air/Climate issues. The entrants will be competing for a chance to win a share of $500,000 in grants and scholarships.

ABSOLUT is backing the transformation of an abandoned trolley terminal in New York into the first world’s subterranean park, the Lowline. The project, which has been partly funded through Kickstarter in early 2012, is now getting more support from the iconic alcohol brand that will be donating $1 from each sale of the new Absolut Lowline cocktail in participating bars.

Diet Coke has revealed the winning design of the second annual Diet Coke Young Designer Challenge, announced in the U.S. in mid-May. The participants were tasked to create a design for a limited-edition T-shirt that would capture Diet Coke’s “Stay Extraordinary” ethos and mirror the style of the brand’s ambassador Taylor Swift. The winning work by Brooklyn-based Julianna Bass features a modern, self-assured woman in “a dramatically flaring red skirt” and a stepped shirt, leaning on the Diet Coke logo, placed vertically.

Ahead of the school year, Kleenex has centered its latest promotion, “Kleenex Xperiments,” around recreational science. The initiative is inspired by the fact that 58% of kids go to school when they are sick. So children do need something powerful to solve the nasal problems and prevent the spread of infection at school—Kleenex facial tissues. To reach the target audience, Kleenex commissioned young Einsteins with the task to prove that, as kids are more likely to believe their smart peers than traditional ads.

Google is offering its users a deeper insight into English words from the linguistic point of view—all with the updated search feature. In addition to previously offered short definitions of the words, pronunciation and synonyms, from now on “profiles” of words feature extra bites of knowledge, including etymology, sample sentences and translations.

Jim Beam is launching a campaign to protect bees, the producers of honey used for Jim Beam Honey, a new product in the brand’s range. The new humorous initiative, Sue the Bears, is aimed at one of the “bee’s enemy”—bears. As part of the effort, Jim Beam will donate money to real-life organizations that protect bee populations and try to find a solution to what’s called Colony Collapse Disorder. Reports have it that honey bees are now under threat in the USA—they are dying or go missing at tremendous rates, about 1/3 of bees in beehives disappeared from their hives over the 2012/2013 winter season across the USA. 

The acclaimed German film director Werner Herzog has shot a thought-provoking and rather brutal documentary that highlights the dangers of texting and driving. The 35-minute film “From One Second To The Next”, sponsored by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, combines real stories of the people who had been affected in the car accidents caused by texting while being behind the wheel.