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One has to credit Pepsi's commitment to charitable programs in its "Refresh Project," which will ultimately donate $20 million to local community projects. For more than a month, the soft drinks maker has been hammering the PR message that it's going to use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media entities to promote the initiative.

Following ads it posted last month seeking monetization staff, Twitter has hired a new media partnership exec in the shape of Robin Sloan. In a blog post , Sloan confirmed his appointment, and said his role would involve "everything at the intersection of Twitter and media." It's unclear at this point if that will include anything directly marketing related, but the assumption is that said partnerships are likely to include some kind of sponsorship element. According to Sloan,

Sites are buzzing today about what appears to be a misleading product video Apple has produced to sell its iPad. An eight-minute clip on YouTube depicts NYTimes.com on the device at about the 2:04 mark. The clip shows The Times' Video section fully rendered, including a Flash element that sits above an article in the newspaper's Travel section. Here's a screen-grab from the video that shows )apologies for the blurriness( the Video section center-left: But of course,

Scott Brown made headlines with his one-day "Money Bomb" fundraiser that became a week-long phenomenon raking in millions for the newly-elected Senator from Massachusetts. Now, Republican primary candidate for Senate in Florida, Marco Rubio )he's running an increasingly tight race against Governor Charlie Crist( is using a similar tactic. That's Rubio pictured below at "Bike Night" in Clearwater, FL the other night. And,

The hubbub over comScore's payment requirement for its direct-measurement service, and its subsequent squabble with Quancast brought to the fore issues that have long been on the minds of site publishers and measurement firms. For background, check out my story , published yesterday. But what do media buyers think about this stuff? I asked Derek Leedy,VP, account director at Mediasmith, who responded via e-mail. To Leedy,

Gmail users love to kvetch about how bad ads on the service are. Ostensibly targeted to the content of an e-mail message, these placements are typically off the mark in terms of matching a person's interests, her purchase intent, or even the context of a message she is reading. Well, that may be about to change - if only slightly - as Google modifies its tactics for delivering these messages. From now on,

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading: Apple, Microsoft Discuss Giving Bing Top iPhone Billing BusinessWeek Microsoft search engine may become default on iPhone. Apple Sees New Money in Old Media WSJ More details on upcoming tablet device and Apple's talks with book and magazine publishers. 140 Proof Rolls Out Ad Network For Twitter Clients TechCrunch Ad network bypasses Twitter completely and allows third party clients sell ad space.

Ask.com-owned Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are extra clean today. Users checking out either of those sites today will notice unique branding from detergent brand Cheer. The entire homepages of both sites are blue and sparkly, just like the "sparkling bright" washing liquid. And, yes, you can still search for any naughty words. I tried. It works.

World Vision and Red Cross certainly aren't the only entities out there putting in time or money )or both( for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Coke, American Airlines, UPS, eBay, and Facebook , among others, are brands that deserve to be commended for their big donations. It's worth noting that celebrities have also been commendable. Alyssa Milano has done a ton of Tweeting to help the Red Cross drive and George Clooney is setting up a telethon,

Talk about kickin' a man when he's down. Perhaps fueled by Senator Harry Reid's recent negative publicity regarding allegedly racist statements made about President Obama, his possible opponent in the Senate race in Nevada, GOP hopeful Sue Lowden, wants to "Kick Harry Reid Out of Office." And her primary campaign is already running the ads and microsites to prove it. The Nevada Republican primary isn't till June,

A few stories ClickZ editors are reading: Symbian OS Has Highest Mobile Click-through Rates TechCrunch December data show Symbian users click more than people with Android and iPhone devices. AP, Yahoo Near Deal on Content Use Wall Street Journal Negotiations may help resolve how news orgs work with major Web companies. Old Billboards in Google Street View to Get Virtual Updates Fast Company Patent suggests company might replace out of date billboards with ads sold in-house.

Looking to fine-tune your e-mail marketing program? )Or need a good excuse to head to a warmer climate and attend the NFL Pro Bowl too?( Check out ClickZ's full day training workshop on Monday, Feb. 1, in Miami Beach. ClickZ Expert contributor Jeanne Jennings , an e-mail marketing consultant based in Washington, DC, and Tamara Gielen , an e-mail marketing coach from Belgium, are teaming up to provide tips for improving conversion rates,

AOL is moving rapidly to close offices in Europe, in keeping with statements made by CEO Tim Armstrong last week . Separate reports in The Guardian and Spiegel Online described the cuts. Four German offices will close, in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich. In the U.K., the company is also planning an unspecified but significant number of cuts. It's still weighing whether to close its France office, reportedly.

According to vacancies posted on Twitter's corporate site, the social network is looking to hire a number of staff to help with its monetization plans. The firm's recruitment page lists a number of new positions, including a "Product Marketing Manager, Monetization," and software engineers for "Monetization Infrastructure." The job descriptions state that the firm is "looking for new members of staff to work on cutting edge monetization projects." In October,

Can text-to-voice translation - and vice-versa, voice-to-text - be the godsend that short-message service )SMS( and mobile e-mail marketers have been waiting for? iSpeech would like to think so, as the company on Friday announced its soon-to-be-released upgraded smartphone app that's designed to let on-the-go users listen to text messages and e-mails and then respond by voice. Specifically aimed at automobile operators, the first version of the app, which is dubbed "DriveSafe.

I've been complaining about the embarrassing state of cpc network ads selling belly berry diets and teeth whiteners for some time now. But I may just have to bite my tongue from now on, at least when it comes to these ads appearing on US sites. While browsing Russian current events coverage )a personal interest of mine( I stumbled onto Moscow News, where an article page featured the ad unit below. It appears to be served up by a site called MarketGid ,

Baidi, China's major search engine and Internet presence, is partnering with Hulu investors, Providence Equity Partners, to launch an ad-supported online video service in China. According to a press release issued this week, the pair are currently in the process of licensing premium content to populate the site, including movies, popular TV series, and sports content. Citing a source "familiar with the situation,

As it sought to aggressively cut costs toward the end of last year, AOL had hoped it could entice 2,500 people to accept buyout offers. It turns out that didn't happen, and as a result the company will soon conduct a round of layoffs designed to bring its expenses into line with its cash flow. How many will get pink slips is unclear. One report has it that 1,100 took the buyout. If true, that suggests an additional 1,400 will be shown the door in the coming weeks and months.

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading: Publicis Shops Form Kraft Foods One Team AdWeek MediaVest, Digitas teams unite to serve client's global media needs. AOL In Talks with Mashable ValleyWag Gossip blog claims AOL wants to buy the world's largest tech blog. Some Publishers Aim to Monetize Twitter Feeds AdAge As celebrity tweeters cash in, news publishers with large follower numbers wonder if they too can make a buck selling ads on Twitter.