Hasta La Creative!

Here’s a neat idea. A guy named Cory Williams has posted a “Choose your own adventure” set of videos on YouTube, using the site’s “video response” feature. You start here, and at the end of each video, you pick one of four videos at the bottom to continue. Unfortunately, Cory’s “adventure” involves you searching for his cat, Sparta. Which isn’t an adventure so much as a chore. (I lost interest before I found the stupid cat.) But it’s an awesome idea, and some opportunistic brand will surely try the same thing before long—maybe a children’s brand, seeing as how kids love the whole “Choose your own adventure” thing. That’s right, Man of Popsicle, I’m calling you out. I want to see a “Choose your flavor adventure” by this time next month! (Just remember to disable comments!) Via Adverblog.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

“The idea is to evoke certain thoughts in the mind-set of the person who is looking at the ads,” says a New York Muslim cleric who is backing a project to place ads promoting Islam in 1,000 MTA subway cars. They’re sure to provoke “certain thoughts” aplenty, especially with the NYC placements slated for September, during both the Islamic holy celebration of Ramadan and the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The ads feature phrases like “Prophet Muhammad?” and “Head Scarf?” on one side and the words “You deserve to know” and the Web address WhyIslam.org on the other. Rep. Peter King strongly opposes the campaign based on “those behind it,” including a Brooklyn imam who appeared as a character witness for convicted 1993 World Trade bombing mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. The controversy’s intense. That’s a good thing, because in a free society, legitimate ideas merit debate, even in commercial messages. But the timing and venue here seem imprudent and provocative, with cramped and steamy late-summer subway cars providing prime breeding grounds for angry and profane ad defilers and those who would stir up hatred in worse ways. Buyer beware: you get what you pay for.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

LONDON – Consumers are increasingly making purchases via their mobile phone, providing marketers with new opportunities to target users with branded WAP sites, research by BuzzCity suggests.

Here’s the newest installment in the modern genre of “what-if” videos about advertising and design. This time, it’s, “What if a major corporation designed the stop sign?” It’s pretty clever, although this is rapidly becoming a crowded field. Previous entries included the obscenity-packed “What if agency people said what they were really thinking?” and “What if Microsoft designed the iPod packaging?” And how could we forget “What if Jack Nicholson were a copywriter?” Yep, always good to see another addition to the proud ranks of client-mocking, creatively cathartic videos. Now, don’t you people have some ads to make? Hat tip to Deb Puchalla on Twitter.

—Posted by David Griner

LONDON – A fake credit card scheme, offering online banking customers the chance to win $100,000 or a Las Vegas holiday, looks set to become the world’s first million-dollar phishing fraud, according to internet intelligence specialists Envisional.

LONDON – In a landmark ruling, the Office of Fair Trading has been granted an injunction by a Dutch court to stop mail order company Best Sales from sending misleading prize draw mailings to UK consumers.

LONDON – Yahoo! has reported a fall of 18.6 per cent in quarterly net income as tightening economic conditions begin to affect online advertising in the US.

LONDON – Food and drink manufacturers, retailers, media owners and agencies are coming together in an unprecedented effort to tackle Britain’s alarming obesity levels.

LONDON – Brands need to divert budget away from TV and into digital in order to capitalise on the growth of free online content from sites including Facebook, Habbo Hotel and YouTube.

LONDON – The UK’s biggest food and beverage, retail, media, advertising, fitness and healthcare companies have teamed up with the government to launch a £200m initiative aimed at tackling obesity.