The British Council of Shopping Centres has a brand new initiative our British readers may be interested in: The BCSC Opal Awards. The awards aim to promote “the unique and commercial brand opportunities that malls offer by recognizing and showcasing the best examples in the marketplace, encouraging further innovation and creativity.”

You can enter in any of the following four categories:

• Experiential: engaging consumers with brands, changing brand perceptions and mindsets, and influencing buying behaviours.
• Media: best campaigns across shopping centre media.
• Mall Retail: best practice in on-mall retailing for new and innovative retailing options.
• Innovation: creative new ways that engage with customers, whilst enhancing the shopping experience.

The organization is taking entries for the 2013 awards, and you don’t have much time to get your entries in. December 19 is the deadline for all entries. BCSC encourages joint and collaborative applications, by the way, from centers, retailers, brands and agencies.

Want more detail? You can get the full scoop at the awards website.

I have to admit, I’m occasionally baffled by sports advertisements. But Pepsi Max has scored big with its Uncle Drew video, and it’s not hard to see why.

The short film clocks in at nearly five minutes, and viewers seem to be taking in most of that. There’s a mystery there: who is Uncle Drew, and how can this old, out-of-shape fellow play basketball so well? The answer is that it’s Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, made up, dressed up and playing a great part.

The full ad goes into the whole thing, telling Uncle Drew’s story and then showing us all how it came together. That alone has brought in just shy of ten million views. And now that Pepsi Max is airing it in pieces on television (drawing out the suspense in the process,) it’s reaching out to an ever-larger audience.

It seems like quite the length to go to in order to promote the brand’s message: “a zero calorie cola in disguise.” But viewers don’t seem to mind. The video has over 37,000 likes and about 700 dislikes—hard to argue with numbers like that.

As if we needed any more evidence, Nike has proven once more that it knows how to craft an ad. Check this out—a short film showing off some of the up-and-comers of the football world pulls in over 14 million views in less than two weeks. And it keeps viewers coming back for more.

The ad itself is masterful, worth a watch whether or not you have any love for the sport. But it’s the second part that’s particularly neat. Once the ad runs out, viewers are linked to Nike Football’s YouTube page, where they can watch the video again with a new goal: meeting the players, coaches and trainers one-on-one. Any time someone is highlighted viewers can tap to learn about them, follow them on social media sites and more. And at certain special moments, they can pull free of the action and show off some of the secrets of these stars.

The whole thing is a followup to The Chance, a contest that brought 16 hungry young footballers together under Nike’s tutelage. The video? Something of a world premiere.

Did you have anything to do this afternoon? Clear your schedule, because Tipp-Ex’s newest viral ad is going to demand your time. The correction fluid brand is back with another interactive YouTube experience, and this one is fun for the whole family.

You can watch the intro right here, but then head to the brand’s YouTube page for the full experience. Here’s how it works: at the end of the video, you can use Tipp-Ex to replace 2012 with any year in the title. This will give you the ending of the intro as it might have happened in that particular year.

There’s a lot of overlap—decades, and then centuries, are given the same video. But there are exceptions for a surprisingly large list of memorable years. See how many you can find if you have the time.

Ready to have your heartstrings tugged? Proctor & Gamble continues its quest to be known as the brand for moms with an impressively timed ad that manages to fuel Mother’s Day sentiment and stand on the hype for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Sounds like quite the feat, doesn’t it? With 1.6 million views in a week, we think we can call this one a success. Check it out right here—just keep your tissues at the ready.

The brand is also encouraging its Facebook fans to take the time to say thanks to their moms. Many users are taking that opportunity to post photos, stories, and most of all their appreciation—over 3000 so far.