A 32 year old from Bristol has been arrested on suspicion of penning a series of abusive tweets directed toward a Labour MP on the micro blogging service.

Stella Creasy rose to prominence after being barraged by a flurry of abuse from anonymous individuals on the social networking site, spurring wider calls for more robust policing of online environments.

The unnamed individual was questioned by detectives investigating threats of rape and physical violence under the Protection from Harassment Act.

Scotland Yard’s e-crimes unit are said to be investigating eight people on the site and forced Twitter to beef up its security measures.

Recipients of threats in recent days include Ms Criado Perez, who successfully campaigned for a female to be represented on £10 banknotes, and journalists Hadley Freeman, Grace Dent and Catherine Mayer.

In a bid to engage with young fans and capture the imagination of children aged between seven and ten-years-old Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has launched Tottenham Turfies, a fully-interactive digital experience for children.

The proposition combines children’s love of fun and interactive games with their passion for football and was developed by Hangar Seven in conjunction with the Club. The avatar-style characters, known as the ‘Turfies’, live in the virtual world of the Tottenham Hotspur Football pitch.

“We wanted to make Tottenham Hotspur Football Club more accessible to a younger age group and reach out to the next generation of fans around the world who will play a vital role in the future of the Club,” explained Daniel Levy, chairman of Tottenham Hotspur.

“This platform represents a significant investment and we believe this fun and entertaining concept is the perfect way to engage our younger fans like never before.”

Games such as Topsy Turfie, Training Run, Dodge’n’Dribble and the activity pack have all been designed to improve hand-eye coordination, problem solving and creativity. Virtual leaderboards allow kids to play against their friends, give virtual gifts and swap virtual player cards to complete their collection.

By completing the games, kids can earn virtual trophies, medals and coins that can be converted into real-life prizes, such as tickets to Club fun days, open training sessions, stadium tours and places at Tottenham Hotspur Soccer Schools, as well as Spurs merchandise. Codes can also be earned at such events to buy virtual goods to decorate users’ Turfie or the Turf they live in, driving offline engagement as well.

England international and Spurs striker, Jermain Defoe, commented: “I was a young boy, we had football stickers to swap in the playground, but I would have loved to have been able to play against my friends online and create my own ‘Turfie’. Tottenham Turfies takes things to a new level and it’s a great way for kids to have fun and get into football from an early age.”

Emma Taylor, head of marketing for Tottenham Hotspur, added: “Children typically make their decisions about the team they will follow for life between the ages of seven and 10, and we wanted to do something new that would engage with this audience and introduce them to the Club in an educational yet fun way. Knowing how popular digital devices have become with children, Tottenham Turfies has been designed to bring together all the great things about football and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club via a compelling mixture of interactive gaming, rewards and offline activity.”

Banking giant Barclays has updated its smartphone app to incorporate a new ‘donate with Gift Aid’ function to allow its customers to make donations direct to their favourite charities from their mobile.

Barclays Pingit facilitates instant payments and receipts using mobile phone numbers to anyone with a UK current account without the need to share bank details.

Charities will now be able to benefit from this service by receiving donations direct via Quick Response codes embedded on their website, leaflets, posters or billboards or direct from an in-app directory.

Commenting on the app David McHattie, head of charities, corporate banking, Barclays, commented: “Charities are operating in a challenging environment. As they explore new and innovative ways in which to engage and broaden their donor base, and in particular appeal to the next generation donor, Barclays Pingit could prove to be a key element in their evolving armoury.”

Amongst the charities set to benefit from the move is MacMillan Cancer Support, whose account manager Becky Ellison said: “We are very excited about Barclays Pingit’s new gift aid function and the way Barclays is using new technology to allow people to donate to Macmillan and help us ensure no one faces cancer alone. We used the app as part of our World's Biggest Coffee Morning fundraiser last year and we're looking forward to using it again this year and making it even easier for people to donate."

Almost two thirds (63 per cent) of retail workers have admitted to lying to cover up their lack of product knowledge with almost half (47 per cent) believing they do not know enough about the products they are expected to sell, according to research from digital retail experience and technology company Red Ant.

Of those surveyed more than half (58 per cent) of frontline retail staff said they were given less than two hours’ training before being expected to sell goods. Half (50 per cent) said their lack of product knowledge had left them embarrassed, with 46 per cent admitting to being shy or nervous when dealing with customers. Three quarters (74 per cent) of respondents said they felt their employers could be doing more to assist their product knowledge, with 31 per cent claiming that having a tablet with them on the shop floor would help provide more in-depth product information.

According to the research the three most popular ways retail workers have dodged customer enquiries include, directing customers to a colleague or another store (73 per cent), lying about a product or pretending to know more about it (63 per cent), and leaving the shop floor unattended (48 per cent).

The survey also revealed that this lack of product knowledge is affecting customer faith, with 67 per cent of consumers noticing the lack of product knowledge displayed by retail staff and 40 per cent of customers deliberately going online to avoid poorly informed retail staff.

Of the findings Red Ant CEO, Dan Mortimer, commented: “When I visit a shop, I know I can find all the product information I need in a matter of seconds just by pulling out my iPhone. But I also know that, if I ask a retail worker the same question, the likelihood is they’ll ask me to hang around for a few minutes while they visit the till-point or ask another member of staff for the answer.

“Many retailers are failing to spot this problem – it’s not necessarily about giving consumers the tools to access the information themselves, it’s about using technology to enable employees to provide a more valuable, enjoyable experience and keep customers coming back for more. Smart digital retail experiences matter as much in store as they do online. It is vital retailers learn how to use digital to optimise offline experiences, as happy employees lead to happy customers and a better looking bottom line.”

Top 10 tactics used by retail workers to avoid serving customers:

1. Find another member of staff who knows more about the product
2. Lie about the product to make it sound like I know what I’m talking about
3. Make up an excuse to leave them alone on the shop floor
4. Hide in the store room
5. Go to the toilet
6. Pretend to feel ill
7. Deliberately ignore them and serve a different customer instead
8. Tell them the product they’re interested in isn’t in stock
9. Pretend to be busy doing something else
10. Suggest they visit another store instead

We've had a few people ask us to make this our latest Marketing Weak choice - and who are we to disagree with our fine readers?

A classic meet-the-parents scenario turns into something slightly surreal for one hapless young man, who carelessly utters the 'c' word in their presence. That's right, 'crisp'. To emphasise the fact the snack he's eating is no such thing, his girlfriend's mum and dad (and their cat) start channelling Nacho Libre vibes.

Yes, they actually did put a Mexican wrestling mask on a cat.

GREAT Britain, the new 70 foot ocean Clipper unveiled by Rt Hon Hugh Robertson MP and legendary UK yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, was designed by Radley Yeldar.

The agency was briefed to create a design for the flagship yacht that would capture and communicate the innovative trade and tourism partnership between the race organiser, the GREAT Britain campaign and British based companies.

Robertson said: “The GREAT Britain yacht brings together our sporting legacy with some of the strongest and most vibrant British brands in a unique global promotion that will reach out to international markets on six continents over the course of the next year.”

The project is bringing together a cross-section of partners from the private sector to sponsor the GREAT Britain yacht over the next 16 months and participate in an international campaign that will link up with UK trade and tourism global marketing initiatives.

Open VideoView (OpenVV), the open-source viewability solution for in-stream video advertising, has announced that 20 companies are now offering support.

New companies joining OpenVV, which looks to provide open-source code that can be used as a reference template to create an open and common standard of measurement, include 4/7 Media, Adap.tv, Adconion Direct and Blinkx.

Rob Schneider, senior vice president of corporate strategy and platform development for 24/7 Media said that it was joining OpenVV because "we recognise that our industry needs a standard for measurement of digital video advertising viewability. With this standard, advertisers will continue to expand their investment in video advertising and publishers will be able to monetise their premium content at a fair price.”

OpenVV was founded in May 2013 by TubeMogul, BrightRoll, Innovid, LiveRail and SpotXchange.

The roster of companies using the service includes 24/7 Media, Adap.tv, Adconion Direct, Blinkx, Brainient, DataXu, DG, Extreme Reach, Media6Degrees, Meetrics, Mixpo, Nielsen, PointRoll, SourceKnowledge and TRUSTe. These companies join founding members TubeMogul, BrightRoll, Innovid, LiveRail and SpotXchange.

Saatchi & Saatchi has been named the winner of The YouTube Film Hack, a YouTube and MPC collaboration that challenged the creative industry to use the video platform as a tool for brand storytelling.

The project (explained in the video above) brought together multidisciplinary teams from Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT, Dare, M&C Saatchi, RKCR/Y&R, Leo Burnett and Karmarama, utilising their storytelling skills on a real client brief – The Migraine Trust.

The agency teams were paired with YouTube Partners, content creators with their own YouTube channels, and given one week to come up with a creative idea and a day in which to film it in the YouTube Creator Space, a facility usually reserved for YouTube Partners.

Throughout the project creative studio MPC worked as a production consultant. Agencies output was then appraised in two ways by the judges, Contagious’ Alex Jenkins, David Alberts of Mofilm and The Migraine Trust’s Charles Bosher, how it employed the YouTube platform (how interactive and responsive it was) and how compelling their ‘Skippable’ ad was, were viewers compelled to watch to the end, Saatchi & Saatchi's efforts (shown below) was picked as the winner.

Of the FilmHack, Charlotte Morton of YouTube’s creative agency team, said: “This event was designed to give some of the best creative minds in the industry a chance to explore the unique storytelling potential of the platform and think about what new skills are required to make those stories stick.”

MPC’s head of creative strategy, Ben Cyzer, added: “The YouTube Film Hack is an exciting project for us to be involved in because as an industry we all need to become more nimble, resourceful and contemporary in our creative approach. YouTube is the ultimate barometer of successful content so there's a lot to be learnt from this exercise.”

There is just over a week to get entries in for this year’s Social Buzz Awards, taking place in association with iomart Group. The Drum caught up with Ron Peterson, practice lead at social for AKQA and one of the judges on this year’s panel, to discuss what he will be looking for in entries.

How can brands build loyalty via social communities?

Loyalty stems from value. Like a good relationship, a brand must always ask how they can add value to a customer in a manner that's relevant to both parties. Before we even start thinking of how social will drive loyalty, we need to first solidify what value a brand can provide a customer, and then think of execution second (across all touchpoints, including social). Loyalty will come when things are done right.

How can brands use social engagement to create the same level of impact or brand awareness as traditional advertising?

Social provides impact, awareness, and other value by serving an 'always-on', '365' gap that traditional advertising does not fill. With consumers now spending 1.5 trillion minutes a year on social channels, gone are the days when you could produce a great TVC and come back next quarter. New forms of behaviour require new mindsets. The best social is more than publishing. The best social is a story, it is a service, and it is an experience. More than a platform, it disrupts your business. Look at what Giffgaff have been doing in the UK. They've fundamentally created a social business: a mobile network company designed for the community, operated by the community, and profit-shared to their community. Arguably, that is more impactful than any traditional advertising route they could have taken.

What will you be looking for during Social Buzz judging?

Value, purpose, and connectivity. Entries that exhibit an integrated, customer-centric, value approach, rather than those that look at Social from a siloed perspective. 'How many fans a campaign acquired', 'how many likes and comments it received', 'what the channel strategy was' will always be secondary to the value it provided. At AKQA, we have a philosophy that the best Social is the one that disappears. How integrated was it with everything else? Social should be so thought-through and inevitable that you don't even notice it's social to begin with.

What has been the biggest change in social media so far this year?

The velocity at which we move. The shelf-life of content continues to dwindle as our world moves at a faster velocity. This change has created an immense challenge for marketers. With so much speed, with so much production, we find ourselves surrounded by incredible amounts of noise. It will only get harder for a brand to identify what is inevitable amidst the clutter. Only those brands who are focused on a higher clarity of thought and a higher clarity of purpose will succeed.

The Social Buzz Awards celebrate effective social media marketing, with new categories being unveiled this year. Sponsored by iomart Group and Meltwater, entries are open until 16 August.

United Biscuits has announced the appointment of Grey London to handle its sweet brands portfolio.

Brands set to be covered by Grey include McVitie’s Digestives, Jaffa Cakes, Hob Nobs, Penguin, Medley and go ahead!.

Sarah Heynen, marketing director for sweet biscuits at United Biscuits, said: “More than ever, FMCG brands need real breakthrough creativity to thrive. Grey’s energy, thinking and ideas made them the ideal partner for us.”

The first campaigns will launch early next year and span TV, press, outdoor, digital and social.

Chris Hirst, CEO Grey London, added: “McVitie’s are a great and iconic family of brands that deserve great and iconic advertising. We’re excited and a little bit scared to get started.”

Grey was appointed following a competitive pitch.

Google has been hit with its second claim of a major software flaw in recent months after it emerged it’s Chrome browser settings reveal stored passwords in plain text to anybody who accesses a computer on which they’ve been saved.

By clicking on the ‘settings’ option, choosing ‘show advanced settings’ and then ‘manage saved settings’, anyone using a computer can view its saved passwords by clicking beside a list of obscure passwords to reveal them in plain text.

The flaw was discovered by UK-based software developer Elliot Kember and adds to the discovery last month of a ‘master key’ bug on Google’s Android software which it’s claimed could enable outsiders to access any Android user’s device on models released since 2009.

Justin Schuh, a security engineer on Chrome, insisted in an exchange with Kember that Google had “spent years evaluating it” and had “quite a bit of data to inform our decision”, adding that changing its system would leave users with a false sense of security because protected passwords are “trivially recoverable” to begin with.

“… you’re arguing that we take measures to make users think they're safe when they've already surrendered any pretense of security. Effectively, you're asking that we lull our users into a false sense of security,” said Schuh.

However, Kember countered that users already had a false perceived sense of security and were unaware that their passwords would be so easily accessible to other people.

“Either change it, or better communicate the need to lock your system. Because to an average user on the street, this is a scary thing to be able to do so easily,” he said.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web, said Chrome’s response was disappointing.

How to get all you big sister's passwords http://t.co/CpytKWH9aT and a disappointing reply from Chrome team.

— Tim Berners-Lee (@timberners_lee) August 6, 2013

Um Bongo producer The Gerber Juice Company has seen an opportunity for some PR having released a statement to distance itself from UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom’s recorded use of the phrase "Bongo Bongo Land".

Bloom used the phrase as he claimed that overseas aid was being wasted on luxury items such as sunglasses and Ferraris.

The fruit juice manufacturer has released the statement as Bloom’s words have drawn condemnation, and he has been told by his party not to use the terms again.

The statement, attributed to a Gerber Juice spokesperson, said: "We're proud to say that Um Bongo is alive and well and being made under license in Bridgwater, Somerset with the kind permission of the orang-utans, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses that own the brand. Um Bongo has no political affiliations at all, although all our owners are keen environmentalists. We're currently on sale in several leading UK supermarkets with some exciting new flavours and we're raising funds to save orang-utans from extinction."

Um Bongo saw its popularity peak in the Eighties with a long running cartoon TV advert playing for several years.

The RSPCA has said that it wants to work together with the makers of Marmite, Unilever, following the ‘Marmite neglect’ ad created earlier this week by the spread brand.

The ad, which has led to 278 complaints being made to the ASA following its launch this week, was created by Adam & Eve DDB in the form of a mockumentary, following a team ‘rescuing’ forgotten tubs of Marmite.

Several people have taken to Twitter to tell RSPCA about the ad, although The Drum believes that the RSPCA itself has not made an official complaint.

A spokesperson told The Drum: "We understand that animal lovers are concerned on our behalf - people either love the advert or hate it. We plan to talk to the makers of Marmite about how we can work together on animal welfare."

The Drum was awaiting a response from Marmite at the time of writing.

UPDATED: A spokesperson for Marmite told The Drum: “It is never our intention to cause offence. This is the first time Marmite has been on television for two years and we have made every effort to ensure that this commercial entertains anyone who watches it.

"It ranked highly throughout our rigorous testing process and with clear branding from the outset, as well as the comedic tone, we believe we have created an unmistakably Marmite ad – people will either love it or hate it and they certainly won’t forget it. We hope that everyone will watch and enjoy this commercial in the light-hearted way it was intended.”

Speculation is escalating via Twitter that a major incident is taking place above the skies of the UK.

The Flightradar24.com website shows Delta Airline Flight 99, en route from Paris to Detroit, circling in clear air over East Anglia for around the last hour. It is being kept clear of flight paths and other air traffic, and is circling continuously.

Twitter users who have been monitoring the Flightradar website have speculated that a major terrorist incident may be underway, with some claiming that the transatlantic flight is under escort from French fighter jets.

No official confirmation has been issued. The Drum has contacted Delta Airlines and awaits a response.

The airline's live flightboard states the flight is currently "diverted" and "delayed".

The UK’s standby airport for terrorist and other incidents is Stansted airport, only a few miles from the apparent site of the aircraft’s circular track.

Twitter is going crazy about Delta flight #DAL99, should be on it's way to Detroit but circling over Norwich (UK) - http://t.co/eVF22oUN88

— Tom Verhoeff (@tomverhoeff) August 7, 2013

Flight DL99 from Paris to Detroit immediately changed course towards London. http://t.co/DT1c2t1L5c Live updates: http://t.co/712BoFh7S3

— Peter Sonneveld (@petersonneveld) August 7, 2013

#DAL99 with 2 French militairy jets next to it? Possible hijacking? @KLM @Schiphol"

— Freedom of Info 4ALL (@ntisec) August 7, 2013

Delta Flight DAL99 Paris-Detroit diverted “@worldwidenieuws: @KetyDC And might go to Amsterdam later: pic.twitter.com/0oaSJzOdGH”

— Kety Shapazian (@KetyDC) August 7, 2013

Updated: the flight landed safely at Amsterdam Airport earlier this afternoon after being rerouted.

The Famous Grouse has engaged Taxi Studio to redefine the packaging of The Black Grouse Alpha Edition, due to launch in Waitrose in the UK and roll out across international Duty Free outlets this month.

Intended as a more dramatic version of The Black Grouse, The Alpha Edition’s packaging needed to communicate more of the whisky’s premium qualities and improve stand-out of the charismatic black grouse bird that the whisky is named after.

“Taxi Studio has done a fantastic job on the packaging, delivering a premium pack that brings to life the character of the whisky and the bird. The pack has great shelf impact – both the bottle and the carton are distinctive and iconic,” commented Allison Tuck, senior brand manager at The Famous Grouse.

Taxi’s new design features one letter on each side of the outer case to spell ‘ALPHA’, with each letter relating to the product story (for example L = Lek). Supporting words from Taxi Studio’s Lindsay Camp aim to increase shopper interaction in Duty Free outlets, where dwell time is greater, as well as creating brand stand-out.

Of the brief, Taxi Studio design director, Jonathan Turner-Rogers, said: “Our job was to sympathetically bring together the character of the black grouse, the Lek – a mating ritual which takes place in their natural habitat to establish the alpha male – and the unique whisky blend to deliver a darker, moodier, more premium addition to The Famous Grouse family.”

Spencer Buck, creative director at Taxi Studio, added: “The black grouse is illustrated at dawn when the Lek takes place, the rising mist a nod to the whisky’s smoky notes. The dramatic result elevates the product’s premium cues whilst safeguarding the brand’s most precious equity: the grouse itself.”

Subway has today launched a Teddy Bear Hunt Facebook game with Google Street View urging people to #WinLikeJanet in order to promote its new limited-edition Mango Chicken Sub.

Created by McCann, the #WinLikeJanet game is based on the character in the brand’s new TV ad, which sees Janet struggling to get a good deal all her life.

Every weekday for a month, five giant bears will be released on a bespoke Subway Facebook app and players will search the Google Street View map in the UK and Ireland to win a bear.

Clues to the whereabouts of the bear on Twitter.

Manaaz Akhtar, head of marketing for the Subway brand in the UK and Ireland said: “Subway fans loved the Keith character from our May campaign. As a result, it was only natural to build on this affinity with Janet, another affectionate character, to bring The Subway Lunch value campaign to life. We’re committed to amplifying My Sub My Way across all social channels and #WinLikeJanet is a charming and believable way to do so.”

The £1.8 million multi-channel marketing campaign will include a four week national TV and OOH advertising campaign, supported by VOD, digital activity, in-store promotion and a consumer PR campaign.

An intriguing short film shows a pimped-up tractor being ridden by a bearded chap in between shots of a logo. He has a race with a sports car driver and there's a lot of split-screen used unconventionally. It's not till the very end that we discover this is a promotional piece for a brand of single malt whisky.

Agency: Story (Edinburgh)
Creative Director: David Mullen
Creative: David Mullen / Rebecca McFarland
Production Co: Green Room (Edinburgh)
Director: David Boni
Photography: David Boni
Production Manager: Lucy Ball
Post Production: Green Room (Edinburgh)
Editing House: Green Room (Edinburgh)
Audio: Green Room (Edinburgh)

Redrow Homes is to roll out the Redrow Homes Audio Pen and Interactive Map, created by Madhouse Associates, nationwide following trials.

When viewing a show home, potential buyers can use the pen and map to interactively explore the house in detail by positioning the pen on any room or feature. By doing the home will be brought to life with in-depth information about the surroundings. The new technology comes as a result of an investigative project from Madhouse’s Research Plus division.

Kim Peters, sales and marketing director for Redrow Homes, commented: “The audio pen and map will revolutionise the way we market homes to potential house-buyers. Thanks to Madhouse and the insights they presented to us, we feel we have real in-depth understanding of our customers.

“We know that they feel we are ahead of the curve, and consider their time constraints by not having to wait for sales consultants in order to view our houses, whilst providing sensory stimulation to help them imagine living in one of our homes.”

Clare Briscall, of the Research Plus division, added: “We have worked very closely with Redrow to deliver a solution which solves the issue of busy sales consultants. The added ‘sensory’ value – including sounds associated with each room such as a kettle boiling or coffee being poured when using the pen on the kitchen of the home - helps the homebuyer envisage themselves living in the home, rather than just walking around it.”

100 audio pens will now be distributed across Redrow show homes over the next month.

Britannia Hotels has appointed Equator to improve website usability and simplify its online booking processes.

The hotel chain has 43 properties across the country and chose the agency for its track record on creating sites for the hospitality industry. Equator is also working on creating a new website for Brittania-owned Pontins Holiday Parks.

Garry Hamilton, business development director at Equator, said: “Britannia is one of the UK’s best known hotel chains and we are really excited about working with the team to create a cutting edge new site that will transform its online business.”

Equator has also been handling Britannia’s PPC account since last year.

A claimant who wishes to raise a court action against retailer SportsDirect over its use of zero hours contracts is seeking support via Twitter.

A former employee of SportsDirect identified only as Zahera, is aiming to take the company to court to challenge its use of the zero hours contracts.

Yesterday, secretary of State for trade Vince Cable said he was concerned there was "some exploitation" of staff on the contracts which give no guarantees of shifts or work patterns.

The action seeks donations of £1 to fund the action, which could cost many thousands of pounds to raise.

Zahera has been offered pro bono representation for the action.

The action is being supported by the campaign group 38 degrees, who claim the action will cost up to £10,000.