YouTube and National Geographic are providing creative eco-minds from around the world to take part in a unique Planet Inspired competition focused on nature and win worthy prizes. The core idea of the initiative is to spread the word about the importance of eco protection among the video-hosting website visitors with the help of…  their own creativity. The participants of the contest are encouraged to submit their video collages highlighting one of the four themes—Oceans, Endangered Species, Fresh Water, or Exploration—to raise awareness about the problem and call the people who will be watching the film to active action.

It seems that over a few years, we will not have to go to the cinema or even take a disc to watch a movie—everything will be online and for free. Last Friday, 27 August, YouTube launched another free movie section, this time in the UK, inviting people to watch hits of the film industry for free and without any time limitations on the web. To date, there are more than 400 full-length movies of various genres, including action, horror, comedy and animated films, with yet more to come.

YouTube pays a tribute to beauty with a launch of L’Oréal Paris sponsored channel. The new hub Destination Beauty, which was opened last week, is designed as a platform for tips from industry gurus (make-up tutorial phenom Lauren Luke, makeup artist Kandee Johnson, and Seventeen Magazine). During a period of a year the page will be constantly updated with new spots, and maybe over some time this online destination will eventually turn into one of the favourite digital spaces for both consumers (any woman 18 to 54, the target audience) and beauty professionals.

Levi’s has sponsored this week’s YouTube hit, a simple yet great video called «Guy Walks Across America» to promote its new line of jeans and make a contribution to its portfolio of great commercials. The title of the ad (which doesn’t look like a promotion at all) tells all about the plot—Mike, a young man wearing brand-new jeans from a recently launched collection of Levi’s, goes on a walk trip along the roads of the USA, starting in New York and finishing in San Francisco.

All the roads lead to Rome—or to YouTube, when we talk about the area of commercials. Most of the spots, created to promote big and small brands, eventually appear on YouTube and are steamed either through corporate or individual channels. To make it easier for ad developers or industry fans to browse the related content on the world’s most popular video hub, YouTube launched the official “Show & Tell” channel, which comes as the “home of the best creative marketing examples.”

YouTube has launched a new program to make ‘the mountain come to Mahomet’ faster—one of the biggest online video-sharing services is offering cash to people who can make appealing clips and attract yet more visitors to the website. The Google-owned online community will spend $5 million during Partner Grants Program on big and small (ranging from a few hundred to a few hundred thousand dollars) donations to emerging creators.