To help celebrate Advertising Week in New York City next month, the organizers have developed a digital trading card collection featuring icons such as Ronald McDonald, Mr. Clean, and McGruff the Crime Dog.

Not only can you play an online trivia game to earn points to "buy" additional cards, the site offers a trading tool by which you can exchange duplicate cards with other participants around the world. I'm usually not one to linger long on sites, but this is addictive stuff: I already have 11 cards, and I can't earn any more points for two hours. Drat!

Between the collaborative, competitive elements, the site also excels in its design and content -- you can learn quite a bit about the history of advertising mascots and what makes a solid brand icon just by visiting.

[via Adrants]