Hasta La Creative!

Making life easier for publishers struggling to keep up with the explosion of ad networks – now numbering over 300 – and the determination of which network will yield the best results, is the Rubicon Project.

LONDON – 7digital, the music and video download firm behind music services on Bebo and Last.fm, has secured £4.25m of funding.

Sweden is on a roll lately with the odd commercials. Following last week’s super-sized McDonald’s weirdness, here’s an ad from Saatchi Stockholm and Traktor for Jokk juices. As the unfortunate hero of the spot learns, Jokk berries are hard to pick, but the juice is easy to drink, so it’s apparently a wash. The tagline is sung in a kind of Steeleye Span vocal, which is a nice touch. See a second spot after the jump.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

LONDON – Rajar, the radio audience measurement organisation, has published new research that shows that podcasts encourage people to listen to live radio.

LONDON – Shaun McIlrath, the founding partner and creative director at Hurrell and Dawson, has been poached by Iris to take the new role of executive creative director.

Since the New York Giants are in the Super Bowl this year, it’s a good time to look back at their 1983 defensive line’s charmingly misanthropic ad for Pepsi Light. We wonder if their hatred for quarterbacks and halfbacks extended beyond other teams to their own offensive players. We would also question the readiness of all those showering men to break out into a choreographed musical number, but most of those guys could probably still beat the crap out of us. We’ll just attribute their enthusiasm to the twist of lemon and leave it at that.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Stuart Elliott’s Monday morning wake up call is all about how clients and Madison Avenue saw “the recession” coming a mile away and have already adjusted accordingly.

Whatever. Let’s click over to where the action is, shall we?

LA Times Staff Writer, Alana Semuels, paid a visit to the Rubicon Project’s offices, where “dozens of twentysomethings in jeans crowd around tables in one big room, hunched over laptops, typing away. A few play a Nintendo Wii game in the corner. One sips a beer.”

Investors may be jittery about the current economy, but Rubicon — a start-up online advertising company — isn’t worried. It hired most of its 37 employees in the last few months, and today it plans to announce it has received a new round of funding, bringing its total to $21 million in eight months.

Here’s Rubicon’s pitch to web publishers:

Pizza chains have gotten mighty inquisitive lately in their ad campaigns. Domino’s wants to know what people do in the 30 minutes it takes for a delivery to arrive. (I sit quietly and review Domino’s commercials, myself.) Now, Imo’s in St. Louis, which makes toppings-to-the-edge pizza, gets up in everybody’s face about their competitors’ leftover crusts. What do we do with them, Imo’s wonders in its latest ads. That pizza-crust ring of Saturn is pretty cool. Even so, what I choose to do with my crusts is my business. If I stick them up my nostrils and bark like a walrus: It’s my business! Here’s an old spot for Pizza Hut’s Edge pie. If I were Pizza Hut, I’d call out the lawyers. Don’t sue Imo’s for ripping off your edge concept—sue yourselves, because your pizza sucks. Now, excuse me, I’ve got to put an ice-pack on my nose.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Situations get rough, but Pep never loses his head. Or his vision. He knows his Crowbar’s® Anti-Fog Technology will keep his lenses clear. And their High Definition Optics® means he sees clearly from every angle—even if it’s some kind of radical left or right. Pep Fujas, always ready for whatever.

Advertising Agency: Oakley Creative
Art Director: Marcel Seva
Copywriter: Steve Elliot
Photographer: Jennifer Rocholl

When something gets in his face, Sammy doesn’t blink. That’s because his faith in his Crowbar’s® impact protection and clarity is unbreakable. It comes from their ultra-flexible O Matter® frames and High Definition Optics® with perfect clarity. They’re just what he needs to ride against the herd. Sammy Carlson, always ready for whatever.

Advertising Agency: Oakley Creative
Art Director: Marcel Seva
Copywriter: Steve Elliot
Photographer: Jennifer Rocholl