Justin Ruben goes independent, launches ‘a place for different shaped thinking’
Senior creative talent Justin Ruben has launched a new creative agency, described as “a place for different shaped thinking”.
Ruben has opened Oblong Creative in response to the different needs of marketers and creatives, and to allow for flexible, unconventional work.
“My inspiration for launching Oblong came from the desire to create an agency where we don’t just think about the work differently, but also the teams we put on projects,” he explained.
Justin Ruben
“Oblong is designed as a flexible model, allowing us to bring in specialist people depending on the project. We believe bringing people in with diverse backgrounds will lead to different shaped ideas and we will always get the best in class talent, both locally and globally.
“I am also a big believer in creating culturally relevant work that creates impact for clients, and with the rise of AI, it’s important we come up with unexpected ideas that robots can’t.”
Ruben’s experience spans BMF, Droga5 New York, BBH New York and Publicis Mojo among other leading agencies. He was ECD at CHE Proximity (now CHEP Network) for two years, before being nabbed by Havas Host.
Ruben departed the Havas creative agency in December last year, and has spent the majority of 2024 as a creative consultant and freelance ECD and copywriter.
With the launch of Oblong Creative, he will use his experiences from the various agencies to create more unique work for clients to help them cut through.
“I’ve always loved the different shapes and forms that advertising can take and I believe now, it’s more important than ever, in this content heavy world that we create work that cuts through and taps into culture,” Ruben continued.
“Oblong’s model will also allow us to take on projects of any size, depending on their potential and the impact they can have.”
Oblong has already begun working on projects, with client announcements to be made in the coming weeks.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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