The digital/creative director, who also co-founded “ping-pong clothing” brand Thompson Punke, has worked both in New York and in the U.K, serving as a CD at the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi NY, Dare, Ogilvy London and Agency Republic during his career. Regarding Cooper’s move to Tool, the prodco’s EP, digital Dustin Callif says, “Tool’s in-house digital capabilities and roster of talent have grown tremendously over the past few years. James is exactly the sort of leader who can help us marshal those resources into our next game-changer.”

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-Omnicom is reportedly in talks to buy LBi for $580 million. link

-Jason Zada‘s “Take This Lollipop” nabbed yet another award, this time a Daytime Emmy. link

-Is it over for the indie digital agency? link

-Duncan/Channon wants to play truth or dare in a new Facebook game for Tahoe South. link

-Trina Arnett, former head of analytics at CP+B and Mullen, launched her own consulting firm. link

-Here’s the latest “Dorm Room Innovator” clip from CP+B for Best Buy (above).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Like pretty much every year, one ad awards show predicts another and 2012 is no different as the Association of Independent Commercial is the latest organization to honor Chipotle and BBH/Google Creative Lab for their respective efforts. Both picked up “Best in Show” efforts at tonight’s event, which as usual takes place in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Chipotle’s “Back to the Start  campaign from CAA and director Johnny Kelly earned  Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial honors while BBH and Google Creative Labs won the Advertising Excellence/Campaign prize for the Chrome efforts including “Dear Sophie” and “It Gets Better.” On the agency front, W+K ran away with the most number of honors, earning 10 in all for everything from Copywriting for the Chrysler “Halftime in America” spot starring Clint Eastwood, Visual Style for the Heineken “Handlebar Mustache” ad and Cinematography for the Levi’s “Legacy” campaign.

Other notable agency winners include 72andSunny and BBDO New York, which each earned five awards. On the directing front, meanwhile, Tool’s Jason Zada picked up a few directing honors for his nifty, creepy viral hit, “Take This Lollipop“.

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After just setting Burger King staffers’ hearts aflutter, David Beckham continues his advertising tear with a far more active spot from Cheil USA for the Samsung Galaxy Note. Directed by Tool’s Jason Zada, the commendable clip features Becks reinterpreting Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” the best way he knows how. Of course, we imagine there was some decent amount of editing involved, but it’s nice to see that the soccer star still has it in him.

The Samsung spot also marks Lars Bastholm‘s first work as CCO at Cheil USA, which he of course joined towards the end of last year. As for Beckham, one would think that being a player for the L.A. Galaxy would have something to with his appearance in a Samsung Galaxy spot, but the athlete and brand are both in fact heavily involved in the London Olympics, with Beckham serving as an ambassador and Samsung serving as sponsor for the 2012 festivities. So, you see, it all makes sense now. Credits after the jump.

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-Sony is auditioning folks on Facebook to become game characters with “The Uncharted Audition” (behind-the-scenes content above). link; link

-Facebook says its revamped brand pages are off to a strong start. link

-The “Take This Lollipop” effort, directed by Tool’s Jason Zada, picked up Best in Show at the SXSW Interactive Awards. link

-Y&R’s Chicago office picked up a SXSW Interactive award for its Craftsman “Screw*d” project, which you can read all about on the agency’s SXSW Tumblr. link

-MRM was named BtoB‘s 2012 Top Interactive Agency. link

-So, why did Twitter buy Posterous? link

-Adam Trisk and Fred Brown, formerly of Digitas and Momentum Worldwide, respectively, joined NYC startup CrowdTwist. Trisk will serve as head of marketing while Brown joins up as head of business development and alliances.

-New York audio post house Sound Lounge will be hosting is inviting the ad and improv community to check out its “Sell Out for Sound Lounge” event at the UCB Theater on March 22. link

-Bi-coastal prodco Chelsea signed New York-based director Gregor Nicholas for exclusive representation in the United States.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Justin Gignac, a self-described “New York City artist, entrepreneur and recovering advertising art director,” has unveiled a new network for freelancers and potential employers called “Working Not Working.” Though he’s still “recovering,” Gignac left full-time advertising on a high note in 2007 after working as a senior art director on the award-winning “Elf Yourself” viral work for OfficeMax.

Following his various post-advertising projects including the interactive QRapping Paper and the design effort NYC Garbage, Gignac and collaborators including fellow art director and Ogilvy/Cliff Freeman alum Adam Tompkins have now turned their focus to WNotW, which aims to connect freelance creatives with companies that would be interested in hiring them. As the manifesto on the site says, Gignac and crew are calling all freelancers to “free themselves from self-promotion and focus their energy on being creative. And for those who hire freelancers to stop conducting exhaustive searches when qualified creatives are ready and waiting.”

The Working Not Working crew is currently accepting people for its private beta, with a beta launch starting with the ad industry expected to launch in a few weeks. You can go here to share your info and take part.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ignited launched a new series of web spots for Konami’s new sports video game, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012. The self-proclaimed “most realistic depiction of the game” has its work cut out for itself, competing in a space long ruled over by EA’s popular FIFA series. So, in order to set PES 12 apart from its competition, Ignited created Robert Roberto Roberto, the “world’s greatest referee.” As a “Robert” myself, I approve of the name selection.

Roberto’s job is not done on the field, as the soccer ref feels compelled to give people red and yellow cards whenever he sees fit and in whatever environment a “foul” is committed. This apparently includes people trying to cheat the 10 items or less line at the grocery store. Maybe it’s just the white beard or being referred to as “the world’s greatest” person in his chosen profession, but Roberto certainly has a Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” vibe, doesn’t he? In any case, Roberto takes his refereeing job seriously, which Ignited seems to favor over showing little to no PES 12 game play in these spots. Watch two more spots below and view credits after the jump. (Really? Only a yellow card for a nut punch?)

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.