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The advertising side of the business won fame in 1986 for creating the "California Raisins," when the Portland firm was known as Vinton Studios.

The team running advertising for Laika, Phil Knight's animation studio, is splitting from the rest of the company to form their own firm. Knight's studio will now focus exclusively on feature films.

The Portland-based advertising side has been operating under the name Laika/house, even as the parent company shifted to focus increasingly on its movie studio in Hillsboro.

Laika said Tuesday morning that its advertising president Lourri Hammack, creative director Kirk Kelley and operations director Al Cubillas will form their own, new studio to focus on animated ads. Phil Knight's son, Travis Knight, continues to lead the film business as Laika's chief executive.

With Laika due to release its third animated feature, "The Boxtrolls," in September, Travis Knight said "it's become clear that we need to devote all of our artistry, innovation, and resources towards our feature films in order to craft the distinctive and evocative stories for which LAIKA has become known."

Phil Knight acquired the former Will Vinton Studios in 2003, taking over a business that had achieved considerable renown for its Claymation stop-motion ads, most notably the California Raisins campaign that launched in 1986. It's continued to produce prominent ads for M&M's, Planters Nuts and many others.

The advertising side of the business currently has 47 regular employees and another two-dozen who work on individual projects. The new firm doesn't yet have a name. Laika said there were no financial considerations in the split.

Laika's film studio has begun production on a fourth film in its Hillsboro production studio, but hasn't announced a name, director or release date. Its first two films, "Coraline" and "ParaNorman," each received an Oscar nomination for best animated feature.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699