Interest

The Associates PR Company Closing (Updated)

The London PR agency The Associates has announced that it is to close. The agency handled the anime titles for Manga Entertainment and MVM.

In the announcement, headed "Final News From the Associates," the company said:

Sadly, after 22 magical years it's time to bring a close to an agency that's been an element of many of the most fun parts of the film PR business – at least we like to think so! Following the passing last year of our Managing Director and founder of The Associates, Richard Larcombe, we've since been struggling to see the sense of continuing without him.

It's a source of enormous pride over the years that we've been able to bring to you so many varied titles – many of which, frankly, you might not have heard of. But some, it seems, you all loved, from the phenomenal Ong Bak to the super cool Bubba Ho-Tep and the action-packed District 13. We've also helped usher in ground-breaking labels like Hong Kong Legends, brought anime to the wider media through Manga and MVM, and shared some brilliant TV titles, from the witty Absolutely through to Will & Grace.[...]

The titles currently listed on our website will be the last releases to be represented by The Associates and we will be completing all the work in progress so you can continue to correspond with us and request materials as needed.

Update - On its twitter feed, Manga UK said, "Today marks the end of an era with the closure of The Associates. We'd like to thank them for 7 years of loyal service. Our PR will continue to be managed by our original account team of LiSA [DeBell] and Almar [Haflidason]. Our service will not be interrupted... Check discs will be supplied as normal."