Octopus TV and Hillgrove PR forge alliance from ashes of £5m weekend ‘punk burn’
A weekend conflagration of punk memorabilia on the Thames, ignited by Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren’s son Joe Corre as part of a stunt drawing attention to the genre’s ‘sell out’ to commerce, has cemented a more permanent change.
Andrew Eborn of Octopus TV, producer of an upcoming documentary film, and Richard J Hillgrove VI of 6 Hillgrove Public Relations, who spearheaded global media coverage, are to come together as Eborn Hillgrove Associates.
Hillgrove remarked: “With ever increasing fragmentation of the media, the key challenge for all artists and brands is to achieve a loud and clear voice. There is nothing worse than the deathly silence of a lonely press release".
The pair will offer complementary services to business with Eborn, an intellectual property lawyer, offering a full range of services to brands including protecting and monetising rights whilst Hillgrove focuses on generating media interest.
Eborn added: “We are experiencing a seismic change in the way content is created, distributed and consumed. By continuing to form and to seek out strategic alliances with best in class businesses and embracing the opportunities presented by new technologies we are empowering companies of any size to benefit with access to services across the whole range of the intellectual property value chain from creation to distribution providing powerful promotional tools and opening up new revenue streams".