Hollywood marketing firm Cimarron Group to shut down
This post has been corrected. See below for details.
Cimarron Group, one of Hollywood’s leading brand strategy and marketing companies, is closing its doors after more than three decades in business.
“It is with much regret that I announce the closing of Cimarron Group,” Bob Farina, chief executive of the Cimarron Group, said in a statement. “I want to thank the incredible executive team and staff that has served this agency with their creativity and dedication. Over the past 33 years, our clients have meant everything to us and we appreciate all of them beyond measure.”
About 120 employees will lose their jobs. On Monday, many had already been laid off or took jobs at other rival agencies.
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Cimarron did not cite the reasons for the announcement, but a source close to the company said the decision came about after efforts to secure a loan to meet its obligations fell through. Cimarron failed to meet its payroll obligations last week.
Insiders said the company has faced mounting financial difficulties in recent years after expanding overseas and seeing a falloff in business from studios, which have cut back the number of movies they release annually and slashed what they spend on marketing campaigns.
Founded more than three decades ago, the Hollywood-based company creates movie trailers and TV commercials as well as print and digital ad campaigns for major studio movies.
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Cimarron, which has offices in Singapore, Italy and Beijing, had recently worked on Fox’s “The Heat,” “Epic,” “Taken 2,” and “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” as well as DreamWorks’ “The Croods,” which was also released by Fox; and Universal’s “Identity Thief.”
The company’s clients include MGM Grand, Cirque du Soleil, the consumer products division of 20th Century Fox and Village Roadshow.
Warnings of the company’s financial distress have been evident for months. In June, SAG-AFTRA accused Cimarron of reneging on payments to performers as well as contributions to pension and health plans. The guild temporarily ordered its members not to work with the company until it reached an agreement to resolve the dispute.
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And in April, Cimarron discreetly closed its Beijing office after less than a year in operation in China, laying off six employees who said they were not paid any severance and were owed back wages. Cimarron disputed the claims and said it would retain a presence in China.
Company executives said the decision became necessary after its client MGM Grand pulled out of a planned casino project in Vietnam. They also told The Times that progress had been slower than anticipated in building up its film marketing business in China.
[For the record 1:19 p.m.: An earlier version of the post misspelled Bob Farina’s name.]
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Cimarron Group closes office in Beijing
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