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The three agencies -- Just, Seattle-based Fluent Communications and New York-based The Publishing Agency -- have been merged into one group, to be known as The Publishing Agency.
 
They were previously part of Interpublic's MRM Partners, operating as a network under the same banner of The Publishing Agency.

TPA will continue to share clients with Interpublic's MRM Partners, but will also pursue its own clients and establish relationships with other holding companies. It also has capital allocated for acquisitions, which willl take it into new territories and services such as production.

Under its new structure, the TPA will focus on all forms of branded content, and not just customer magazines.

It will pursue projects across media from customer magazines, websites, mobile, broadcast audio and video, email and blogs, according to Simon Kelly, the group chief operating officer.

Kelly co-founded Just's predecessor TPD with Julian Treasure in 1990. He went on to establish TPD in the US, which became Fluent and was sold with Just to Interpublic in 2001.

Of the five founders, the two British members are the yet-to-be named UK managing director and Kelly, who was previously president of Fluent and a general manager of MRM Partners.

The other three are American. Kirk Cheyfitz, the group CEO, was previously the worldwide managing director of The Publishing Agency. Jim Small, now the chief growth officer, was running the New York agency, and Oscar Mraz, the chief financial officer, was formerly chief financial officer of the Seattle agency.

According to Kelly, the split was amicable and due to the divergence between the publishing agencies' increasing interest in branded content and MRM Partners' core focus on relationship marketing.

Major clients shared with MRM Partners include Microsoft in the UK and Lexus and Banc of America in the US.

Alex Finer has joined The Publishing Agency London as creative director. He was the editor of High Life, the British Airways customer magazine published by Cedar, until July 2004 since which he has freelanced.

The London agency will be moving to new offices in Primrose Hill in the next month.

Last week saw the launch of Sunday, a start-up formed by the former Just creative director Matt Beavan and former client services director Toby Smeeton, with Christopher Lee, former chief operating officer of Interpublic's MRM Partners.

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