Ruben Igielko-Herrlich Dies: Longtime Film Marketer & PropagandaGEM Co-Founder Was 62

Ruben Igielko-Herrlich, a veteran film marketer who co-founded the global entertainment marketing group PropagandaGEM, has died of brain cancer. He was 62.

His family said he died March 7 after a four-year battle with glioblastoma.

Igielko co-founded PropagandaGEM in 1991 with his longtime friend and business partner, Anders Granath. During the next three decades, the company grew to have 10 offices in Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S.  

Among its most recognized brand integrations are The Matrix placing Nokia’s flip phone into the hands of Keanu Reeves and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’s chase scenes with Tom Cruise behind the wheel of a BMW. Igielko was the go-to liaison connecting Hollywood’s major studios and celebrities with his clients which, in addition to BMW and Nokia, included such prominent luxury brands such as Gucci, Bulgari, Piaget and Lamborghini.

Igielko was born on March 15, 1960, in Havana, Cuba, where his mother had fled following the Holocaust. When he was just 10 months old the Fidel Castro regime came to power, and his family emigrated to Switzerland. Raised in Geneva, he moved after college to New York City, where he worked with luxury brands such as Tiffany and Bulgari. Unsatisfied with corporate life, he moved back to Geneva at 30. There he met Granath, with whom he would found PropagandaGEM.

Igielko is survived by his wife, Dr. Lara Fielding; his children, Cyrus and Charis Hauri; his mother, Elizabeth Herrlich; and his siblings Rebecca Rezzonico, Hanna Shiloni, Evelyn Igielko and Albert Beran.