Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B) has made the
"agonizing" decision to close its Miami office in March 2018 as part of a restructuring that consolidates its U.S. operations to Los Angeles and Boulder, Colorado.
The agency has undergone
several changes in light of recent account losses, including the global Infiniti account to 72andSunny in August.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for
a while,” stated CP+B founder and chairman Chuck Porter, adding the move was partly a financial decision. "Our significant new business growth, however, has mainly been in Boulder and LA.
Ultimately, we decided that focusing our resources there will be better for the work and for our clients.”
Some 75 staffers will be impacted by this news with the office's
executive creative director Tom Adams moving to the LA office. The leadership team of CP+B Brazil’s CEO/partner Vinicius Reis and Chief Creative Officers/partners Marcos Medeiros and Andre Kassu
-- who added overseeing the Miami office to their responsibilities last year -- will continue in their roles with CP+B Brazil.
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“We all felt that the best path going forward was to allow them
to fully focus on the opportunities there," says Porter.
Other Miami staffers will hopefully be relocated both within CP+B, as well as via the agency's parent MDC Partners
network. Their primary financial and accounting responsibilities will now be centralized in Boulder.
CP+B originally launched in Miami in 1988 before expanding its footprint across
the U.S. and internationally. Offices in Boulder, Los Angeles and São Paulo will now handle the shop's Miami clients. The agency also has operations in London, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and
Beijing.
While this shuttering represents a significant move for the award-winning shop, it isn't necessarily a reflection of more serious challenges. Erik Sollenberg, who spent 14
years as CEO at Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, was hired as CP+B's CEO in August, taking over for the retiring global CEO Lori Senecal.
In October, Sollenberg was joined by Linus
Karlsson, who most recently founded MING Utility and Entertainment Group. “The DNA of CP+B centers around incredibly talented people doing extraordinary things," says Sollenberg. "It’s our
obligation to our employees and our clients to create and maintain an environment where this can happen."
Last year, Porter and Senecal chatted with Adweek's Jim
Cooper about how CP+B managed to thrive despite an every-evolving industry. The said they were "pretty nimble," but that all agencies can benefit from looking at their size. "All agencies probably
have processes they can do without," said Porter.
