CP+B = SO+L?

Miles Nadal likes to describe his MDC Partners as a place “where great talent lives.” These days, however, the CEO of the smallest of the major holding companies is grappling with talent leaving, principally Alex Bogusky, co-chairman and creative soul of MDC’s most valuable agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Bogusky, who also briefly held an MDC role, left abruptly in July, nine years after MDC took a stake in Crispin and after Nadal, a self-made businessman from Canada, reportedly offered him $15 million to stay. In many ways, Bogusky, an articulate and visible leader, personified the agency, which in turn raised the profile of MDC. His absence creates a void across both.

It’s against this void that Nadal seeks to put his imprint on his crown jewel agency, with the goal of turning the largely domestic Crispin into a bona fide global player. This summer, Nadal rechristened MDC’s Zig in Toronto as “CP+B Canada” -- a year after buying Swedish digital shop Daddy and rebranding it as “CP+B Europe” -- and he’s now searching for a global CEO, sources said. The shop is also said to be seeking a top strategic planner. In his CEO recruitment efforts, Nadal has said that current CEO Jeff Hicks, whose purview has been U.S. focused, may shift to another role, said sources.

Getting the leadership right at Crispin is no small matter: Nadal, in his pitch to potential CEOs, has said that the agency generates some $200 million in annual revenue, or more than a third of MDC’s 2009 total of $550 million, as reported by the company. More broadly, Nadal faces the challenge that confronts any company whose most valuable asset is talent.

Also, without Bogusky, Crispin has lost some of its “public sizzle,” said a source, who added:
“There’s no focal point at that agency right now.”

When contacted about his global plans for Crispin -- including talk of a CEO search -- Nadal was uncharacteristically mum. In response to e-mails sent to Nadal and Hicks, a representative for both MDC and Crispin denied that a search for a new top exec was under way and said of Hicks: “He’s the CEO and I believe he’s the CEO going forward,” adding that “there are going to be promotions at CP+B.”

Crispin calls itself an “advertising and design factory” and it’s likely that few of its notoriously workaholic staffers would disagree, with the agency churning out creative at breakneck speed. Bogusky’s influence can’t be understated: When he decided to move to Boulder, Colo., for lifestyle reasons in 2006, there was upheaval in the Miami agency’s creative department as its staffers and strategic planners followed him west. Now with Bogusky gone, some of the 600 in Boulder, who toil in a huge former cattle shed, are migrating back to Miami.

Bogusky, meanwhile, is holed up in his “FearLess” cottage in Boulder, where he blogs about issues like obesity levels and advertising to children, the kind of morality questions that weren’t quite so troubling while he awaited his final MDC payouts and worked on accounts like Burger King. It was those marketers, after all, who helped him retire as a multi-millionaire in flip-flops before the age of 50.

Nadal, who heaps praise in his approaches to potential hires, displays the indefatigable optimism of a college dropout who has the requisite badges of success, including a home in the Bahamas and an 80-foot yacht.

In tweets and blog posts, Nadal seems to have a driving need to share the pearls of wisdom that presumably helped him get to where he is today. In a tweet last week, Nadal offered a reminder he may well keep in mind as he seeks to set a future course for Crispin: “I use this Quote 1-5 times Daily!!!” he wrote. “‘You are what your record says you are’ -- Bill Parcells.”