Crispin Porter + Bogusky has let some employees go in its Los Angeles office this week.
This marks the latest in a series of downsizing moves for the agency, which confirmed last November that it would be shrinking its L.A. location and closing its inaugural Miami office after nearly three decades.
“Recently we chose to resign from long-term client, Aspen Dental, as it became clear that we were not aligned on the future of the brand,” read a statement attributed to L.A. managing director Ryan Skubic. “Unfortunately, as a result, we’ve had to adjust our staffing. This week, five people will be leaving the agency, and others will be given the opportunity to relocate to our Boulder office. We don’t take these decisions lightly, but we believe this is the best course for the health and future of CP+B LA.”
It is unclear exactly how many individuals will leave the MDC Partners agency.
The source who first brought the move to our attention claimed that 5-6 individuals in the production department had been let go, and other parties later claimed the move had affected approximately 10-12 overall, which would be in keeping with the above statement.
The L.A. office parted with 5 percent of total staff last August after Infiniti moved its global brand account to 72andSunny; that business later returned to CP+B, which will handle the majority of the work in its Boulder, Colorado headquarters.
According to another source close to the matter, this most recent round of downsizing came about due to a lack of significant new business wins. This despite the fact that CP+B has recently picked up Goose Island (in Boulder), Hulu and Amazon Thursday Night Football.
These wins, are primarily project-based, though the L.A. office currently serves as AOR for Proximo liquor brands 1800 and Jose Cuervo. CP+B also recently stopped working on PayPal’s global brand account, though it retained some project work for that company as well.
PayPal has yet to announce the winner of its global creative review, which reportedly came down to R/GA and AKQA and focused on more B2B campaigns.