2020 has been a tough year for all, but for Boulder-headquartered MDC agency CPB it’s been particularly rough. January saw the departure, once again of its celebrated co-founder Alex Bogusky, and last month, the agency parted ways with Domino’s, a client it helped to make famous as an innovative digital marketer. Now, the agency is setting the stage for its next chapter with a new chief creative officer and a new headquarters. 

For its new U.S. creative chief, the agency has tapped Jorge Calleja, an agency vet who is currently serving client-side as the VP of marketing and executive creative director of esports at Activision Blizzard, a company that has seen much success during the pandemic.

Prior to going client-side, Calleja served in executive creative director posts at top creative shops including Deutsch L.A., TBWA Media Arts Lab and The Martin Agency. At the latter, he worked on notable campaigns for Oreo, including the “Wonderfilled” push. Prior to that, he was based in Amsterdam at Wieden+Kennedy, where he was group creative director for brands including Honda, LEGO and Coca-Cola, for which he helped develop the celebrated “Happiness Factory” campaign. 

“Leaving Blizzard is emotional for me,” Calleja said in a statement. “I will always be grateful to have worked among the amazing creative talent in such an exciting industry.” 

He added that CPB has always been a “dream” destination for him. “It is an honor and an enormous responsibility. But I’ve always gravitated toward the opportunities that challenge me as they are the most rewarding. Now is the time to turn the page on a new chapter, dissect what makes this place special, and use those core values to grow into the future.”

Additionally, CPB announced that it will be promoting Group Account Director Jacqueline Redmond to director of account management and that it has begun a search for a chief strategy officer. 

Along with the people moves, CPB itself will be moving. In July 2021, it will be leaving its Boulder headquarters for a new office in the heart of Denver. The new space occupies 20,000 square feet, a much smaller footprint compared to the approximately 60,000 square feet it has had in Boulder for the past 14 years. 

Last year, Ad Age reported that MDC CEO Mark Penn had issued a memo to execs looking to save cost by cutting back on real estate, but CPB insists that the move to Denver is not a savings measure. The agency cites Denver’s central location as well as its diversity as key factors behind the decision. 

“Like many in the industry, today we’re a disproportionately homogenous agency, but we also happen to be located in a largely homogenous place,” CPB Managing Director Ryan Skubic tells Ad Age. “Diversity was an important objective in our move to Denver as well as the CCO search—diversity in work experience, life experience, and the person’s work itself. We’re in hot pursuit of increasing diversity on every metric possible, from our talent to experience to the community we live in and the creative work that we make.”

The agency had been considering a move for a while, he adds, noting that hopefully it will make life more convenient, and frankly, better overall for the team and even clients. “A large portion of the agency already lives in and around the city. The idea of a new home is exciting for our people, and we hope for perspective talent and partners as well. Once we get through the pandemic and start meeting in person again, you can go right from the airport to our office without ever having to get in a car.”

The agency continues with clients including Hotels.com, American Airlines, Infiniti, Fruit of the Loom along with new clients Veterans United and VRBO, for which it created the first global campaign. It is currently defending the Infiniti account after the brand announced a global creative agency review earlier this year.