Well, we’ve been hearing about this since yesterday evening and now we’ve received official word that CP+B’s Toronto office as we know it is no longer. In its place is a new, MDC Partners-backed, 30-strong operation dubbed Union, which will be led by former Taxi 2 ECD Lance Martin, Lowe Roche alum Dave Carey and Subtej Nijjar, who has spent the last year as president of what was CP+B Toronto.

In a statement, MDC chief Miles Nadal explains the new Toronto entity, saying, “Union offers the kind of talented, experienced and modern team that will produce great work that will drive tangible, measurable financial returns for clients. Clients are looking for innovative creative solutions and insights that deliver impactful results, and these partners represent the kind of digital thinking, modern strategic insight and creative disruption that can create, build, and catapult businesses.”

Unlike the dire report we were getting from tipsters yesterday regarding mass cuts, Marketing is reporting that as a result of the Union launch, 15 CP+B Toronto staffers though the new operation will continue sharing clients such as Best Buy and Kraft with the latter network. Regarding the news, CP+B CEO Andrew Keller adds, “”We love our Canadian partners and are very proud of the work that we’ve done together. We believe their best opportunity for growth and success will be as an independent agency.  We are great fans of Sub and look forward to the success of Union.”

As for CP+B itself, the agency’s network stands with five offices in Miami, Boulder, London, Los Angeles and Sweden.

It seems to be the theme this week, unfortunately, but we can confirm that Crispin Porter + Bogusky has made some cuts in its Boulder and Miami offices. We’ve been told the agency is “hiring,” but to explain today’s news, we bring you this statement verbatim from the agency’s CEO, Andrew Keller.

“This has been a strong year for CP+B but we must consistently ask ourselves whether we are doing everything possible for our business to run as efficiently and effectively as possible. In preparation for 2013, we are closely focusing on what we believe matters most: creative, strategy and innovation. To do this, we must realign some of our staffing, which will mean eliminating some positions – less than 5% –  most in areas not absolutely essential to our creative product. At the same time, the agency will continue to add key creative, strategic and digital positions. We certainly don’t take any of these decisions lightly, especially since they involve colleagues and friends. As we continue to evolve, we will always look to find the best ways to meet and exceed the needs of our clients and we are confident that the steps we are taking do just that.

Andrew Keller
CEO
CP+B”

Crispin Porter + Bogusky has promoted four-year agency vet Ivan Perez-Armendariz to chief digital officer, which we’ve been told is a new post at the MDC agency. Perez-Armendariz officially joined the CP+B camp when his shop texturemedia was acquired back in 2008. You might recall that the new CDO succeeded Winston Binch, who’s now at Deutsch LA, over 15 months ago as director of interactive production and subsequently added EVP to his title this past May.

CP+B CEO Andrew Keller says of the new, L.A.-based digital boss (who happens to be a Boulder native), “Ivan has been an enormous asset to us and an amazing partner to me. His entrepreneurial spirit and digital expertise allow him to lead in a practical and compelling way that invigorates clients as well as everyone at CP+B.”

We’ve received confirmation that as part of its ongoing “alignment” process, Crispin Porter + Bogusky had to let go of some staffers in its Toronto office. Here’s a statement from CEO Andrew Keller:

“As we continue to align our six offices with our one agency model, we have simplified our structure. One consequence of this is that 11 of the positions in the Toronto office are no longer needed. Although we do not take the laying off of employees lightly, we believe that we must act in the best interest of both our employees and our clients at all times.  We are confident that this move allows us to bring our clients the most powerful CP+B thinking from across the globe.”

Among the 11 staffers affected is creative director/head of interactive Darren Richardson, who had been CP+B Toronto for just over a year.  From what we’ve been told, CP+B’s office up north has a current staff count of 50.

It seems as though the hiring manager at Old Navy’s “Funnovations Inc.” is quite the fanatic of early 90s sitcoms. After all, Blossom star and current Big Bang Theory cast member Mayim Bialik revives her giant floral hat for a stint spent deploying “Bee Bots” on spring dresses. It’s always amazing how quickly these Old Navy spots from CP+B and prodco Brand New School turn into surreal portrayals of a dystopian society controlled by excessively cheerful celebrities who run clothing factories.

So maybe using Bootsy Collins to sell boots last winter was a bit of a stretch, but if there’s one media personality we can immortalize for bringing colorful clothing to the masses 20-some years ago, it was blossom and her outrageously bright clothing. Also, it’s kind of nice (and a little depressing) that Joey Lawrence can still make some money on the side by not wearing a shirt and saying, “Whoa.”

On that note, who’s ready for the second season of Melissa and Joey on ABC Family? Credits after the jump.

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We’ve received confirmation that Crispin Porter + Bogusky and ECD Tim Roper “mutually decided it was the right time” to part ways. From what sources familiar with the matter tell us, Roper is leaving to pursue his main passion these days, which is directing (he most recently wrote and helmed the Hulu/Will Arnett work including the Super Bowl spot). Roper spent 15 years at CP+B give or take, and among other things, served as a copywriter in the agency’s Miami office early on before moving up to creative director at the first incarnation of its L.A. branch in the early aughts.

During his later years at Crispin, Roper led creative for not only Hulu, but for agency clients ranging from Sprite to Volkswagen. Here’s an official comment from CP+B CEO Andrew Keller: “Tim Roper has been a great asset to our creative team during his time at CP+B. He has a number of other interests and we are in agreement that now is the perfect time for him to pursue them. We thank him for his contributions to the agency and wish him tremendous success moving forward.”

Nearly two years after rejoining Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Miami office soon after the shuttering of his agency Toy, Ari Merkin (pictured) is leaving the agency to reunite with his old Toy co-conspirators in a consulting role with CP+B parent company MDC Partners. In addition, director of integrated production Dave Rolfe, who had been with Crispin for nearly five years, is leaving the agency for a post at BBDO New York. Read the full statement from CP+B CEO Andrew Keller below:

“Ari Merkin is moving from CP+B and will be consulting with our holding company, MDC Partners where he will be reunited with his former partners from TOY, and current MDC executive management principals Anne Bologna and David Dabill. We are grateful for all Ari has contributed to CP+B and look forward to seeing him flourish in all of his future endeavors.

Additionally, Dave Rolfe is leaving CP+B to join BBDO, NY. We are truly appreciative for all of his meaningful contributions to CP+B. We will not be replacing his role as Director of Integrated Production, however, we will be announcing a new Director of Video Production in the next few weeks.  The Integrated Production Department has incredibly strong leadership within each group and we think this system accurately reflects the current needs of the agency and our clients. Tiffany Rolfe, Dave’s wife and an Executive Creative Director will be staying on at CP+B, continuing as a lead of our LA office, but will eventually be based out of New York with our Global Strategy Officer Suzanne Powers and others based in New York. We are pretty sure we will still be seeing quite a lot of Dave and we remain great friends.

Andrew Keller
CEO
CP+B”

Update: Rolfe is expected to make the move from Los Angeles and join up with BBDO NY as director of integrated production in March.

-PMH and fellow Minneapolis-based operation Pixel Farm collaborate on a new campaign for Mattel’s Barbie (above). link

-GigaOM and paidContent have now joined forces. link

-Anomaly is opening up shop in Toronto. link

-Have you seen Google’s Chrome for Android beta clip yet? link

-Susan Credle, Pete Favat and Andrew Keller are among the familiar names in the 2012 AICP Show Curatorial Committee. link

-Carter Murray is taking over for Tom Sebok as Y&R New York CEO. As part of Y&R global CEO David Sable‘s restructuring of the Big Apple branch, BrandBuzz will also be merged back into Y&R NY and Wunderman Seattle’s Sean Howard will be moving to the NY office to serve as GM.

-Publicis & Hal Riney and Mullen are the final two combatants for the U.S. Cellular biz. link

-Lee Clow and other L.A. agency folks share the spotlight in a pub called Our South Bay. link

-McDonald’s shamrock shake is going national. link

-Viacom and Amazon are close to forming an alliance against Netflix, too. link

In case you haven’t already heard about the layoffs that hit CP+B, which we’ve been told affects “less than five percent” of the agency’s global workforce, here’s the full statement from CEO Andrew Keller:

“This has been a strong year for CP+B in a lot of ways.  We’ve expanded our operations in LA and in London and we’ve won some exciting new accounts.  It’s no secret, however, that the economics of this business are changing.  To continue as an industry leader, we are adjusting our operating model to be leaner and more flexible than ever. As we restructure towards our vision, we have made the difficult decision to lay off 43 of our 900+ employees. Our two main responsibilities are to our clients and to our employees. Being fiscally prudent and financially sound is critical to both.  Our industry is undergoing a dramatic reinvention, economically and in other ways, and we embrace the opportunity that comes with change.”

We’ve mentioned that this kind of staff shift was possibly going on at CP+B in recent months, but guess we can say it’s now finally official. We’ve been told that layoffs were made across departments.

CP+B has undergone a bit of a management makeover in its Toronto office as Subtej Nijjar, or “Sub” as he’s known, has been promoted to president. Nijjar (right) has spent the last year as VP, director of cultural & business insights at CP+B Toronto, though his time there dates back six years when he joined what was then zig Ideas as strategic planner. During the last few years, Nijjar has taken the lead on a variety of CP+B’s North American accounts including Best Buy and Domino’s and played a role in helping the agency win the Under Armour basketball biz.

Along with the Sub bump, CP+B Toronto VP/CD Michael Murray has now been named executive creative director. Murray has spent the last three years as creative director on accounts ranging from Virgin Mobile/Radio to IKEA. Prior to rejoining CP+B Toronto in 2008, Murray served as a senior copywriter at TAXI for two years.

Meanwhile, CP+B Toronto is losing two notable higher-ups including CEO Shelley Brown and ECD Aaron Starkman (who Murray is replacing). Brown was appointed CEO just 18 months ago after spending nearly eight years as president. No word yet on why they’re leaving exactly (though Chuck Porter says in a statement that “We remain great admirers and friends of them both”), but now, the entire CP+B network will be led by one CEO, which of course is Andrew Keller.