Why MDC Will Never Love an Ad Man Like It Loved Alex Bogusky

The inside story of how a "life contract" between MDC Chief Miles Nadal and his rock star Chief Creative Insurgent soured.

"There is only one Alex and I'm the only one who has him," MDC Partners chairman and CEO Miles Nadal gushed to me at a Manhattan book party four weeks ago when I asked him about Alex Bogusky's new role as Chief Creative Insurgent at MDC. "Alex and I have a life contract. It's a moral contract. As long as he's happy, he's mine."

Nadal, who in one breath compared his...