A story by Larissa Faw at MediaPost recapped some insights from a recent Advertising Week panel on the topic of Los Angeles (LA) as the “new center of the ad world.”
“There are many signs that point to Los Angeles’ emergence as a creative center from Jay-Z and Beyonce heading West, GQ magazine proclaiming LA’s downtown as the next great city to several tech companies, such as Snapchat, deciding to locate in Silicon Beach,” the MediaPost story begins.
LA has a unique culture and a handy location, for starters.
“LA straddles the worlds of technology and entertainment which presents a unique opportunity unlike other cultural hotspots, like New York, Paris, or London,” notes MediaPost. “San Francisco is only a 45-minute flight away, making it accessible to SF clients.”
“Los Angeles is one of the few places in the world one can have a career in advertising and have a backyard,” offered Brent Anderson, a panelist who works at TBWAChiatDayLA.
And Anderson thinks it’s a fertile ground for ferreting out talent — as well as better weather seekers.
“Our director of talent knows when to place calls [to East Coast executives], particularly now [October] and March and April,” says Anderson. “Weather will always be an advantage for LA.”
LA — the land of freedom? Netflix’s Laurent Janneau swears it’s so.
“The notion is space is very important to the creative process,” said Janneau. “We are so very far away that we don’t give a shit what Europe thinks. There is some kind of competition and judgement between Europe and East Coast [that doesn’t exist on the West Coast]. There are some drawbacks, but there are a lot of positive things to have the psychological freedom.”
In short, Anderson thinks LA has always been this — but that there is now a resurgence of interest.
“This promise is absolutely right in line about the history of the west and California,” he noted. “This idea of optimism that California represents. It isn’t new but rather a reawakening.”
