Silicon Valley may have dominated the past decade, thanks to the rise of Google, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix and Twitter. But the City of Angels is ready to inherit the throne.
"It really feels like Los Angeles is in its second golden age," said 72andSunny's chief production officer Tom Dunlap.
As with the town's first golden age -- which followed the Second World War and saw the rise of the entertainment and aviation industries -- the second is fueled by a comingling of creativity and technology. Now that digital technology has come to pervade people's lives, Angelenos' neighbors to the north are realizing their digital platforms are only as good as the content they contain. Case in point: All five of the aforementioned tech giants have set up shop in Los Angeles. Apple has been poaching local agency talent, and Red Bull set up its production studio in Santa Monica.
The Bay Area may be the technology capital of the world. And New York may be its media capital. But Los Angeles is solidifying itself as the content capital.
Agencies
Shops like 72andSunny, Content and Co., Greenlight Media and Marketing and 180LA are thriving with the content-marketing craze. Hollywood, too, is getting in on the act. Talent agency CAA was responsible for Chipotle's award-winning short film, "The Scarecrow," and rival WME took a stake in Droga5 last year. Earlier this year, "Fast & Furious" filmmaker Justin Lin and "Captain America" directors Anthony and Joe Russo created Bullitt, which specializes in branded entertainment.
Marketers
Once dominated by entertainment and auto marketers, big out-of-town brands like Pepsi have noticed there's something going on in Los Angeles. The beverage brand's global CMO, Kristin Patrick, spends most of her time in and around Pepsi's New York headquarters, but she lives in Los Angeles in order to keep tabs on -- and keep the brand close to -- the creative scene. "It's really becoming a hotbed for creativity in all of its forms," she said.
Her proximity to the city has also changed the nature of Pepsi's work with 180LA and TBWA/Chiat/Day. "You don't necessarily go to them to create television," Ms. Patrick said. "You really want them to be connected to culture."
"L.A. is a cauldron of creativity," added 72andSunny founder and CEO John Boiler, pointing to the Japanese street art and Latino art scenes overtaking the town. "It's a fucking bubbling cauldron of mishmash."