As a group last year, we decided that it would be worthwhile spending a week again in Los Angeles (LA) (7–12 April 2019), which is a big centre for the advertising, media and entertainment industries, as well as the tech companies, and the competition for talent is a huge issue for all concerned.
To give some context to California and LA, California is the most-populated state in the US, with a population of 39m people. Los Angeles has a population of about 3.8m people. It is a big sprawling city; it reminds me a lot of Johannesburg, with many tall skyscrapers and then lots of smaller, residential areas in between. It is, without doubt, an entrepreneur’s city, where many pioneering spirits have come in the past and no doubt will continue into the future.
Santa Monica — where all of the consultants are staying at the Viceroy Hotel — is a seaside community of about 86,000 people. Surfing shops intermingled with fashion boutiques and a huge choice of restaurants make up Santa Monica, where everything revolves around the beach and the ocean.
Our theme for the week was “Surfing the Trends” and what better place than in LA? Californians are open-minded people, with a great capacity for living in a balanced way. This permeates through to their attitude to the advertising industry and its foibles!
This year's Summit had some interesting learnings:
McDowell will take agencies through the detail of this session and others at an IAS master class that will take place later in May this year.