ELA Advertising in Irvine rebranded itself as EverythingLA, conceding to what it calls a misguided yet common perception that the best creative work comes from major urban hubs the likes of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
“We are a creative agency with an L.A. attitude,” said the agency’s chief executive and founder, Andre Filip. “We work fast, we are very nimble, highly creative and strategic … and we don’t have a lot of red tape. We thought, ‘Why don’t we just own exactly who we are and what we do and spell out the acronym as EverythingLA?’ That’s kind of a brand chip.”
The agency hired eight new employees this year as a result of the rebranding, bringing its total staff count to 40. Its 2014 revenue was an estimated $24.8 million.
The shop also added a Santa Monica office in April, but “it’s not just about the address, it’s the way in which you think,” Filip said. “We are rooted in our creative and entertainment background.”
Filip started off in entertainment advertising, creating movie trailers for Seiniger Advertising in Beverly Hills, an agency known for its promotional posters for the “Jaws” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” movies.
“Entertainment works differently than traditional advertising,” he said. “It’s a lot more fast-paced, and the way they tell stories is a little bit different.”
Founding, Rebranding
He founded EverythingLA in 2004, a move he described as taking “the zest of everything I learned in entertainment” and bringing “it to our traditional, general-market corporate client.”
The idea for the rebranding was born about a year ago when Carlos Musquez joined the agency as executive creative director. He came from Irvine-based Alcone Marketing Group, a subsidiary of Omnicom Group, where he worked with national brands, including Logitech, Vizio, LG Electronics, Dryers, Nestle and many others.
‘Unique Shop’
“You take his experience in traditional marketing and advertising, and you take my experience in entertainment and put those two together, and you have a very unique shop, because we understand the corporate clients but also understand entertainment and how to tell a story and how to do great branded content,” Filip said. “That has led to a lot of new things that we are doing in video and digital.”
The agency recently helped Tel Aviv, Israel-based client Wix.com generate social media buzz that fed off the company’s Super Bowl commercial.
“We set up a social media war room … and engaged live, during the game, with brands like Doritos and Loctite Glue,” Filip said.
More Work
He said the rebranding effort spurred more work from the agency’s other clients—Warner Bros., IMAX, MGM Grand, Obagi Medical Products Inc., Intel and electronics and appliance retailer Curacao, as well as local business, including BSH Home Appliances Corp.’s Thermador brand, the San Joaquin Hills and Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agencies’ toll roads account and Irvine Company’s hotel division,
which includes the Resort at Pelican Hill, Island Hotel in Newport Beach, and Hotel Irvine.
“Everyone needs a bit of ‘LA,’ but there is no need to move there,” Pakko De La Torre, the agency’s vice president and equity partner, wrote in an email.
“The Orange County advertising scene is still looked upon as (having) a ‘lower’ type of quality of creative and pace as opposed to the L.A. based scene. … The best creatives and the best practices are perceived to be in Los Angeles but we know that isn’t always true. We truly believe that the best of the best is available anywhere, regardless of location. It’s (about) how one brands and believes in themselves in order to get ahead.”
