Ferroconcrete | The story behind LA Downtowner
If Hollywood is a city of broken dreams, then DTLA is where ideas come alive. Our city boasts creative inspiration from the picturesque skyline to graffiti-filled alleyways, and world-renowned museums to independent design shops. There’s no shortage of people with ideas and the ambition to make them a reality. Ferroconcrete, a DTLA-based branding studio and creator of LA Downtowner is one of the many creatives who use DTLA as their launchpad.
In 2006, founder Yo Santosa won the pitch to brand the cult yogurt shop, Pinkberry. She had no office, zero employees, but the drive to make this startup a success. In her loft on Main Street, the boundary between live/work was slim to none. She answered conference calls in her bathroom and conducted presentations in her bedroom. To Downtowners, this isn’t unusual—it’s the hustle. Through it all, Pinkberry grew from one store to over 200 worldwide. And in fourteen years, Yo established Ferroconcrete as an award-winning branding agency working with upstart brands and established ones like TBS, The Today Show and TNT.
“It’s exciting to be in a city that’s being revived because we can be part of the growing community to give it a voice and help bring personality to it, especially with local businesses. Because at the end of the day, people don’t fall in love with businesses, they fall in love with personalities,” says Yo.
The heart and soul of DTLA is ingrained into Ferroconcrete’s DNA as they have also worked with FigAT7th, The Music Center, and Downtown Center BID. But they wanted to create something personal for DTLA’s community by sharing stories of our people and culture—that’s when LA Downtowner was born.
The idea came about on a Friday evening at Golden Gopher in the midst of sipping beers and sharing pizza. By Monday, it was realized that the idea wasn’t conceived under the influence, but a group effort (including myself) to make it happen. Our small five person team got to work. We cold-called local businesses and contributors, developed stories, and in two months 10,000 newspapers took over every flat surface of our office. In the peak of summer, we hit the pavement and went door-to-door dropping off stacks of newspapers and connecting with neighbors. It was worth the blood, sweat and ink stains because six years later we’re still here telling stories through the support of you—the readers, movers and doers.
“Through LA Downtowner, we’ve been able to build connections while developing a better understanding of the community and what keeps people interested. Everything is sprouting up so quickly and people’s attention spans are shorter, so we’re proud to be able to help brands tell a more memorable story,” says Owen Gee, partner at Ferroconcrete.
DTLA is the place to be for ambitious, hungry (literally and figuratively) brands and individuals. We’ll leave you with a couple pieces of advice for those who are here making their ideas come to life.
“Focus on one thing and specialize, don’t try to do too much at once. People need to know what you stand for,” says Owen.
And, “Start in your apartment, it’s low risk...and the easiest commute,” says Yo.
Or you can go ahead and speak to Yo and Owen directly at hello@ferroconcrete.com
Written by Janica de Guzman | Images courtesy of Ferroconcrete
