Downtown Tempe's Creative Corridor

More than a dozen public relations, marketing and advertising agencies have their offices on or within a mile of Mill Avenue, forging a creative corridor of businesses that thrive on the competition, the ability to exchange ideas, and the opportunity to work on projects together.

These companies include Sitewire Marketspace, Off Madison Ave, Tin Can Marketing, Terralever, Blufish Design, Keane Creative, Parker Madison, Spark Design, Mighty Interactive, LogoAll, Evolution Design, STG Media, Synapse Studios and more.

Many of the businesses have specialties within the broad category of marketing, like Terralever, who beyond typical online marketing works on Facebook apps and online games. Because of these unique niches, companies can work collaboratively to serve their customers better. And they only have to walk down Mill Avenue to find the best business partner.

Chris Johnson, managing partner and founder of Terralever, said, “I couldn’t be happier working and owning a business in the heart of Tempe. The energy that pours from Mill Avenue on a daily basis is contagious and also inspiring, especially since so much of what we do at Terralever is based on innovation and creativity. The close-knit business community is one of my favorite parts of working on Mill Ave and the centralized location makes it a great place to do business.”

Zion and Zion is a privately-owned public relations and marketing company that started out of Aric Zion's house. Rapid growth moved the fledgling company into the executive suites at Hayden Ferry Lakeside. In just a couple years, Zion and Zion has grown from seven employees to nearly 30, pushing the firm from one downtown Tempe address to another. Its offices are now in the Fifth Street and Farmer Avenue building, along with Architekton.

“We gave a lot of thought to our brand before deciding to stay in Tempe. The Tempe address marks us as an intelligent company, creative, and a little out of the box. The city address says a lot about who you are,” Zion said.

Like Zion and Zion and many other downtown Tempe firms, Terralever is also hiring. Landing a significant contract from an international business, the company needs talent. 

The Mill Avenue location is good for finding qualified employees. Not only is Tempe centrally located near freeways and on the light rail line, but a bevy of more than 55,000 students is right down the street at Arizona State University. Zion and Zion specializes in strong business advice, blending marketing into a strategic business plan. Zion teaches marketing at ASU and utilizes many interns at his company, perhaps more than any other agency in town. Because the company believes that to give good marketing advice it is important to have a strong business background, he hires employees from all spectrums of the business world and interns from many different programs of study.

Being in downtown Tempe, companies also have access to many clients, as Tempe has a substantial number of large and small businesses in the area. Tempe is one of only a few Southwestern cities that has more workers than residents in the city on an average business day.

“The mix of creative teams, technology companies, architects and Fortune 500 businesses, along with the students from ASU and other Tempe colleges, is part of the reason our city has that electricity about it. The exchange of ideas, the innovation and diversity of those who are in Tempe make this community what it is. You know when you are in downtown Tempe. You can feel it,” said Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman.

Video Profile: Off Madison Ave's use of Social Media by Fred von Graf, Social Media Arizona.

Other Tempe creative company video profiles are welcome on this page. Please contact business@tempe.gov or call Kris Baxter at 480 858-2059.