Unleashing Creativity with Lou Maxon

Lou Maxon, a Seattle-area designer with a passion for risk-taking and unique creative approaches, has been transforming brands throughout his career. From humble beginnings as a self-taught skater and hockey enthusiast, Lou forged a path in the design world that led him to work with major brands like Lexus. With an ability to immerse himself in a world that was entirely new to him, Lou’s experiences at Wayne Gretzky’s hockey camp and his work as a writer and editor for Lexus’ magazine only fueled his creative fire, making him an expert in thinking outside the box.

Lou Maxon Episode Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:04]

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I am the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest.

So my guest today is Lou Maxon, and I’m sitting in Lou’s library. So this is an in person episode. So the sounds gonna be different than normal folks, but you’ll get used to that. Lou, thank you for making the time. First off, the space is awesome, but we’re gonna get to that. Lou, you’re a Seattle area. Designer, we’re just gonna give you one word description today. But I wanna know how did I end up here today? So what’s your career? And how did you get to where we are? Awesome. Well,

Lou Maxon [00:01:01]:

I think it’s, if if you were gonna tell me that we would be sitting here today, in the library, out out in Carnation. I’d probably tell your pretty crazy because it because I think, like, a lot of things, you don’t you know, you you set different goals or you you think about different things that you wanna do. And then there’s some things that sort of intercept and take you on a different path. So I mean, my I think my my career in design was more of a I don’t wanna say like a a happy accident, but it was more of a detour because of different ambitions.

Scott Cowan [00:01:49]:

Yeah. So you grew up in the Seattle area. Yep. And So for full disclosure for everybody, Lou and I tried to record this remotely and why this is a beautiful library. The Wi Fi just wasn’t cooperating. So we decided to get together in person. So we’ve already had half of a conversation before. So I’m gonna, like, disclose some things in in an effort to, like, get the ball moving forward. So Lou grew up in the Seattle area. And you played lacrosse in high school. What I don’t remember is did you play hockey in high school? No. Okay. She played, you played lacrosse in high school. And you ended up going to Gonzaga University in Spokane. Where you played hockey?

Lou Maxon [00:02:36]:

And Lacrosse.

Scott Cowan [00:02:37]:

And Lacrosse. So before we get going down the design path, one thing’s we didn’t talk about before. I wanna know is why hockey? What got you going to play collegiate level hockey with not playing it before that?

Lou Maxon [00:02:51]:

Yeah. So I think I was, like, nine or ten years old. And for Christmas 1 year, my dad gave me a, table hockey, like, rod slider table hockey. And and he was he he was, for Michigan, group of Michigan, huge red wings, fan used to go to Red Wings, games at the old, I’ll I’ll think it was called the Olympia where they played before they play now. And I remember, I think just, like, everything I’ve gotten into, I get into, like, a 1000000%. And so I remember I don’t remember specifically what teams that game came with. I think it was, like, flyers and maybe the flyers in the islanders, that sounds right. And I remember looking at, like, the logos and the the players didn’t have names on them, but I I remember just, like, being fascinated by hockey. Like, the the only sort of, like, DNA evidence I had of hockey was this table hockey game. Like, I, you know, didn’t grow up playing hockey. Hockey was not big in Seattle. Mean, there was there were minor league hockey teams. And, so I I still I just, like, super got into it. You know, I mean, this is around the time, like, they had in line skating. We would play street hockey. We would, my dad had a place up in the San Juan’s. And because we were so close to Canada on the weekend, we got hockey day in Canada on CBC on Saturdays. So I just remember watching hockey, like, just being completely fascinated by by it. And I think it, in some ways, it was the perfect sport, both hockey and lacrosse because it wasn’t the usual. Thing. And I think that’s I think that’s the theme for for the rest of our conversation, right, is it’s not like basket soccer. I mean, I played soccer growing up.

Scott Cowan [00:04:43]:

But once again, it wasn’t quite what it is. To me, soccer’s, boy, my friends that are soccer fans. It’s not a second class sport, but it’s it’s a notch below NBA in in NFL, probably on partner with baseball.

Lou Maxon [00:04:59]:

Yep. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So it was So I I remember, I mean, I remember we we had, you know, an elementary school, you know, you’d have, like, a a segment or, of of like, gym class where you’d do different sports. And I remember when we they would bring out the hockey and they would put, like, they were, like, plastic sticks with, like, a rubber puck they put socks on the end of the blades just so you didn’t hit someone. And I just remember even then going into high school, we had, we they also did floor hockey, but they had a They had, like, a freshman sophomore junior senior, like, Olympics 1 week, like, different sporting events. And hockey was one of them. And, I remember just, like, playing and and dominating in hockey. They would take the gymnastic mats fold them in, you know, into, like, hockey, and it was just like a blast. So it was something that It was not really in the cards for me to play, recreational hockey or, like, youth hockey. I mean, I think the closest rink was was Lynnwood. And I played lacrosse, and a lot of hockey players play lacrosse. And there’s a version of lacrosse called Box lacrosse, which is indoor lacrosse. Like, play the, like, an indoor soccer facility. So I I had basically kinda, like, taught myself how to skate I knew the hockey part, but honestly, I went out for, Gonzaga had a club hockey team. And, so it was they had a kind of a they had, like, a a varsity and a second tier. So I I remember I literally got my I had went out and got my equipment, but I literally got my skates, like, the day of the 1st practice. So the first time I went out you know, I played hockey, like, just for fun, but the first practice freshman year, like, that was the first time I’d been on ice in hockey, like, in full hockey, you’re playing.

Scott Cowan [00:07:04]:

Okay.

Lou Maxon [00:07:04]:

And it was just like a draft on it. I mean, it was not pretty. But I’ve I’ve figured it out. And, I mean, I’ve been playing hockey ever since. I’ve I’ve I’ve gotten to through work and design and then other things. I’ve actually gotten to play hockey at a much higher level. Post college than I ever did in college. And, and my my kids grew up. They all played hockey. One of my kids went on to play a hockey in college, and I’ve gotten to play in celebrity hockey games for role in house charities. And, I’ve gotten to play with NHL players. I’ve gotten to play, like, really competitive. And now I just I play for fun. I play in a in a beer league. Couple times a week.

Scott Cowan [00:07:53]:

Alright. So you, I guess, we’ll go there first. We’ll talk hockey before we go

Lou Maxon [00:07:59]:

into some.

Scott Cowan [00:08:00]:

But so what you told me before and I think was in a conversation after the the failed episode was you were in a hockey Fantasy camp because of one of your design clients. Yep. Yep. And you kind of played with this Cowan. And, he was kind of noted for, like, getting where the puck’s supposed to be or 99. Even if you’re not a hockey fan, we’ve all heard the name Wayne Gretzky.

Lou Maxon [00:08:28]:

Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:08:29]:

So what I wanna know about Wayne Gretzky was did he take it easy on you? Or did he did you work for it?

Lou Maxon [00:08:37]:

I think So let me backpedal. Okay. So I’m gonna set the scene. So there’s, I’m I’m working for, running creative and design for for Lexus, the car Cowan, the magazine that owners or if you lease the car got at the time, had this department in the magazine every issue called quick study. And and it was it was basically where a writer would go do something and immerse themselves in kind of a world that wasn’t really necessarily a world that they would ever get to do regularly. So, we were on a trip with our client. We were in we were literally sitting in a pool in Monaco, and we’re getting ready to pitch ideas for the next issue. It came out four times here. So I’m sitting in the pool with the clients. In Monaco. It’s like blazing hot. And, I had heard about this, Gretzky fantasy camp It costs, like, $9999 to go. Right? And the concept is you live and you live and are treated like a pro athlete for the week. And, this is a 2,021,004. So in the pool, hanging out, having drinks with the client, do my do my spiel. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:10:02]:

You’re literally pitching in the pool.

Lou Maxon [00:10:04]:

I’m literally pitching with my feet dangling in the pool and, and they know, you know, like, We’re close. We’re we’re close with the like, they knew about hot, you know, so we get the green light. It was a little tricky honestly because at the time, I think Wayne had brand partnership with Ford. So it was a little we were a little unsure if it was gonna work, but we we worked it out. And then also I did I took a week, basically off. Of war of doing my work. So I I went, and it’s a classic case, and I think we’ll get back to it. So my role was I was gonna be designing that issue of the magazine. So I would design, the story of me working getting to play with with Wayne Gretzky for the week, but I was also writing the story. I was writing the article. So I was going to the camp to play and experience it, but I was also writing the story. And, I think it’s a perfect example because I I went to Gonzaga to get a journalism degree because I wanted to be a writer editor, but I knew how to do design. So the design was my foot in the door to the writing. So here, I’m literally getting paid to go play hockey with Wayne Gretzky for the week. So I’m in Arizona, in, in, Phoenix and Glendale. Because at the time, the Arizona coyotes played in Glendale. And, I’m, they divide us, and it’s a bunch there’s a random there’s there’s, like, ex players. There’s, celebrities. There’s, owners of teams there. They’re paying a lot of money. Some flying in on private jets. And they divide us into 4 teams. My team’s coached by Wayne’s dad. Wayne Gretzky’s dad who basically, you know, is responsible. And and and I’m, they they would do, like, a a couple practices. They draft you into teams, and then you play one game with and one game against Wayne Gretzky. So, you know, I look up and I’m guarding Wayne Gretzky. You know, I mean, he’s significantly shorter than me. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:12:28]:

I’ll call this Wayne Gretzky. I

Lou Maxon [00:12:30]:

think I think he’s And then 65. So he’s he’s right around 6 feet or so a little above, a little below.

Scott Cowan [00:12:37]:

But — Okay.

Lou Maxon [00:12:38]:

So when you take Wayne Gretzky into the corner, you know, you don’t finish the check. And there were and I and there were guys that, you know, they would give him the business a little bit, and then he would fly by the bench and just, you know, give him a little And he didn’t wear a helmet. Oh, okay. So, you know, you you just don’t go after it. But then on the on the flip side, you’re you’re all nice and you look over and Wayne Gretzky is your line mate. So you don’t wanna f up the pass. If Wayne Gretzky passes you the puck, you you know, you don’t wanna miss the puck. Okay. So but as a person, amazing. Like, I mean, as a kid growing up in Seattle watching hockey night in Canada to then look up and see that you’re playing hockey with Wayne Gretzky. It was one of those things where after it was done. I kinda wanted to go back over and do it again. Like, anything that is, like, And and I think the other thing is you meet a lot of people in in media or design. You know, you meet people, maybe who you look up to, and then you meet them, and it’s not all that you had in your head, the exception is Wayne Gretzky. Cowan, I think one of the things I remember, and I have it in my library, but about, you know, after I wrote the article, and send it out. You know, there were there were other people that were at the, Yogi Berra’s granddaughter, Lindsey, who wrote for ESPN was at the camp playing hockey. Right? So there were other people there documenting stories of that experience. You know, so I was, you know, just this, like, hay seed from from Washington out there and about after the article. One day, the mail came and I got, we had sent him we had sent Wayne and his people, like, copies of the magazine, you know, as a thank you. And then and then one day in the mail, I got 2 copies Cowan was signed with a handwritten note, not from his agent or not from his, like, handler, but from him thanking him for the, yeah, for the story.

Scott Cowan [00:14:48]:

So where my brain goes with all this is arguably the greatest hockey player of all time. And I think of hockey, first off, you you look at me, do I look like I’d get on skates? So first off, he’s intimidating to me because you’ve got these metal blades on your feet and you’ve got this gear and you’ve got sticks that are made out of wood or fiberglass or whatever carbon fiber now or whatever they’re made out of. And you’re slapping a hard rubber disc around. The goal is that we’re playing where they former NHL players playing goalie, or was it Jogi Bear’s granddaughter in, you know, in the between the pipes?

Lou Maxon [00:15:29]:

That was a mix. That I think I believe I mean, there were there were members of the 1980 Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup team. I mean, Paul Coffee was a defenceman. Mhmm. There were, I I recall I there were there were very good goalies. And and, I mean, and and our it was like a round robin. So everybody played with Wayne. Everybody played against Wayne, but when it got to the playoffs, our our team made it to the final and won the final. And it it was I and I remember, like, my second to last, or maybe it’s the last shift. It was pretty tight. And we we got we played at their practice arena, then we played the final in the act where the coyote’s played. And, I remember, like, Wayne’s dad, you know, he on my shift, like, he was like, alright. You need to go. And if it goes into the you need to, like, not rough it up, but, you know,

Scott Cowan [00:16:29]:

go a little harder than you So I

Lou Maxon [00:16:30]:

remember, like, going into the boards on someone pretty, like, pretty pretty good, and we, I mean, we won. It was, like, you know, you felt you kind of felt like you had won the Stanley Cup. In fact, that, I think it was that night after we won. I mean, there was celebration in the locker room and, but, like, that night at the kind of closing ceremonies at the camp. I was standing outside. And I actually I actually went to the camp with my both Gonzaga roommate. He’s a big hockey fan. So we were we were hanging out for the whole week because you could bring somebody. And, we saw his car pull up, and then, kinda comes out pops the trunk. And I looked at him. I was like, god, this guy looks familiar, and I’d watched, as a kid, all these, like, VHS tapes of, like, Stanley Cup games. And there’s a guy who’s the handler of the Stanley Cup. Like, he travels with the Stanley Cup. And I was looking up and I was like, that, like, that’s the guy. He goes in the trunk, takes out this big box. And and he looked at me, and I looked at him. And I was like, You’re you’re Phil. Like, you’re the guy. Yeah. And so we’re sitting in, like, the banquet room, and they’re giving out the awards and I have a I have a signed stick from Wayne because from our from our our win, and then this guy walks in and he’s bringing he brings they had the Stanley Cup brought in for this. And so everybody got to go up, and I got to lift. I mean, you’re not supposed to touch the cup. That’s the thing. If you’re a current player, you don’t touch the cop unless you won it.

Scott Cowan [00:18:03]:

Okay.

Lou Maxon [00:18:04]:

And I was not gonna win the Stanley Cup. I was not playing an NHL at that time, but I got to lift the Stanley. Like, I got to lift it above my head at this thing. I there’s a video of it. Floating around YouTube somewhere. It was like, oh my gosh. This is like, I remember fake lifting up the cup, like, on my street. And now here you are. Alright.

Scott Cowan [00:18:26]:

The reason I ask about the goal is is the the idea that Wayne Gretzky could be taking a shot on goal to some amateur, doesn’t seem fair. No. And so I was hoping that you were gonna say that the goalies were at least, you know, people that were highly proficient hockey player as goalies. Okay. So let’s tie this back to college. So the the client that green lighted this was was Lexus, and this was about 2004. Yeah. How did you go from Gonzaga? To Lexus.

Lou Maxon [00:19:05]:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s a good question. So I my the junior year between my or the year the year between my junior year and senior year. I mean, I was I was, I was on track, so I was a a journalism major. And at Gonzaga, that was pretty much newspaper journalism. So I was writing for the paper. I was I was act I was also running designed for student publication. So I was designing ads that were going to the publication. So I was I was within the Gonzaga world. I was I was on on the pathway. I was also an intern at the Inlander, which is like the Seattle Weekly of Spokane.

Scott Cowan [00:19:47]:

Mhmm.

Lou Maxon [00:19:48]:

So I was a non-paid production intern there. So while at Gonzaga, I was doing a weekly newspaper. I was doing my full course of classes. I was interning at, also interning at the in lender, and I was playing hockey. So I had a busy I had a busy busy time. My my summer between my junior and senior year, a professor had come to me and said, hey. We have this partnership with Fordham, which is another graduate school in New York. They’re doing, like, this media program. And, I think I can get you in there. I think you applied with the scholarship and you go and live in New York for the summer. And I had been to New York, but, like, visiting family, but not working. So I was like, okay. So I’ve folded out and and got in And so I moved to New York and I worked, I interned at, like, a couple different places. One of the places was a magazine Independent independent, independent magazine, but a real, like, a real magazine distributed at the at the bookstore and everything around the country called KGB It was kind of this, like, countercultureindependent magazine of arts culture, and it was run by, these two guys, from Harvard. 1 of them was the the film editor was Darren, Afronosky, the film the film director who just did the whale and and, did pie and did requiem for a dream. He was the film editor of the magazine. And so I I joined as, like, an intern for the summer, and I, so I got to go around and, like, not only was I in New York taking classes at Fordham, but I was I was kinda getting a taste of the magazine life, appetizer platter. And, so I did that for the summer. And then, came back to Gonzaga in the fall, you know, tough to go from New York to Spokane. But, like, you know, it, and even though you know, it’s like when you’ve got a taste of what’s happening in the world and then you go back to the academic world where you’re, you know, you’re still in the in that in that track. Right? And, I knew I wanted to do magazines. Like, I wanted to be a a magazine designer that was clear. And I wanted to just be involved with. And I think, like, working in media, working in, it’s like a team sport. Right? So hockey and like, it all it just, like, for me, it it made sense. So graduated from Gonzaga in May, work at this small marketing communications firm in Seattle. And, I knew when I got there. Also, like, I had the same feeling when I was there as I did right when I got back from school from being in New York. Like, this is not it. Like, I’m this I’m far away.

Scott Cowan [00:23:02]:

Mhmm. You

Lou Maxon [00:23:02]:

know, from geographically and, like, conceptually from what I was just doing in New York. So, So that was graduated May. Worked kinda over the summer. In August, I’m, you know, It’s early August. I’m getting off work. 1 of those beautiful Seattle, August days. Taking the metro number 2 from Queen Ann home. Living at living at home, like, moved moved back home. And, going down kinda right by where Kia Rina was. The wires pop off the bus. Buses stopped. I’m right across the street from the romper room on lower Queen Ann

Scott Cowan [00:23:48]:

— Okay. —

Lou Maxon [00:23:49]:

this bar, right on the corner from Jalisco’s. Jalisco’s. and and restaurant was right there. Anyway, neither of those two things are there anymore. So I have the choice. I can wait for the next bus. Or I can pop in, the romper. And I honestly, like, oh, I was supposed to meet a good friend of mine there. And then it just didn’t work out. And there’s no cell phones.

Scott Cowan [00:24:14]:

Right. Right.

Lou Maxon [00:24:16]:

So so I pop in there and, 2 women walk in. Bart I mean, it’s like, you know, 5 o’clock. It’s still pretty empty. And they’re like, hey. Can we sit down with you? I was like, yeah. Sure. And, at that moment, like, I met my wife. Like, she was there with her her she was there with her her friend. She lived, like, right around the corner from the Romper Room. And, you know, I just graduated and working at this little place and, hit it off. And my plan was, like, How quickly can I get back to New York? And I I think I even told her, like, that night. I was like, hey. Look. Like, it was Thursday. I’ll call you. I think I had, like, an interview for for something in New York. And I was like, hey. You know, let let’s go out next week or something. You know, Fast forward to October, we move to New York together. And I and I was like, hey. We’re gonna I’m moving to New York. My goal my dream is to work at a magazine or whatever, and she’d never been to New York. And, So we we moved there with no job. We had a in New York, you have to have, like, a tri state guarantor to guarantee your rent if you don’t have a a a job.

Scott Cowan [00:25:34]:

I didn’t I didn’t know that. Okay.

Lou Maxon [00:25:36]:

So we had, these people we met, they they drove a U Haul across the country. They wanted to go on a trip. They drove a U Haul. Didn’t it we didn’t have much, moved to New York. My first job was, like, a contract job, like, collating media kits for Patty Labelle So I’m in New York, but I’m not close. Like, I’m I’m on the green.

Scott Cowan [00:26:00]:

Mhmm.

Lou Maxon [00:26:01]:

Like, but I’m not near the I’m not petting for, but, you know, I’m not I’m not doing a design job. And at that time, I’m, you know, you’re looking for jobs in the in the newspaper. So I found this listing. It was for the village voice. And, they’re looking for a designer. So I applied. I base at that time, I basically all I had for work was a few things I had kind of lightly touched at the marketing firm, but what I did have, was I had a my own independent Zine that I started basically at Gonzaga, because in order to get a job, I needed to work. In order to get work, you know, I needed a job. So I basically started this zine called, And it was kinda like KGB. It was, like, kind of a downriver version of KGB. It was, like, culture and media art you know, we interviewed musicians. We, you know, and I met a lot of people when I was in New York. So I just hired them as writers. Like and I wasn’t paying. It was just for fun. It was basically a portfolio piece in the form of a magazine to to get enough experience to take to show someone that I could do the work. So

Scott Cowan [00:27:18]:

— Now what you’re leaving out, though, is that Xien ended up in tower records. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t just like you were giving it away on the back of your car.

Lou Maxon [00:27:31]:

No. No. And it was it was a follow-up to getting, getting having a taste of that in high school, I got asked to do. I got I could do the I was like the design. There was, like, 2 halves of this other thing I worked on And, and I was the other half because I knew how to design. Right? So, we got a little we got we we got our hands slapped a little bit, and we got in trouble. And I like I was like, oh, man. And and that also helped, I think, amp up my ambition to study this at Gonzaga because I was like, oh, this is kinda dangerous. Like, this is a little this, you know, you the first kind of taste of, as Steve Jobs would say, like, why join the Navy when you can be a pirate? You know? And I think I think I’ve always sort of gone the I’ve always sort of figured out where everybody else is going and then gone the other way. You know, Allah Gretzky, Allah, you know, and, in terms of philosophy. So I’m at I’m interviewing. I got the job of the Village Boys. And, you know, I it it was it was good, but it wasn’t a magazine. Right? It was it was, like, You know, I’d worked at the in lender, which is like a weekly.

Scott Cowan [00:28:56]:

Mhmm.

Lou Maxon [00:28:56]:

The Village Voice is iconic. I mean, was I well, it’s I think it’s still around digitally, but the print I mean, it went out every week. Some of the top writers, some, you know, it it was a really good experience, but I wanted to work at a magazine. So I answered another ad in the in New York Times, and there was a startup called Time Out Time Out New York. It was started by the sky in London who had time out London, who had started it as a zine as a way to, like, promote all these places he wanted to go. Basically, he didn’t see that. So he created it, right, which I loved. So I applied for there were 2 jobs There was a editorial designer, and there was a editorial designer and promotions designer. So I applied for editorial designer. I got the job offered that was editorial designer plus promotions because I had done some marketing and advertising. Even though I wouldn’t say I’d done marketing and advertising, I had done a little bit. And, honestly, like that, I was like, I think it was, like, $24,000 a year 1996. And I’m thinking, wow, That seemed like a lot of money, but

Scott Cowan [00:30:05]:

it was not a lot of money.

Lou Maxon [00:30:07]:

And then New York and then federal tax and then state tax and then city Maxon probably was giving it away. I mean, but I was working at a magazine. It was a weekly magazine. It was, like, over a hundred pages. Time out was known for their iconic covers. And, it was a listings magazine. So it had features, and then a lot of it was just like her dance culture. Things to do, but they had a partnership with Penguin. And so they would do guidebooks. And part of the promotions part of the job was that I not only designed my section of the magazine, but I also designed all the promotions for, like, when they do, like, a summerfest music festival or this or that. So suddenly, I went from doing the zine to now I’m, like, going on photoshoots with the Wu Tang line or, you know, and it’s is a little bit fake until you make it because I kinda taught myself how to do enough to do my thing, but now I’m doing it, like, for legit you know, operation. And, so it was really great. So I did that for a while. And then, So I I went from, like, a zine to a weekly village voice to a weekly magazine. The next step, I guess, would be a monthly mass consumer magazine. So there was a company called Grun Yar, they were owned by Burlesman, the company that used to, like, get dollar CDs for, like, in the in the in in the ads and stuff. And They had fitness, family circle, McCall’s. They had these portfolio reviews. So by this time, like, I’ve got some time out stuff. I’ve got my I still am showing code in my portfolio. I’ve got, like, Bayliner from the marketing. You know, so I’ve got, like, luxury, you know, Bay or in Maxon Yachts. I’ve got this little, like, handcrafted scene, and then I’ve got a little bit of old voice and some time out. Like, I’m starting to build a thing. And, fast forward, it’s between McCall’s, which is kinda like your grandmother’s magazine in YM, which is, like, your teenage daughters may may seem like and, I I took the job at YM. This is, like, during when, like, Prince William, Alicia Silverstone, Clueless, you know, Celebrity driven covers super bright colors. And I’m doing, like, flow charts? Like, does he love you? You know what I’m doing, like, information does I mean, I’m doing, like, really complex infographics. Targeted to, like, teenage audience. So fantastic. You know, I feel, and now I’m, like, a senior designer moving up to, like, our director at YM. And then, right around the time, we’ve we flew back. This is, like, 90 90 let’s see. 98. We got married in Seattle. There’s one of those things, like, super hot in in New York, fly back, get married, have a reception on the Scansonia — Oh.

Scott Cowan [00:33:22]:

—

Lou Maxon [00:33:23]:

on Lake Union. Beautiful. Day and you’re like having these flickers of the Pacific Northwest. So then get married, go on a honeymoon, come but moved, come back to New York, work, work, work. And then, we had this deal between my wife and I that at any time past, like, a certain amount of time that we live there, we could just say, okay. We’re gonna go back. Okay. So we so we move back

Scott Cowan [00:33:53]:

Move back. So let me ask you this question. Who’s idea was it to move back?

Lou Maxon [00:33:56]:

I mean, I think it was kind of both of our, like, we I think we had a little bit of a little bit of homesick nostalgia after the wedding. Like, you’re in Seattle. You’re on the boat. All the families there. It’s not 900 degrees. You know?

Scott Cowan [00:34:11]:

I

Lou Maxon [00:34:11]:

and I feel like I had I feel like I had, like, my wife was working on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs. I was working at a national consumer magazine. Right? Like, I went from from, like, collating media kits for Patty LaBelle to work to my dream. Right? And I thought, okay. Like, I’m on my like, I’ve I Wenatchee that itch. If I left today, I would have no regrets. And and we we were walking home one day, and we saw this guy pushing this cart down our street. And, with a big, like, he had, like, a a huge knife. And then we heard, like, there was, like, a knife fight on our street or just, like, This is, like, this is not gonna work. And we didn’t see we didn’t see a way to sort of move up, like, get a bigger place. Like, it wasn’t we weren’t sure that that was in in our in our card. So we So we left. We moved back. We moved back, you know, and and this is right around right right near, I mean, getting into, like, 9:11 when the magazine industry basically came to a

Scott Cowan [00:35:17]:

— Mhmm. —

Lou Maxon [00:35:17]:

and the financial came to a you know, a hold. So move back. And I remember moving back and thinking, like, this is it. Like, the best moment of my career has happened. Because you mean Seattle was still a little I mean, it was kind of they were they were ad agencies. There weren’t really magazines. There was there was Seattle Magazine, which is pretty much it. There was the Seattle weekly. There was the stranger. Right? So from for publication design, not There wasn’t a lot. Move back actually, worked at an ad agency at Publicis, the agency that took the account away from the marketing agency I’d worked at right out of college. So now I’m running that. Like, and and they’re like, hey. Can you, We need you to design, like, 6 catalogs this year. And I’m I I had just come from, like, designing 52 magazines in a year. So I’m like, you’re giving me a year to do 6 catalogs. I don’t know if this is gonna work. You know, the I mean, I get bored out of my mind. So I was working at Publicis, I saw a I’ve once again, I saw, like, a little ad. I don’t know. Is this, like, the see all times of the weekly, and it was, like, looking for looking for a designer to design a prototype for a new city magazine. I was like, oh, Maxon. This looks cool. So, like, I contacted. I actually created a prototype. There was a magazine called Metropolitan Living. Not Seattle Metropolitan. No. Metropolitan? Yeah. And, so I created a prototype, met the owner. The owner had never done a a magazine, what didn’t really have a he had he had, like, a a background doing, like, kind of more like a B2B magazine, or B2B, like, newspaper, but So presented it to him, had a whole vision for it, everything, and got selected. And so the first issue, Oscar, so first issue, we have, of Metropolitan Living, so suddenly, so I’m at University of Washington with Rick Neuheisel. So one of the coolest parts I think about, do being in media is you get to meet people that you’ve, like, grown up, like, hearing about and then do stories. So I’m and this is, like, this is pre Rick Neuheisel

Scott Cowan [00:37:40]:

—

Lou Maxon [00:37:40]:

Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:37:40]:

—

Lou Maxon [00:37:40]:

getting, you know, so we’re so we’re, like, on the field and, I have this idea. I’m like, hey. Let’s like, he had just gotten hired. And we had a ladder. And I was like, hey. I’m one of the photographers there. And I was like, hey. Will you, like, lay down on, like, the fifty yard line will shoot you from above, kind of get the whole field in the stadium. And I remember him being like, I’m not laying down on the drop Like, I’m not. And that was, like, a little funny in hindsight. Anyway, so we were, like, throwing Pat. I mean, he was a quarterback. So we’re, like, throwing footballs at Husky City. I’m like, how cool is this? I mean, I was like, not I didn’t play football. I played, like, flag football, but to throw, like, I was a member of, like, the junior husky club. Mhmm. You know, and to, like, throw footballs at husky stadium. Like, cool. One of those close sports moments. So we launched Metropolitan Living within an issue. Seattle Magazine was nervous. Right? Like, it was a it was a bigger size It was bolder design wise. And with, I think, after like, my 1st year there, I started getting, hey. Would you consider coming to Seattle Mags? You know? So in some ways, metropolitan living was, like, code again. You know, it was like this experimental platform. It was free, so we didn’t have cover lines. So we it wasn’t a hard sell. It was like, you could just go pick it up. Like, so there was a lot more freedom. And, So I got re I went in. I got the job at Seattle Magazine. I was there for, I think, 3 years. My after, like, 6 months. I remember coming in one day, and there was this thing on my chair. And I looked, and it was an award. And I and I didn’t enter it, and it was for, like, best editorial design for city magazine. And I guess and I was like, woah. So it’s kinda weird because now it’s kinda like, okay. Well, I’m at Seattle Magazine now, you know, and I’m and I had to rule at Seattle Magazine, no Space needles. Like, that was my rule. I was like, this is a magazine not for people who came to visit Seattle. This is a magazine for people who lived in Seattle. So my first thing was kinda and it was even before I was working at brand, really, was like, how do I create a set of values that make the magazine stand out from being something else. And the expected things that you that you think about Seattle at the time, you know, like grunge and Space Needle and monorail and all those things were things that I wanted to dig deeper. I wanted the magazine to represent what it was really to live here. So — Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:40:12]:

— I had

Lou Maxon [00:40:12]:

to know a Space Needle rule. And we were, like, in the shadow of the space needle. So every time I looked that way, there’s a space needle. So it’s not sale magazine for 3 years, completely redesigned the magazine. In fact, the redesign we did at sale magazine lasted for, like, 10 years. It was crazy. Magazine won some awards. One day I get a call from a recruiter, and they’re like, hey, we’re interested in having you join an interested in having you interview for this job. I was like, what was the job? I was like, well, we really can’t. It was at this company called Story Worldwide. And, like, we we can’t we have a client in mind, and it would be, like, a step up, like, design director or kind of creative director level. We can’t tell you who it’s for, but it’s in the auto category. I was like, okay. So I went went to interview, and it was a Cowan it was a full time contract job. It wasn’t a full time job. So it wasn’t a full time pay, like, benefits job. It was, like, uh-uh, we pay you a lot of money. But you have to pay your own taxes and all your stuff. Right? It’s like, okay. And, you know, we had a we had a

Scott Cowan [00:41:18]:

—

Lou Maxon [00:41:18]:

We had to have our first kids. We’re like, oh, this is a mean, the job sounded interesting, but it was like, I don’t know if this is really great. So I was like, okay. So I went interviewed. They offered me the role, and then I found out what it was. I was like, oh, wow. Lexus. Like, so now I’m going from, like, Zine Metropolitan Living Seattle magazine to, like, international brand, and it’s a brand job. It’s like a brand. It’s being it’s running the magazine, but also it’s representing a brand. It’s a it’s a magazine and a branded content job. It’s not a here’s, 50 top doctors.

Scott Cowan [00:42:01]:

Not a bunch of listicles.

Lou Maxon [00:42:03]:

No. It’s not about and and, I mean, Seattle Magazine, I mean, it was, you know, I ate way my way through Seattle. In the best restaurants issue. And I I mean, we were we were having lunch with Terry Radero You know, we were, we were, traveling around and getting to go to these northwest getaways. I was doing shoots in these beautiful Pacific Northwest homes. You know, I got to do a shoot with Rick the peanut man at Safeco Field. I got to sit in the, camera well with Lou, with Lou Pinella for a mariners game. I got to, like, take war. I got to, like, do shoot around with Wenatchee women’s basketball and the WNBA. Yeah. It was, I got to go do a a bunch of cool Seattle thing, so it was a really great stepping stone. But Lexus was, like, completely different level.

Scott Cowan [00:43:06]:

K. I wanna interrupt you because we wanna wanna wanna I wanna talk about the Seattle sitting in the camera well with loop vanilla. The beautiful thing about this show is that I’m the one that gets out of the question. So this is the question I wanna know. What was Lou Pinella like in person?

Lou Maxon [00:43:23]:

So, you know, I mean, I knew I liked baseball a lot. I I, like, before our hockey was on my radar, I I would say that I was a baseball guy. Like, my I was a huge Detroit Tigers fan because my family was in Detroit. Right? My favorite baseball player was a luittaker. Okay. 2nd base. Number 1.

Scott Cowan [00:43:49]:

Mhmm.

Lou Maxon [00:43:54]:

I love I love the story of him playing the all star game for getting his jersey and Sharpie marking the number one on the back of his jersey than hitting like a home run over Tiger Stadium in story games?

Scott Cowan [00:44:04]:

I don’t know that story. That’s a cool story.

Lou Maxon [00:44:06]:

Okay. So I was I I love baseball. I thought I was gonna play base. Like, I I played baseball up until high school. And I thought I wanted to play baseball in high school. Like, I just, like, I love baseball. I had baseball cards. I had Bill James baseball book. I did rotisserie baseball with the yahoo or in the, you know, I like I was into baseball big time. And I knew of Lou Pinella. I knew of the fiery. Right. You know? But, And you always feel, you know, you when you’re I think when you’re the media and you’re you get to have access to people like that, you always you kinda always feel like you’re already getting in the way. You know, so we were there and we were shooting, and I was with a good friend of mine photographer. And I remember like, he came out and he’s kind of an impo I mean, I’m I’m a tall guy, but he’s an imposing figure. Like, all the things that you hear about them run through your head. And I remember they were, like, in batting practice. So he came over. He shook my hand. Hey, Lou. Hey, Lou. It’s and then I remember him handing me the, the bat, basically a bat, like, because he was I don’t know. He was coming out of the dug coming out into the dugout. And he handed me to that, and I’m like, so excited. Like, this beautiful bat, and I reached it. And it’s just riddled in Pinetar. So the whole night I had just, like, borrowed all my hand. And I’m a we just, like, took some portraits of him and, you know, very, like, very very probably very well media trained, very cordial, but, like, to sit that they’re sitting in the stands, but there’s, like, when you’re on the field during a game, you don’t realize all the semantics of baseball. You know, like, the you don’t like, when you’re watching it in the stands or you’re watching it on TV, the focus is the pitcher batter. But when you see the culture of baseball, like, it’s and you you don’t, like, why does the manager wear a uniform. He’s not playing, but he’s he’s playing in his in his mind. Right? Like, there’s these, like, it would I, like, I’ll never forget it. I mean, even though I haven’t followed baseball as closely as before, but anytime I go to a mariners game. I remember I remember that. And, you just you see the relationship with the players and the motivations. And, I think he did not disappoint. It’s very strange for me to turn on the TV. And see him in a shag commercial.

Scott Cowan [00:46:55]:

Very, very odd. Yep. So that’s I’m glad you referenced that because that’s It’s just very, very odd because I just remember him. I remember being, you know, a long suffering mariners fan. Right? And Lou Pinella coming to manage the team was like, a badge of What’s the word I’m I’m struggling, but, like, legitimacy. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and then there would been legitimate managers and and players for the mariners before, but Lou Pinella Yankee’s manager, Lou Pinella Yankee’s manager, and the his personality molded those teams. And those teams, they didn’t win a lot. They did some did win, but, you know, the it will but the point is Lou Pinella put his imprint on on the city. Yep. And so that’s very cool that you got to sit with him. Okay. So Lexus. Yeah. Brand Management Magazine, but you’re a contractor.

Lou Maxon [00:47:58]:

Yeah. I’m a contractor for, like, I think I was contractor for, like, 6 months. I remember the the first time I had to pay Maxon. I was like, oh, man. That’s a lot. And then I got offered. I got offered, full time. So I was I was there for I was there for little over 5 years. It it like that that, you know, people ask like, oh, tell me, like, the job that transformed your career. I mean, would definitely be the job. I mean, at that point, like, everything changed. Mhmm. For for me creatively, I think for for, like, my wife and I for our for our family. But but it it wouldn’t have ever happened if I would have never done those other things.

Scott Cowan [00:48:45]:

You know, everything leads lead you to where, yeah, where you are today will lead you to where you’re gonna be in 5 years. Yeah. So I am I’ve I see that. But so this was a this was a departure from what you had been doing previously. I’ve post college. And then so you were with with Lexus for 5 years. And what I’m noticing when you describe these things, it’s it’s you you you said this, like, multiple time Well, I was looking into jobs online or in a paper. So it seems like you’re always trying to be aware of what opportunities may present themselves to you, which is the hallmark of somebody who’s ambitious and creative, in my opinion. One would say you could have stayed at Lexus until you retired, you know, and you you would have been a a a fine career.

Lou Maxon [00:49:37]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:49:39]:

What paper were you looking in when you left? I know. Well, no.

Lou Maxon [00:49:41]:

I mean, that that that is the thing is I think I got I think I got I think my looking was sort of, done by the time I got to to when I was in New York and got the the the the YM job, you know, because I wasn’t really, you know, I could have stayed there easily. Right? But, you know, moving back to Seattle, working at the at working at an ad agency again. I mean, I needed I needed to, like, find that job, but at at Seattle magazine. I could’ve stayed there for a long time. Like, when they when they reached, I wasn’t looking. They reached I got headhunted for that job. And so when I, you know, it was like to I guess in the magazine or in the brand world or may that would be like, playing in Seattle Magazine was so, like, major league, but it would be, like, playing in Tacoma and then getting called up to the show. Right? Because Lexus on a bigger level wasn’t just a magazine. It was a much bigger job. It wasn’t just like doing issues with the magazine. It was

Scott Cowan [00:50:51]:

Well, it’s a global brand.

Lou Maxon [00:50:52]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:50:52]:

I mean, the the Seattle magazine, yes, I’m sure people read it outside of the city of Seattle, but it is. Yeah. It is Seattle. Yeah. Where Lexus is global.

Lou Maxon [00:51:02]:

Yeah. And I I think one of the things that was super powerful for both at Metropolitan and Living and Alexis was that we didn’t have much bullets in living definitely did not have a lot of money. C. L. Magazine, also limited in terms of who we hire. Mhmm. So it was a lot of talent development. You know? And so when I think about minor leagues, I think about, okay. The thing that I can give that I can’t give a lot of money to, like, these photographers or illustrators, but what I can promise is that I can give them a great piece that they can use to get to to to develop to get their

Scott Cowan [00:51:45]:

— Build their portfolio.

Lou Maxon [00:51:46]:

Yeah. So a lot of people that I started with, at Metropolitan Living came with me. Mhmm. You know, and, one super quick story, which I think is which is fun. And someone that I’ve I’ve been good friends with since is, at Seattle Magazine I had worked with, this this photographer who I gave his first assignment to at Metropolitan Living. His name is Thor Radford, a good friend of mine to this day. And, we’re doing the restaurants issue. And there was kind of like this. There’s kind of a few go to’s in Seattle for food. Stuff, but this was editorial. This wasn’t like shooting fancy food in a studio. And, one thing that I love to do back to the spirit of, like, everybody goes left and I go right is to find something in either someone’s personal work. Like, so people would come and show me their portfolios, and I would look at everything. And for me, and I to this day, I tell, like, students in your professional work, I wanna see, like, a consistency of delivery. But, in your personal work, like, if you’re doing stuff outside of your regular job, like, I wanna see the vision. Like, I wanna see what it is that if everybody’s lined up and can do the fundamentals, like, what is the thing that makes you stand out from that? And, So we had shot all these food things. And, so the store was living in Spokane. I called him up, and I said, hey. We’re gonna do this best restaurants. We have a week to, like, hit 40 restaurants, eat the best food in Seattle for a week. I was like, have you ever shot food? And this is over the phone. He’s like, not really. No. But but I had seen him shoot other things. Right? And so I was like, okay. Go down the street. Like, go get a tart. Go get, like, a lemon tart down at the grocery.

Scott Cowan [00:53:46]:

Right.

Lou Maxon [00:53:47]:

Bring it back we’re gonna I’m gonna we’re gonna I’m gonna art direct you over over the phone, and then you’re gonna shoot a Polaroid because of so Polaroid, no no digital take a photo of it, email it to me, and I’ll show the editor. So we, like, literally I literally directed him to shoot this, like, fake shot of this chart I put it into a fake layout, went to the editor, showed it to her, and and had, like, enough nudging to get, uh-uh, she was, like, I’m unsure because, like, it’s not the usual suspect for, you know, gets the job troubles over, and we spend the week shooting. And he shot the whole thing. And then after that, like, suddenly now he’s shooting food. Right? Right. So I think it’s, it’s, It’s kinda it’s a little bit back to your Lou Pinella thing. Right? I think it’s like, how do you like, there’s players that you know you can expect certain things out of. How do you find the kind of, like, nuance with teams, whether you’re doing a project or you’re managing a team like, the kind of the the stuff that more you kind of observe and see in the locker room versus the see, the stuff you see in the field, And I think that kind of stuff from sports are just like seeing that or leading that helps to great work and also helps to because pea the people who are the best creatively at what they do, they’re not waking up. And flipping it on at 8 and then shutting it off at 4. Like, they’re living full on creative lives. Right? So It took those early jobs to get that. Lexus, I was on a whole another level just because suddenly suddenly, you go from being the Oakland A’s to the New York Yankees. Right? And you can spend some money. Right? Right. So now we’re you know, we’re flying to Singapore for the week and shooting following a chef. Oh, Morocco. Yeah. Or yeah. Yeah. Shooting shooting. Oh, Monica. Monica. Yes. Shooting, a chef at the fresh market chopping off a, you know, a frog leg and then, you know, or, yeah, I mean, like, it was insane. It was it was a good time economically. Right? And, you know, we would fly. We would fly to London for a meeting. You know, we were we were flying all and we had there was an international version of the magazine and, but one thing was we did all this. I started we started getting into films. Like, we were we were taking stories that we were producing for the magazine that we were all then we would go shoot and we would create a foam of it like, a film version, like, kinda like a evening magazine, but high, like, a higher premium. I have this, like, aesthetic from code that was, like, when we were, like, putting pieces of pizza and a scanner and skin to get a, you know, to now we’re, like, eating at, like, the

Scott Cowan [00:56:41]:

—

Lou Maxon [00:56:41]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:56:41]:

—

Lou Maxon [00:56:41]:

finest. And and my aesthetic for design went from sort of this, like, very analog and not very digital pixel perfect. To, like, very beautiful and. Like, very mister. Lexus was I mean, it’s Japanese. It’s a very it’s edited down to its essence. What I learned from that job was I had come from YM, which was, like, being in Times Square to, like, Lexus, which was, like, being in a bento box.

Scott Cowan [00:57:14]:

Right. Right. Okay.

Lou Maxon [00:57:15]:

And so It was very hopeful for me because, my natural instinct was, like, kind of to macgyver stuff together, and I kinda had to learn this And my I didn’t go to design school, so I don’t know, like, Swiss from, you know, almost whatever, but, I learned a ton I I I fell in love aesthetically with a lot of the brand Japan. Mhmm. Beauty, simplicity. But the thing that kinda changed me at Lexus wasn’t necessary. Mean, career wise, I was on a trajectory, but personally, we were doing these store. We were also we were shooting these cars in these amazing places. And we had budget. We did this story. It was It was in China, and it was a series of boutique hotels. Does in near the near the great wall designed by different architects. And I remember getting the film back and going through to to to create the layouts. And there is, like, these 2 prints. One was, like, this beautiful cast in place, concrete wall, with a single tree and this, like, wood planking. And the other was this beautiful concrete board formed. Textures. And I put, like, the two images together, and we did the hat. And I remember, like, just staring at those images and, like, architecturally, like, I felt like I was there, but there was, like, the this moment of Lexus, Japanese editorial design and clarity. I was like, man, like, I’d been in these spaces in Seattle, these different architects. And but at that moment, I was like, I’d never seen anything like that. It was like going from Cowan and white color, and I I was I remember, like, telling my wife, like, maybe, like, someday we do our own place. We do our own thing. I, like, I don’t know. Like, it just it’s it stuck with me. I I ended up leaving, the agency that we did because we did the agency that we did Lexus with. We did other work. Like, it wasn’t it wasn’t majority was Lexus, but I was at a I was the next level was actually a creative director, which was like the the top of the ladder. So, I got a call from a headhunter. So now this is, like, the new thing. Right? Now I’m not looking. They’re they’re looking, and there was a startup in Seattle that was doing, like, they had come from Canada, and they came to Seattle, and they were doing health and wellness, but for companies. So they were working with, like, Starbucks So that the goal was to create, health and wellness programs even before wellness was cool. Like, wellness was, you know, and, they’d already interview. They’re already in their final interview. Like, I missed the whole loop. It was, But out of the blue, they’re like, would you come in for an inter interview? Right? I was like, okay. So I went in for an interview, met the founder, met some of the team and they’re like, alright. Like, and it was a creative director job. Like, it wasn’t necessarily it was more money than Lexus, which was kinda weird, but it was a startup. So it wasn’t the global visibility. It was a little bit more money, but it was a higher title. Right? It was the title I needed to be at to be, like, in the next thing. So I took it. And, We created a it was creating unlike Lexus, which was established, but we were spreading Lexus stories and around the world. This was, like, creating something from scratch. Kinda like Metropolitan Living kind of like the zine, but directly for a brand, no magazine. So I did that. We, ended that for a while. I actually ended up working with Thor.

Scott Cowan [01:01:23]:

But,

Lou Maxon [01:01:24]:

again, he shot a lot of the stuff. We we really didn’t have a lot of money at all for startup. So we had to get get crafty, but I use a lot of this. The I use a lot of editorial storytelling for a for a kind of a not a corporate for for our brand. And I got to work with Starbucks. We we created a a a smoothie that became the Vivano at Starbucks, which is kinda cool. We I got to create some things in part. So I was working with brand collaboration. And so every job is kinda like unlocking a new key of the puzzle. And then, the brand got bought by Regents Blue Shield. And, went through a few CEOs start it was a start typical startup. It was it was funded by which is like a big local VC company, started by Howard Schultz, and so I got or, so I wasn’t sure, like, it was, like, you know, the goal was to kinda get acquired and, you know, And, so that happened pretty quick pretty quickly, like, 2 2 years or something. I got a call from a recruiter and they’re like, hey, I don’t know if you’d be interested. So there’s this footwear brand in Seattle kind of at this, like, critical moment. We’ve had a lot of people in haven’t really quite figured out. Not sure about the in house team. I was like, oh, who’s it for? I was like, Brooks. And, like, Brooks, like, I was not a runner. I was like, playing hockey. And so I went in to the interviews a super great guy, Dave Maxon, was a VP of Marketing, ex Nike, and, I kinda liked the fact that they said it was kind of an, like, a, it wasn’t a dead end. It was kind of like an impossible mission impossible. Like, you got this group that we kinda need to figure out, and we’re at this kind of point in the business. So came in there, sort of just like listened, had a in house group of creatives for the first time. Like, I had to manage people, but now I had a whole team.

Scott Cowan [01:03:21]:

Okay.

Lou Maxon [01:03:22]:

And, then we had and then they had an agency. So now I’m working in for a brand managing a team, and I’ve got an agency externally. So I’ve kinda got a little It’s like Kaye can eat it too. Right? Cause I’ve because I was operating coming from Lexus at that brand agency level. So I’m totally related to the agency point of view. What I didn’t have was what I kinda had a little bit from Seattle Magazine because I had folks that reported to me was having my own team internally at a brand. So now I’m doing that. Kinda had to learn. I’m kinda had to learn, like, the running. Like, I wasn’t a runner. Like, you go find someone at lunch. Like, oh, they’re running, like, an effort on for lunch. Super running culture. The brand was pivoting. And it was at that time, it was kind of it was almost like, it was kinda like very serious, like running like, all the Nike, Brooks, all these brands, like, running as hard. It’s sweat. Big sweat, you know, like, you know, it’s painful. And Brooks’s positioning was, that we that we we make. It’s a perfect ride for every stride. Right? So whether you have your gates all whacked out or your this or your that. Like, we we we can carry you through the spectrum from whatever kind of runner you are to where you wanna be. And then also, you know, we wanna make gear that helps you run better. Right? So did a lot of research, worked closely with the team, and then, basically ended up relaunching a position that they had before, but they didn’t really activate called Run Happy. And it wasn’t a campaign that lasted, like, for a few months. It was a way it was an oxygen. Right? It was a way of life. So my boss Dave Larson’s boss is Jim Weber, his CEO, Brooks. Also, was, as I understand it, his roommate was the backup goalie for the 1980 men’s hockey team that won a late class at Right. So here’s hockey and and running coming together. So suddenly, I’m I’m playing in the US Brooks versus US or Canada Brooks sale meeting about Whistler with Jim Weber, okay, playing hockey. You know, my balance is pretty cool. And I got I played, Jim snuck Maxon to his, like, his record hockey team. Oka. And Jim’s boss became Warren Buffett. Because warm because Berkshire bought bought bought Brooks. Right? So we

Scott Cowan [01:05:58]:

— I did not know that.

Lou Maxon [01:05:59]:

So we I’m coming from this super, very perfect, pixel perfect, Lexus world, And Dave is completely the opposite. Dave Larson’s completely the opposite. He’s, you know, fun, very unorthodox, very different, like, marketing wise. So I kinda had to unlearn Lexus and and, like, not grow my hair out, but I had to kinda, like, let let loose. I had to kinda get back to code a little bit. Okay. Have a little bit more fun. So we run we launch, run happy. It goes crazy. We’re working with the Sklar Brothers who are, like, brother comedians. They did always sunny in Philadelphia. And

Scott Cowan [01:06:47]:

— Mhmm. —

Lou Maxon [01:06:48]:

so suddenly we’re shooting commercial TV down in California. I had been itching to the shoe box when I got there was blue. It was flood of blue. It was if there was any more blue, it would have been the. And I I remember I had worked with this illustrator named Peter Arco, Alexis, and I went into Dave, and I went into Jim and just like, even within, like, the 1st 3 months, I was like, we gotta do something about this box. If we’re gonna be run happy, we can’t be this, like, corporate blob. Right? So I had this vision of creating a shoebox that celebrated all the the that point of view of, like, perfect ride for every stride and every means everyone Right? And so that’s like, I’m, you know, I’m running for a cause. I’m pushing you know, person in a wheelchair. I’m going for my personal record. You know, it’s a porta potty running. It’s Elvis running. You know, it’s like, And Jim was like, we’re not quite right. Like, we’re not we’re not I see what you’re doing, but we’re not we’re not quite there. So I just kept pushing And then finally, like, the brand was at a point where we could really let the hair out and just kinda go. And so went in again, said, yes. Commissioned, Peter, we created a whole visual library of illustrations of the community of runners. We had sponsored athletes. We had and it was really important for me. This project was super important for me because, I had I had worked with illustrators before at Seattle Magazine and the other projects. And at YM, we did these, like, fantastic, like, really bold things, but they were just kind of cheeky and fun. And it was like, oh, my boyfriend loves me or this. It was like it wasn’t like new the new Yorker. Right? Mhmm. But with illustration, you go, but the difference between photography and illustration, photography is, like, if you look outside, there is the tree. Right? But illustration is Imagination.

Scott Cowan [01:08:53]:

Mhmm.

Lou Maxon [01:08:54]:

And and what could that what is that tree? And how does it look through the eyes of this brand? Right? There’s a lot of pictures of people running left and running right. There’s pictures of your shoe, the bottom of your shoe. You’re running up the hill. You’re running down the hill. But when you imagine a world illustrated through the lens of the brand values. Like, you can own that, and that’s something that’s hard. Jim used to say, like, we need to build a moat around the brand. Mhmm. Right? A defensible mode. And our and our things that we need to create need to be ours. So doing this box It was, like, one of the most sustainable boxes. I was on the I got to be on the sustainable committee, and I had done some of that with with Lexus, but It was huge. So I was at Brooks. The company that I’d worked at before the startup called me back they couldn’t quite figure out what to do at at Regions, what, like, the the soul of the come, when it got acquired, they couldn’t they kinda kinda got corporate. The founder called me. I’ve been at Brooks 3 years. We had just bought land here in Carnation because we were starting to imagine this this this. And, so I went back to the startup. First time ever in my entire career that I boomeranged, back to a place. It always seems different in your mind, and then you get there and you realize maybe why you left. So I went. I literally stayed for a calendar year because I that was kind of my I just needed this. And, woman that I worked with the first time at that same startup had since gone to an added, ad agency in Seattle. And she called me and said, hey. I just got this job. We need an executive creative director for this agency office in LA office in Seattle, which come So I left.

Scott Cowan [01:10:42]:

So — Yes. I will.

Lou Maxon [01:10:44]:

Yeah. Okay. So now so now I’m at the some back at an agency and we’re and, you know, agencies like your pitching work, you’re managing existing work, you’re growing clients. You grew you’re growing business within existing clients. It wasn’t necessarily things I hadn’t done before, but there were a few things a few things that stood out. We this is around the time Microsoft was launching Windows 8. We’re working with Acer, Taiwanese, hardware company. And, start the new Star Trek was coming, from Paramount, directed by JJ Abrams. And Acer, the as is the case with films, they they they they get companies to offset cost. So Microsoft was the software kind of tech sponsor. And Acer was the hardware. Acer was going through a rebrand. So, again, the window of time of these career moves has been really great, you know, and, some lucky, because you don’t know. Right. But Acer was redoing their positioning globally. And, it was sort of this exploration, and Star Trek is all about exploration. To new places. Right? So you have this brand, and it’s like explore beyond limits. So you have this Acer and you have Star Trek. And Microsoft. So Microsoft’s wanting to, you know, promote the touch of Windows 8. And, so my job is to come up with a way to integrate Acer, that made sense with the context. And the movie’s set in the future, so the products aren’t even there. Right? And, so we would we would we got to go down to Paramount. We would go down that we got to see different parts of the movie, but we never got to see the whole movie, and you couldn’t take parts with you back. Like, you get to see, like, previews of it, and you never release anything commercially that hadn’t already been in a trailer or a teaser.

Scott Cowan [01:13:09]:

Okay.

Lou Maxon [01:13:09]:

There’s a part in the movie. Spoiler alert. I mean, the movie’s been out for a long time. So, where, one character’s in the room that you can’t get out of because there’s, like, chemicals and sparks on the other side of the glass, and they touch their hands to the glass. And it’s like, oh, man, this is like, I mean, I didn’t write the movie, but I was like, oh, thank you, JJ Abrams, because, like, this is touched. Like, this is, like, literally, like, the the software potential of, like, human connection. Right? We couldn’t use it because it would give away, like, that critical part in the movie. But what we did was had to create 2 story lines. One sort of everything that happens within the ship which is lightness. Everything’s white and bright and hopeful. And then everything that happens outside the ship, which is dark and mysterious And so we use those sort of, like, inspired by the film and created these they’re also introducing a new product that sort of looked Like, it it was a laptop that the keyboard detached from the screen to become a tablet. And so we had to create these spots that look like they were in the film, but weren’t in the film. So there there were moments of b roll from the actual trailer. Splice together with these CGI kind of moments. And, I remember we, you know, we had to send them for approval to paramount, I’m sure Microsoft Acer and bad robot, which is JJ Abrams, and, like, they’re like, oh, like, this is Wow. This this this actually, you know, this actually works. And I don’t I don’t I mean, I’ll you know, everybody knows Star Trek, and I was like, oh, JJ Abrams, like, gigantic, you know, insane. So here we are sending this thing over the fence. And, apparently, he ended up they ended up liking it so much that he ended they ended up providing a score for the for the spot. So and it was one of those kind of moments too where you’re, like, taking then you’re realizing, like, oh, man, like, I’m watching lost and I’m watching oh, this is the guy that is the mind behind this thing. So It’s kinda like the athlete thing, like the Gretzky thing, whatever. Like, suddenly, like, you’re you’re working in in the same oxygen space as these people that you’ve, like, grown up watching. And so it’s super, super powerful. For me to to be there, like, at that time. I ended up, I remember There was a baseball game in Seattle. There was like there was like 2 sporting events in the same day like, one of the worst traffic days. And at this time, I was commuting from because we were we were we were living on the east side. And so my commute from, like, the sculpture garden home, was already, like, 45 minutes to an hour. That day, it took, like, 5 hours to get home. And I remember coming home just saying, like, I’m done. Mhmm. Like, I’m not, I had I felt like I had enough pieces of the puzzle to, like, say, we’re gonna I’m gonna start my own thing now. Like, I I’ve seen the the inside. I’ve seen the outside. I’ve I’ve gathered my my group.

Scott Cowan [01:16:25]:

Mhmm.

Lou Maxon [01:16:25]:

And, we’re gonna give this this out. So I quit I quit the agency and, It was a little risky because we were we we had hired You know, we were underway with the house. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:16:41]:

We’re gonna stop. Oh, yeah. Folks, you have to tune in next week. To hear about the house and about Lou’s agency. Hope you enjoyed the show. You can reach me on Twitter at Explore Wang State. I’d love to hear your comments, and also visit our website at explore washingtonstate.com. If you know anyone who would like to show, it’d be amazing to share the show with him. This is the biggest way that we grow this show. Good old word-of-mouth. Glad you were here with me today, and I hope to have you listening to the next episode. See you then.