After years of main-stage creative success, John McGuire wanted to expand his revered boutique live experience agency into something bigger. His COO knew my work from MONO, I was down and working in LA a few days later.
Creative direction across the agency’s brand identity refresh, market positioning, and live show design work for the artist accounts. Calvin Harris Ibiza residency, French Montana tour, Flume at Coachella. High-profile artist scale, Ibiza residency stakes.
John McGuire founded Trask House in LA as a live music design studio. Real credibility: Daft Punk, Beck, Blink-182, Calvin Harris, French Montana, Flume, more. By 2019, John wanted to expand the agency’s brand identity and market positioning beyond just live show services. Something bigger, more strategic, more brand-focused.
His COO knew my work from MONO. I was down and working in LA a few days later, on retainer as creative director for both the agency’s reposition and live show creative direction on flagship artist accounts.
Creative direction across the agency’s brand identity refresh and market positioning, I helped Trask House articulate a broader story beyond “we build live shows.”
At the same time, I handled creative direction on the live show work that funded the agency. Calvin Harris Ibiza residency. French Montana tour. Flume’s Coachella main stage set. Stage design, tour visuals, artist brand extensions.
These aren’t small rooms. Live music at this level delivers a shared experience to tens of thousands of people simultaneously and can’t afford aesthetic guesswork. Design has to be surgical.
March 2020. Flume’s Coachella main stage was four days from load-in when the pandemic shut down live music entirely. The whole industry went silent in the same week. Trask House and the agency world pivoted.
Two lessons from that year. First: agencies grow when they can articulate a broader positioning story, not just deliver on the projects they’re known for. Broadening from “live show shop” to “creative agency for artists” is a repositioning problem, not a project problem.
Second: even the best-timed strategy can hit a wall no one saw coming. The response to that isn’t better planning, it’s operators who can shape-shift quickly. The pandemic sent me from live music into enterprise consulting within weeks, and I brought Trask House’s high-stakes muscle with me.
Let’s talk about what’s on your mind.