The Lewis creative agency moved into new offices in a renovated car dealership in downtown Mobile and celebrated with a ribbon-cutting Wednesday.
Founded in 1951, the agency has long been a fixture in a historic home near the landmark cannon in Mobile’s Midtown area. The new location at 500 St. Louis St. is also a historic building, but this time a former automobile dealership in the city’s Automobile Alley area.
“We wanted to be sure our presence in our hometown is as innovative and vibrant as our company is today,” said Lewis CEO Ellen Faulkner. “Our goal was to create an environment for putting fresh thinking into action; a space for the biggest ideas Alabama has ever seen.”
Built as a car dealership and long occupied by Campbell’s Ship Supply, the building offers the high ceilings and wide-open spaces that allow for very flexible usage, said Faulkner Chairman Larry Norris.
Norris first considered the building in 2018.
“In spite of the dark, dated interior with not a single window, we loved the potential — tall wooden ceilings with skylights, beams and the original (but covered-over) clerestory windows. And, secure, onsite parking for all our staff members,” said Norris, who previously oversaw renovations of Lewis’ offices in Birmingham (2015) and Nashville (2019).
While clients occasionally stop by, the new offices were designed primarily to please the employees, Norris said.
During the pandemic, staff members got used to working from home, “but our business is collaborative and that doesn’t work well on a Zoom call,” Norris said.
“But if you want talented people to come to the office, you need a nice one,” Faulkner added. And the office is “where the magic happens.”
Working with architect Jared Fulton, from the Birmingham office of Chambless King Architects, the company created a mix of open spaces, nooks and crannies, plus an outdoor grill and patio — facilities that the leadership hopes employees “want to work in rather than feeling they have to work there.”
Lewis boasts an award-winning creative team and a wide range of clients — from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail to C-Spire to Vanderbilt Health to the Birmingham Zoo. Describing itself as a full-service agency and a growth marketing agency, Lewis helps clients “change their business at pivotal moments in their history,” Faulkner says.
Both Faulkner and Norris have lengthy careers with the agency. Faulkner, now CEO, started as an account coordinator — “the lowest person on the totem pole” — after a stint selling ads for Mobile Bay Monthly magazine. Norris, now chairman, started his Lewis career as a runner.
