L’ÉLOI Reveals the World’s Beauty
Above: Éloi Beauchamp; photo by Jodi+Alex; hair and makeup: Shannie Jung (TEAMM)
“I would rather L’ÉLOI was the company people needed only 10% of the time and not the other 90%,” states Éloi Beauchamp with confidence. Éloi is the CEO and founder of the production company L’ÉLOI, which represents some of the world’s most progressive image-makers. At the company’s Montreal headquarters, specialism is in – it always has been – and generalism is rejected as the company vows to stay true to its artistic foundation.
Even a quick glance at L’ÉLOI’s visually arresting and chic website reveals a different calibre of visual work. The colours are bright but never disharmonious, with the forms grounded in something earthly. Each project is also consciously authored by the artist at the helm. Somehow, though, it retains a commercial heart too, rendering it interesting and attention-grabbing; a ‘what’s that?’ moment in a sea of forgettable. Director Nik Mirus’s Crown Royal spot drips in gold, conjuring images of decadence and magic. For Loblaws, director duo Les Garçons channelled the Tuscan countryside to capture the craft of pizza making in striking black and white. And for the tights brand, Sheertex, Camille Boyer directs a dancer to explore the idea of resilience through movement with bold flourishes of colour suspended in diaphanous light.
Above: L’ÉLOI’s new roster reel
Now in its 24th year of business, the company recently underwent a rebrand coinciding with an expansion of the roster to bring it to a total of 23 artists across the disciplines of live action, photography, mixed media, and motion design. The expansion follows a crystallisation of the company’s DNA, starting in 2017 and culminating in the poised position of today. “We want to stay very niche, we want to be image makers who create high-impact cutting-edge visuals while we grow and move forward,” says Éloi. In 2019, the production company started to build a network of affiliates in Chicago (Renee & Melissa) and Toronto (Hestyreps). Then came a pivotal moment – getting signed with Free Agents in New York, “one of the most reputable in the United States.” Éloi says it was “a massive game-changer that allowed us to tap into a bigger market.”
That move elucidated the strengths that L’ÉLOI needed to lean into, and the areas requiring some extra polishing in order to push the company to become “world class players.” Éloi engaged the services of design studio Principal to help refresh all of the company’s touchpoints, including the website and the logo.
Expansion of the roster felt both necessary and natural, driven by market needs and the gap in the company’s service offering that Éloi spotted. Adding live action and animation studios to the existing roster was the missing piece, and this latest phase of growth was an opportunity to become a one stop shop with 360 degree capacity to service clients and briefs; of course the company had to jump at it. Now L'ÉLOI can really compete and lead – not just in Canada, but globally.
Above: Nik Mirus for Crown Royal
Site of the future
Getting the website right was crucial for L’ÉLOI, since it’s one of the first touchpoints that clients engage with. “What we realised from working with international clients is that when you’re spending half a million dollars on an advertising campaign, you want some kind of warranty. Our agents and affiliates are the first filter but then they’re going to check us out themselves to know what they’re buying into,” Éloi says. That’s why getting the customer touchpoints perfect was of utmost importance, alongside the holistic client experience the company provides. It wasn’t an easy process and, aided by Principal, took a lot of analysis and reflection.
As well as the aesthetic changes, Principal helped the company to find a unifying ethos that communicates to its artists, employees, clients – everyone – exactly what it stands for. ‘We reveal the world’s beauty’ encapsulates the company’s artistic foundation. Led by the artists on the roster, the “quest for beauty” started with Éloi himself. A scientist by training (he holds a BASc in Biology and an MSc in Ecology), Eloi worked as a photographer with childhood aspirations to shoot for the National Geographic. “I’ve always loved the intersection of nature and documentary, I’m inspired by the beauty of the natural world to this day. I’m a very visual person, and I always want us to be creating images that hold people’s attention in the ocean of visual content we’re constantly swimming in,” he adds.
From digital to physical
L'ÉLOI’s headquarters are seriously impressive. Located in a 2,000-square-metre space are two studios, a workshop, a lab for creative experiments, and a huge rooftop terrace. It’s not quite Studio 54, but the principle of coming together, learning, creating, and experimenting is one and the same. “We love creating encounters and bringing people with a complementary outlook together. When artists, clients, and collaborators share the same objectives, we can create magic,” Éloi says.
Above: Les Garçons for President's Choice
The HQ is tailored to these specifications and provides “a competitive advantage” to anyone who shoots there, according to Éloi. “We have all our own gear, we have an amazing team, and we work in Canadian dollars which works out favourably for Europe and the United States,” he explains. Beyond the practicalities and the incredible work that L’ÉLOI knows it can deliver, clients can also expect a seamless experience once in Montreal. “There’s something unique about having a client come to us, stay in an incredible hotel, eat at innovative restaurants. We’re very fortunate to live where we do, it’s a very stimulating city,” adds Éloi. “On top of the shooting experience, there’s the travel which we make very fun.” What L'ÉLOI has succeeded in creating is a destination hub where every aspect of the client experience is as essential as the work.
A Space to Experiment
L’ÉLOI created its artist roster over many years, taking the time to develop and grow artists from under the company umbrella, and to add ones with an established practice too. What unites everyone currently represented by the company is an “attitude and an aptitude,” says Éloi, adding that the perfect match between an artist and L’ÉLOI is in “somebody who has the ethos of a warrior, who creates at all costs.” L'ÉLOI may deal in commercial work, but Éloi is very sober about the fact that this alone doesn’t satisfy the artistic appetite; it simply can’t. “An artist who only makes commercial work won’t be happy. There has to be experimentation, fun, and equilibrium between the two kinds of work, and a fueled curiosity,” he adds.
At L’ÉLOI, this is all made possible in the ‘Lab’, a company programme through which artists can play and create, test ideas, and fail. Failure isn’t something to be avoided, it’s a conduit that yields new and sometimes unexpected results that can then lead onto something interesting and exciting. L’ÉLOI allows and encourages artists to use the company’s gear and resources and, sometimes, the company even invests in the resultant projects. The Lab is also facilitating development by engaging and encouraging dialogue, like a recent roundtable on AI with the founder of Reimagine.AI, David Usher. It was an opportunity for everyone to debate and discover how the new technology can be utilised creatively and productively within an arsenal of the artists’ tools. “If we stay hungry, curious, and explore together, then we’ll stay fresh and ahead of everyone else,” Éloi says.
Above: Camille Boyer for Sheertex
Nurturing a creative space, psychically and materially, is something Éloi is very protective of. Part of it stems from his academic training and the other from the belief that “business is a game,” which he loves to play. “We’re trying to be as intelligent and strategic as possible. I like growth. For me, the status quo is not interesting,” Éloi states. By investing wholeheartedly in artists and perfecting L’ÉLOI’s client experience, the company is setting out big goals to achieve over the next few years. Sales in the US have already grown from 20% to 50% – a sign to continue following down that path. L’ÉLOI is heading west next, California specifically, with a view to have reps in Europe and Asia next. Doubling the amount of contracts is something Éloi wants to achieve, while necessarily paying attention to the quality of those contracts: bigger ideas, bigger budgets, bigger scope. This, in turn, will allow L’ÉLOI to continue balancing meaning with growth, translation to even more freedom for artists to pursue the weird and wonderful work that doesn’t always pay the bills.
“For me, business is a big pendulum,” Éloi says. “I always want the artist to be working on projects that will bring growth; either creatively, economically, or in terms of visibility. Every time we complete a project, I want everyone to be proud of it. To want to share it and for it to be good for everyone’s careers. Our ultimate objective is to become a source of world-class cutting-edge visual references for other creatives and have our website be a destination that inspires others.”
Creative strategy
The company, under Éloi’s strategic guidance, works hard to differentiate itself from the competition. The USP may seem obvious – ‘commercial work made by artists’ – but in reality it’s a lot more nuanced than that. “We have four differentiators that we think make us unlike other companies. We want to represent progressive artists. We want to offer a memorable client journey. We have our feel-at-home spaces so that everyone who visits can feel comfortable. And, finally, we want to be a one-stop-shop solution for all client production needs.” It’s a highly strategic approach executed by over 20 employees, including highly experienced producers, all amounting to client processes and experiences that appear effortless yet have been honed over and refined over many years.
For Éloi, this stems from his scientific background and entrepreneurial spirit. He’s not just thinking about the short-term objectives, though they are of course important, but about building a company that can stand the test of time; a legacy, if you will. “My dream is if I ever leave or die, the company survives me,” he explains with a laugh. “This company is built with a different mindset. I want it to be solid and to endure for the next 24 years. That’s why we approach what we do very differently to other companies; we look at how we service our clients in a different way.” It’s true that quite often production companies focus on the roster of talent, with a typically small team behind the scenes. Éloi knows that that model simply couldn’t execute the artists’ or the clients’ visions; “we couldn’t be a destination or have the agility to solve the challenges without a big experienced crew who make it all happen.”
