Montblanc
Origine is a brand strategy and creative studio led by Nicolas Abou, with a senior bench of designers, producers and creatives who stay on the work.
Get in touchWe work with brand and marketing leaders to turn what the brand means into identity, campaigns and work people can feel.
We define what the brand means, then build the strategy and the work that makes people feel it. One mind carries the whole distance, so nothing is lost between the idea and the thing.
The result is work people feel, with the business strategy visible in every piece. Delivered as briefed, on time and on brand, with results the team can show.
Results
+30%
above Amex Canada's average engagement, F1 weekend content
150%+
sales lift after the DivaCup rebrand*
Design Concept 2024, Bank of Montreal online business banking*
Forbes
Best Employers 2023, the announcement led on our Sephora Canada frame
Sectors
- Sports & Culture
- Luxury & Premium Brands
- Corporate
- Wellness & Hospitality
In their words
“Nico is the kind of agency partner in-house marketers dream of. … He was able to cut through layers of complexity in our sales cycle, customer profiles, and technology to identify key themes and messages that resonated with our audience. Never a yes man, Nico is able to facilitate productive discussions with a consistently positive energy, bringing out the best ideas from a group.”
“Nicolas was thoughtful, contributed valuable insights, and an excellent communicator. I would not hesitate to work with Nicolas again if the opportunity arises in future!”
“His attention to detail, creativity, and professionalism shone through in every shot. Nicolas delivers outstanding results in fast-paced environments.”
Portfolio

Google Ads Campaign
Creative direction | Photography | Film · 2023
Google's Ads team tells success stories about the businesses behind the ads. We directed this one: two short films and fifty photographs for Transformer Table, shot over two days alongside live film production. Google took lifetime rights and ran the imagery across its platforms. It is still running.

DivaCup
Brand strategy | Positioning | Rebrand · Agency Signifly* · 2023
DivaCup was a single product. The company was becoming a full cycle care brand, and the name had to move with it. We led the strategy: DivaCup became DIVA, repositioned as the conscious cycle care partner. New identity, new voice, several regional sites consolidated into one e-commerce platform. Sales lifted more than 150% following the rebrand.

Michael Kors x Elle Quebec
Creative direction | Photography | Film · 2024
Michael Kors dressed models in the collection. Elle Québec had its name on the night. A night built that way wants pictures a magazine can run, so we shot portraits: the product worn rather than displayed, attitude as the anchor. It ran on ELLEQUEBEC.com and across both brands' channels.

Bank of Montreal
Experience strategy | Research | Executive workshops · Agency Signifly* · 2024
The Online Business Banking platform needed a ground-up experience strategy. We ran the research, led executive workshops, and built the methodology that shaped the redesign. It won a Red Dot Design Concept Award in 2024.

Montblanc
Production | Photography · 2025
Montblanc's Let's Write campaign, made with Wes Anderson, runs under a concept called The Journey. We carried that language into the Royalmount boutique: each object shot under the maison's own catalogue discipline, the room let come slowly. Montblanc pulled the set for its own channels and kept it running for four months.

Nespresso · Le Studio Café
Creative direction | Photography | Film · 2026
Nespresso opened Le Studio Café in Montréal and programmed its first weekend for a Gen Z audience. We directed stills, video, and social content across mediums with a second camera operator and an editor on the team. First reel cut and delivered the same day the programming ran.

American Express x F1 Canadian Grand Prix
Creative direction | Photography | On-set art direction | Press licensing · 2025
Three days across two branded environments at the Canadian Grand Prix. We produced it as a lifestyle story, not event coverage. Content delivered 30% above Amex Canada's average engagement. Featured in Fashion Magazine in print and online, co-posted to nearly 800,000 across Amex's channels.

Sephora Canada
Creative direction | Photography | Film · 2023
Sephora Canada needed the hero image for its Forbes Best Employers announcement. We directed a Quebec-wide shoot across store locations, stills and motion both. Employees in their actual work, expertise on the floor, the moments between coworkers. The hero launched on Sephora Canada's official LinkedIn.

Atelier Talule
Brand strategy | Visual identity | Brand book | Social guidelines · 2025
A family jewelry house with three generations of craft and no brand to hold it. We built the strategy from zero: architecture, positioning, visual identity, and a brand system for two entities. The first 0-to-1 brand in the portfolio.

Luuna de Jade
Creative direction | Photography | Film · 2026
A boutique hotel in Oaxaca, built to carry what the property means before a guest ever arrives. Editorial photography and film that let the architecture, the light, and the ritual speak for themselves.
*Strategy led by the founder, delivered at Signifly.
Capabilities
Services
Brand Strategy & Creative Studio
- Brand Strategy
- Business Strategy
- Market Strategy
- Positioning & Messaging
- Brand & Identity
- Visual Identity Systems
- Product
- Creative Direction
- Art Direction
- Campaigns
- Photography & Film
- Content Production
- Market Activation
- Events & Launches
Founder

- 2014IBM's experience agencySeven years of brand and experience strategy: Sally Beauty, Air Canada, McKesson, TD.
- 2016Creative Director and ProducerFirst production credit; over 400 projects directed since, in English and French.
- 2022Head of Brand and Digital Strategy, North AmericaThe DivaCup repositioning and the Bank of Montreal experience strategy behind a Red Dot Award.
- 2023Origine Strategic Studio foundedStrategy, creative direction and production under one roof, with a senior bench of designers, producers and creatives who stay on the work.
- 2025American Express at the F1 Canadian Grand PrixProduced as a lifestyle story and run in Fashion Magazine. Montblanc at Royalmount the same season.
- 2026Expansion into LondonMontreal and London. Four projects with Nespresso, the Summer campaign and Le Studio Cafe among them.
Contact
Every project starts as strategy: what the brand means, what the work has to say.
+1 (514) 226-7699
Montréal · London