Elation Europe celebrates first decade
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To mark the anniversary, Elation Europe will celebrate with a variety of special activities in 2021. “Like so many other events in 2020, Elation Europe has decided to postpone celebration activities until 2021 when larger groups can again gather safely,” says the company.
“It’s really incredible to think how much has changed in these 10 years,” comments Frederik Afif, international sales manager for Elation Europe and one of a handful of employees who helped to start up the operation in 2010. “We started in a small office with just two sales people and some back-office support, a coffee machine and not much more.
“I was on the phone constantly, driving to customers all over Europe in a small van, doing demos every day and introducing the Elation brand. We literally called every phone number we could find from production companies, distribution firms, rental companies, anyone who would listen. We worked from early morning until late in the evening driven by a real passion for what we were doing. It was challenging but we were laying the groundwork for relationships that I still have today.
Afif continues: “Going the extra mile, in the office, on the road, on the plane, always giving a little bit more. That has been one of our keys to success. It’s a passion you feel when you walk through our offices and still today people who visit us often remark about it.”
Leading the European office is sales & marketing manager Marc Librecht, a life-long lighting industry pro who came onboard in 2011. “From day one, we’ve made an effort to create a leading brand by offering value and taking care of customers,” he says. “We’ve always been about people, about how we can make a better solution together or solve a problem for a client. That’s what drives us.”
Librecht says that caring attitude starts with the Elation European team. “The fact that we’ve kept our core team together over the years says a lot about who we are. We’re a team that genuinely cares about each other and supports and relies on one another. That’s a big reason behind our success.”
Another employee who has been with the company since its earliest days in Europe is head of R&D and QA Roger Hamers. “My goal from the beginning was to produce really top quality, high end products that would fit into the professional market here in Europe,” he states. “The challenge was to have the right products for the European market.”
In 2010, Elation had already enjoyed success in the US, but being new to the European market meant a different approach was needed. “The European market is a different market than the U.S.,” says Afif, “and we knew we would have to create new products to satisfy our clientele. In the US, it was often about bigger and brighter but we had a different requirement, more compact fixtures with a lighter weight.”
A big change came in 2011 when Elation began to cooperate with Netherlands-based Philips Lighting to develop the now industry-standard Platinum lamp. “We were the first company to use their Platinum lamps and it allowed us to produce more compact units but still with a lot of output,” explains Hamers, who says that the smaller lamp size and the bright, homogenized beam it created opened up a lot of possibilities.
In 2011, the company was one of the first in Europe to launch an LED moving head panel and there have been many other milestones like premixed colour, quad-colour, six-colour and Chip on Board (COB) LED technology.
Innovation and hard work helped fuel consistent development in Elation Europe’s early years but growth also came in greater leaps like when Elation launched the Proteus line of IP65 luminaires in 2017. “The Proteus line opened a lot of doors for us into the top end of the market,” states Librecht.
“And the development continues,” adds head of R&D Hamers, who notes that Elation started with 30W LED engines just a few years ago and now launches products with LED engines over 900W. The focus on new technology has led to a string of industry accolades for innovation with Elation’s Proteus, Artiste and Fuze lines all multiple award winners.
“We look forward to the time when we can celebrate our decade of success with our valued partners and friends in the industry,” ends Librecht.
