Ben Le Tourneau

Executive Producer  |  Creative Direction  |  Integrated Production

I’m curious enough to question it. Creative enough to rethink it. Experienced enough to make it happen.

I ask the questions that uncover the real problem, find the creative way through it, then bring together the people, production and technology to deliver it and make the idea work harder.

A quick silent showreel is below, showcasing a selection of my integrated production work. If you’d like to watch with sound, please click play below to visit the showreel page.

Industry First
built one of the first fully integrated creative production studios in London, ahead of a model that's since become the industry norm
20
years solving creative, production and technology challenges for brands, agencies and production studios worldwide
100+
Integrated campaigns delivered over 16 years, individual projects up to £350k, 100% on time and on budget.
Academy Award
Helped launch Mocha, the Academy Award winning VFX technology, and integrate it into the Adobe ecosystem.
Lürzer's Archive
200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide, 2023

How I work

Question → Understand → Challenge → Solve → Orchestrate → Amplify → Deliver

The output has changed throughout my career. The way I approach problems hasn’t.

I’ve used the same thinking to help launch VFX technology, build international production pipelines, create integrated campaigns and grow a multidisciplinary creative studio.

I don’t start with “What should we make?” I start with “What are we actually trying to solve?”

01

Question & Reframe

Get underneath the brief, understand the real challenge and find the strongest creative way through it.

02

Create & Shape

Develop ideas, creative direction and visual approaches that can work across media rather than being constrained by one.

03

Build & Orchestrate

Bring together the right people, disciplines, technology and production approach to turn the idea into something real.

04

Amplify

Look beyond the original ask to make ideas, assets, budgets and production work harder across channels and touchpoints.

Never just one box

I’ve helped shape products and technology, built production pipelines, developed and directed creative ideas, Executive Produced complex campaigns, built teams, won clients and spent 16 years running a creative business.

The common thread is problem solving. I like getting involved early, when there are still questions to ask and possibilities to explore, then helping turn that thinking into something real.

Leadership

I’m not interested in being the smartest person in the room. I’m interested in getting the right people into the room.

I’ve spent years building teams around problems, giving talented specialists the space to do what they do best while creating the clarity, support and direction that keeps everyone moving towards the same goal.

My job is often to ask the questions, remove the obstacles and make sure a great idea survives the journey into something real.

Selected work

A selection of work I’ve creatively led, directed and produced, from final films to case studies and behind-the-scenes stories showing the thinking, problem solving and craft behind the work.

BUILDING A SCALABLE CREATIVE MODEL

Samsung QLED / BMB

How do you continuously create premium content without every execution becoming another major production?

REFRAMING THE SOLUTION

Mycogen / Bader Rutter

What if the solution you’ve been asked to make isn’t actually the best way to connect with the audience?

CREATING CLARITY FROM AMBIGUITY

ROLI Airwave & Piano

Six weeks until launch. New product. No defined campaign. What do we need to make?

MAKING THE COMPLEX UNDERSTANDABLE

SMA Awareness / Havas

How do you communicate complex and sensitive symptoms accurately without frightening the families you’re trying to help?

REIMAGINING A CLASSIC SPORT

World Curling

How do you capture the speed, drama and energy of a sport in 30 seconds and give its global broadcasts a distinctive new identity?

MAKING THE AMBITION FIT THE BUDGET

Dobbies / Elvis

How do you protect a big creative idea when the production budget doesn’t quite match the ambition?

Work for Social Change

Beyond client work, I create personal campaigns aimed at real-world impact. Here are three I’m especially proud of:

CHALLENGING ACID VIOLENCE

ASTI | Behind the Scenes

Creative campaigns that helped raise awareness of acid violence and contributed to legislation restricting the sale of corrosive substances.

PROTECTING A CULTURAL LANDMARK

Long Live Southbank | Case study

A neon-lit, digitally signed campaign that helped support the successful fight to preserve London’s iconic Southbank skate park.

TURNING E-WASTE INTO ACTION

WasteAid

A stop-motion zoetrope created pro bono to promote e-waste recycling, later adopted for use in government advocacy.

Some of the brands I have worked with

What people say

Ben and the team bring a dynamic mix of creative vision and technical craft. We first invited Ben to present to the UK Government Creator Network, where the response from members was overwhelmingly positive. When we later needed to bring the Met Office brand to life through a showcase film, they were a natural choice. Despite a limited budget, The Operators helped us communicate complex themes around environmental science, big data and innovation with clarity and impact. The team were organised, proactive and genuinely collaborative throughout, going above and beyond to ensure both our internal teams and stakeholders were proud of the final result. It was a pleasure working together on a challenging and rewarding project.

Ross Middleham

Creative Lead – Met Office

Ben and The Operators helped us turn a complex technical subject into a clear and visually engaging CGI explainer film that connected with both internal teams and external audiences. They worked closely with us to create a visual style that aligned with our brand and added real clarity to our API catalogue. The process was collaborative, efficient and highly solution focused. We would gladly recommend them and look forward to future projects together.

Clementine Deniel

Head of Marketing & Communications – Murex

Ben and the team brought our Airwave launch to life with energy and craft. Despite a challenging schedule, they helped to creatively develop and deliver standout films, animations and print materials that captured the essence of the brand perfectly

Luke Barton

Director of Marketing – Roli

Working with Ben and The Operators was a pleasure. They not only delivered a high-quality opening animation, they developed a unique visual style that captured the energy and excitement of World Curling. Their creativity and expertise made the process effortless. Highly recommend.

Belinda Bantle-Carboni

WCTV Production Manager / Host Broadcast Producer – World Curling

Ben & Scott are proper gents of the highest order, combining bags of can-do attitude and a fantastic eye for detail. They also happen to be lovely human beings, and an absolute delight to work with. Get some!

Ben Lunt

Executive Digital Director – BMB Agency – Samsung

Working with Ben and The Operators has been an incredibly rewarding collaboration. Across multiple campaigns, they have helped us communicate sensitive and powerful stories with creativity, empathy and impact. Their versatility and ability to adapt ideas to different formats and budgets have been invaluable in helping ASTi raise awareness.

Jaf Shah

Executive Director – ASTi

It has been fantastic to partner with the Operators Creative over the last few years. Ben, and his team are able to provide technical guidance, supporting our agency team with insight and ideas to ensure that we deliver best in class CGI animations. The results are always great, including recent awards for Innovation and Animation at the PM Digital Awards we are all very proud of.

Zuleika Burnett

Executive Director, Creative and Innovation – Havas Life London

The Operators are one of our trusted creative partners who have helped OneWeb develop a unique brand identity and visual language which we now use across our animations and visual content.
They are a forward-thinking creative company who immerse themselves in the brand and take time to understand the customer proposition and audience persona. Content quality and customer service remain at the forefront of everything they do. They have consistently delivered on time, on brief and within budget. I can say with conviction that your visual marketing comms are in safe hands with The Operators.

Nick Maynard

Senior Marketing Consultant – OneWeb

Ben, Scott and their team are some of the most professional, amiable and hardworking people in the biz. They won’t rest until what they deliver is of the highest quality. We’re officially fans.

Ross Dexter & Matthew Comras

Senior Creative team – Publicis Poke – Heineken

The curiosity started early

From university onwards, I’ve been curious about how creativity, technology and production can work better together. Different problems, different technology, same curiosity.

UCA Farnham

MA Animation (First Class) · BA Hons Animation (2.1)

Imagineer Systems

Helped shape and launch Mocha, the Academy Award-winning VFX tool, using insight from artists and studios to influence product development and helping build its partnership with Adobe.

MirriAd

Helped shape early automated product-placement and VFX advertising technology, while helping build a production pipeline connecting teams across the UK, India and USA.

The Operators Creative

Took everything I’d learned and built an integrated creative production studio around it, bringing creativity, production and technology together under one roof.

What’s next? 

After 16 years building and leading my own creative business, I’m ready for a different kind of challenge.

I’m interested in ambitious organisations and interesting problems, whether that’s shaping creative output, building teams and capabilities, rethinking how work gets made, or finding smarter ways to bring creativity, production and technology together.

Much of what I’ve spent the last 16 years building is now happening inside agencies and brands. I understand that shift because I helped create the integrated production models they’re now bringing in house. I know what works, where the challenges are and how to build creative, production and technology into one team.

I’m less interested in the title than the problem and the people I get to solve it with.

Let’s Talk

Have an interesting problem? I’d love to hear about it.

Whether it’s a role, a project or simply a conversation about where my experience could be useful, get in touch.

More of my work and case studies can be explored through The Operators Creative portfolio in the menu.