Video agency Calais: UGC, Reels and TikTok facing the Channel
A 72-tonne mechanical dragon striding along the sea wall while a ferry sets off for England: in Calais, the setting does half the work already.
Scroll to learn more ↓︎Shooting, editing and publishing for brands in Calais
A 72-tonne mechanical dragon striding along the sea wall while a ferry sets off for England: in Calais, the setting does half the work already. The town had 67,571 residents in 2023 according to Insee and lives as much off the port and the tunnel as off its redeveloped seafront. For Calais's shops, restaurants, logistics firms and manufacturers, we write everything in Paris and come back with UGC videos, TikTok formats and campaigns designed for the Côte d'Opale.
See our work67,571 residents and a shrinking population
Insee's figures are blunt: 67,571 residents in 2023 and an average fall of 1.5% a year since 2017, with more people leaving than arriving. At the same time, the town concentrates 31,454 jobs, making it the centre of a catchment area much wider than its boundaries. For a brand, this double reality matters. A customer base that is shrinking within the town encourages loyalty rather than conquest: videos that show the team, the regulars, the service, rather than promises of novelty. Jobs in the port, logistics and services, for their part, bring in employees from neighbouring towns every day, who discover Calais's shops on their commute. An ad served around the whole town, with the name of the district in the first seconds, reaches both audiences.
Port, tunnel and Leavers lace
Calais holds a special place in the economy of northern France: the port of Calais, managed together with Boulogne-sur-Mer, links England and Ireland and hosts logistics, transport and industry, while the Channel Tunnel emerges at the gates of the town. The other identity is lace. According to the tourist office, the lace industry boomed in the 19th century in the Saint-Pierre district, and the Dentelle de Calais-Caudry label is a luxury benchmark. In the town, Insee recorded 1,736 employer establishments at the end of 2024, of which 6.4% in industry. For a haulier or a logistics firm recruiting drivers and forklift operators, a series of portraits shot on the quay or in the warehouse speaks louder than a job ad. For a lace house, filming the Leavers craft in motion gives an image of know-how that is impossible to imitate.
Chip shops, ice-cream parlours and foodie villages on the seafront
In fine weather, according to the tourist office, foodie and event villages set up on the Calais LA Plage seafront, with chip shops, ice-cream parlours and pop-up terraces. The ice-cream makers Diego and Sigler and their yellow and blue vans have been part of the landscape there for generations. It is exactly the kind of imagery TikTok likes: a cone held out towards the sea, a tray of chips in the wind, a queue lengthening at sunset. For a restaurant in the centre or on the seafront, a Reel showing the dining room, the plate and the view of the ferries is easy to share. In the town, 70% of employer establishments are in trade, transport and services according to Insee: many independents, for whom a UGC video shot in an hour can feed several weeks of posts.
The Dragon, the beach and the Hôtel de Ville belfry
The Dragon de Calais, a 10-metre-high creature by François Delaroziere, carries nearly forty thousand passengers a year according to the tourist office. It strides along the sea wall of Calais LA Plage, more than a kilometre of sand lined with white chalets, with the English cliffs visible in clear weather. For a leisure, fashion or family brand, it is a backdrop that no other city can offer. The Hôtel de Ville and its belfry, built after the merger of Calais and Saint-Pierre, provide a brick and stone setting for calmer shots, and the Saint-Pierre district, with its former lace factories, suits brands that want an industrial backdrop. Wind and light change quickly over the Channel: we always keep a margin in the schedule for outdoor shots.
Preparing in Paris, shooting facing the Channel
We travel up to Calais by train from Paris, or by road when the equipment is heavier. The shoot is decided beforehand: script, hooks to test, creator casting, list of locations, permits for public space or the beach, safety rules for a port or logistics site. On site, we follow the weather as much as the clock. Exteriors are shot when the light is good, often at the end of the day facing the sea; interviews and scenes in a shop or warehouse fill the rest of the time. A UGC creator records several openings for each video to test what hooks best. Post-production all happens in Paris, with one version per network, and the files come back to you ready to publish on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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