Video agency Cannes: creative ads, UGC, TikTok, no red carpet
The red carpet is rolled out only a few days a year, but the Palais des Festivals runs almost non-stop: 150 events on average over 340 days, according to its operator.
Scroll to learn more ↓︎Shooting, editing and publishing for brands in Cannes
The red carpet is rolled out only a few days a year, but the Palais des Festivals runs almost non-stop: 150 events on average over 340 days, according to its operator. Behind MIPIM or the Cannes Lions, there is a city of 74,350 residents in 2023 (Insee), hotels, shops on rue d'Antibes and restaurants in Le Suquet that live off this comings and goings. Esekai takes the train from Paris to film social ads, UGC content and TikToks here, timed to this very particular calendar.
See our workA calendar dictated by the Palais
Opened in 1983 on the Croisette, the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès claims almost a billion euros of economic benefit a year. The biggest international trade shows are held there: MIPIM for property, the Cannes Lions for advertising, MIDEM for music, not to mention the Festival de Cannes. Cannes was, moreover, voted best world destination 2024 for festivals and events at the World Travel Awards for the third year running. For a brand, the reasoning is simple: your prospects come to you in one particular week, and the video has to be ready beforehand. A MIPIM exhibitor needs a teaser to push on LinkedIn in the preceding days, then short clips shot on the stand and published the same evening. A local estate agency, for its part, can use the same week to present a property with an agent on camera.
Hotels, hairdressers and shops: a service economy
Of the 13,899 economically active establishments Insee counted in Cannes in 2024, 3,774, or 27.2%, belong to the broad trade, transport, accommodation and catering group, and 1,748 to property. The hotel stock counted at the start of 2026 comprises 96 establishments and 5,424 rooms, including 7 five-star establishments that alone total 1,565 rooms. The 2025 facilities database also counts 225 hairdressing salons there. These figures map out the video needs. A luxury hotel recruits receptionists, valets and commis staff all year round: a series of backstage portraits says more than a job ad. A hair salon or beauty institute wins clients with UGC-style before-and-afters. A shop on rue d'Antibes sells better on Instagram when a creator tries the pieces on in the fitting room and on the pavement.
Rue Meynadier, the Forville market and the lanes of Le Suquet
The tourist office describes a route that every Cannes restaurateur knows: rue Meynadier, with its delicatessens, its cannery and its sweet shop, then the Forville market, where market gardeners, fishmongers and florists share the hall, and where you taste socca. Higher up, Le Suquet lines up cobbled streets, old façades and bougainvillea in flower in summer, as far as the neighbourhood's little fountain. For a restaurant Reel, the day can begin at the market hall with the chef choosing his fish, continue in the kitchen for the preparation, then end on a terrace in a lane off rue Saint-Antoine at dinner time. This three-part story works for a wine merchant or a caterer too. A population in which people aged 65 or over make up 30.5% of residents in 2023 often justifies two versions: one for Facebook, calmer, one for TikTok, faster-paced.
Lérins, the Croisette and summer fireworks
Facing the harbour, the Lérins islands offer two opposing settings. On Saint-Honorat, the Cistercian monks of the abbey produce wine and liqueurs all year round, a strong subject for a wine merchant or a gastronomic brand. Sainte-Marguerite, the larger of the two islands, has the Fort Royal and the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask, and has hosted an underwater ecomuseum since February 2021, which lends itself to content about the sea or snorkelling. On the mainland, the Palais organises its own events: the Pyrotechnic Art Festival in summer, the Dance Festival, the Festival international des Jeux where the As d'Or awards are presented. On firework nights, the Croisette fills up and the terraces become a night-time set. The rest of the year, the beaches early in the morning allow filming without a crowd.
Organising a Cannes shoot from Paris
It all starts with the Palais calendar: we check that no major trade show is filling the hotels or blocking traffic on the Croisette on the planned day, unless your subject is precisely that show. The script, the casting of Riviera creators and the permit requests are settled remotely. On the day, the crew arrives at Cannes station, a few streets from the Croisette, with light equipment that also fits on the shuttle to the islands. A typical day runs from the Forville market at sunrise, to product shots in your establishment in late morning, customer testimonials in the afternoon and terrace atmospheres at sunset. In the evening, the rushes head for Paris, where each sequence is adapted into three or four different openings to separate the winning ads after a few days of running.
Why creative ads deliver better results
An ad that looks like an ad gets skipped in a second. A creative ad works on the hook, the message and the format so it is watched to the end, then tested and adapted for as long as it converts.
Get resultsContent built to capture, engage and convert
Our approach to creative ads
Every video is designed to be tested, measured and then improved.
Strategy & audience analysis
Market, goals and audiences: we choose the angles to test.
Visual creation & ad copywriting
Scripts, shooting and editing to each platform's codes.
Testing, iteration & continuous optimisation
We compare the variants and roll out the winners.
Frequently asked questions about our video production studio
Another question? Write to us, reply within 24 hours.
Write to usChoose your slot now
30 minutes with our team. You leave with a content plan, even if we don't end up working together.