Charleville-Mézières video agency: UGC, TikTok, creative ads
Every two years, more than 150,000 festival-goers flood the streets for the Festival mondial des théâtres de marionnettes (World Puppet Theatre Festival), and the whole town becomes a stage.
Scroll to learn more ↓︎Shooting, editing and publishing for brands in Charleville-Mézières
Every two years, more than 150,000 festival-goers flood the streets for the Festival mondial des théâtres de marionnettes (World Puppet Theatre Festival), and the whole town becomes a stage. The rest of the time, Charleville-Mézières has 45,634 inhabitants in 2022 according to Insee, brick-and-yellow-stone arcades, and a mechanical industry that keeps the Ardennes going. Esekai, a Paris video studio, takes the road to the North-East to film creative ads, UGC videos, Reels and TikToks there, with several hooks per video for your Meta campaigns.
See our work45,634 inhabitants and 27,472 jobs
Insee counts 45,634 inhabitants in Charleville-Mézières in 2022, with a population that has been falling by 0.4% a year since 2016. Yet the commune concentrates 27,472 jobs in 2023: every morning, part of the Ardennes comes here to work, get treatment or shop. A town-centre retailer is therefore aiming at an audience that goes beyond the town, from Sedan to Nouzonville, and its Meta ads must be designed at the scale of the catchment area. The 15 to 29-year-olds make up 18.6% of residents, those aged 60 or over a little under 30%. For the former, a TikTok shot by an Ardennes creator in a place they recognise. For the latter, calmer videos on Facebook, subtitled, that show the shop, the person behind the counter and the product in hand, without editing effects that tire the eye.
Foundry, mechanics and automotive subcontracting
According to the urban planning agency AUDRR, industry employs 8,258 private-sector workers in Ardenne Métropole in 2023, including 3,505 in metal product manufacturing and metallurgy. The automotive heart of the urban area consists of the PSA site at Villiers-Semeuse (an estimated 1,340 jobs), Hanon Systems in Charleville-Mézières (400) and NPL at Gespunsart (110), around which revolve forges, machinists and machine makers such as Amada Europe or Wheelabrator, both based in the town. These companies are looking for welders, machine setters and maintenance technicians. A recruitment video shot at the workstation, with an operator explaining their job in thirty seconds, is distributed on Facebook and TikTok where candidates actually look. For an equipment maker, a short film about a process or a new line also serves B2B prospecting on LinkedIn.
1,096 shops and restaurants to put on the map
Insee's full report lists 3,501 active establishments in the commune in 2024, 1,096 of them in retail, transport, accommodation and catering. In Ardenne Métropole, the AUDRR counts 5,828 retail employees in 2023. Around place Ducale and in the pedestrian streets leading to it, independent shops are fighting with the out-of-town retail parks: a UGC video where a customer shows what she found, filmed in the shop, gives a concrete reason to come to the town centre. Restaurants and brasseries under the arcades have a ready-made setting for their Reels: the terrace, the fountain in the middle of the square, an Ardennes dish served in the sun. For a hotel or a gîte, the September festival means communicating months in advance, with videos that show the room and the town in festive mode.
Place Ducale, Vieux Moulin and September's puppets
Place Ducale was built between 1606 and 1624 for Charles de Gonzague by Clément Métezeau, brother of the architect of place des Vosges. Listed as a historic monument in 1946, it is lined with 27 pavilions in yellow Dom-le-Mesnil stone, red brick and slate. Its arcades provide valuable shelter for shooting in grey weather. A few streets away, the musée Rimbaud occupies the Vieux Moulin on the banks of the Meuse, in the poet's home town. The big event remains the Festival mondial des théâtres de marionnettes: in 2025, 86 companies from 23 countries gave 430 performances, with 95% of seats filled. The next edition is announced for 17 to 26 September 2027. A brand that wants images of crowds and street performance books these dates very early.
From Paris to the Ardennes, how we work
From our offices at 40 rue du Colisée, the team reaches Charleville-Mézières by train via Reims or by road, with light equipment that fits in a car. Before leaving, we approve the script, scout locations from photos and videos sent by the client, and check safety rules when the shoot takes place in a workshop: helmets, restricted zones, shift times. For a UGC campaign, we recruit creators who live in the Ardennes, because a recognisable accent and landscape matter to a local audience. A typical day might start at the factory at the morning shift change, pass through place Ducale at midday for retail shots, then finish by the Meuse in the late afternoon. Editing then takes place in Paris: Esekai, founded by Tony Lo, has supported more than 350 brands by delivering several variations from a single shoot.
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
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