PARIS – Capping months of speculation, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Monday signed on to become a premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, guaranteeing the world’s biggest luxury group prime visibility during the planetary event, including its eagerly awaited opening ceremony.
While LVMH did not disclose the financial terms of the sponsorship deal, sources with knowledge of the matter said it had put 150 million euros on the table. Organizers are billing the Paris Games as “the biggest event in the world,” expected to draw 4 billion TV viewers, 13 million spectators and 20,000 journalists.
Several major LVMH houses will play a special role during the Games, with jeweler Chaumet designing the medals, and Louis Vuitton, Dior, Berluti, Sephora and the Moët Hennessy wines and spirits division also taking part, the group said.
In addition, LVMH will sponsor athletes including French swimmer Léon Marchand, who this weekend broke Michael Phelps’ last individual world record. Those relationships will pave the way for sports stars to ink brand ambassador contracts with its houses.
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“This unprecedented partnership with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will contribute to heightening the appeal of France around the world. It was only natural that LVMH and its maisons be part of this exceptional international event,” LVMH chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault said in a statement.
“The values of passion, excellence and inclusion championed by high-level sports are cultivated each day by our teams, motivated by an unwavering desire to surpass limits. Sports is a tremendous source of inspiration for our maisons, which will unite creative excellence and athletic performance by contributing their savoir-faire and bold innovation to this extraordinary celebration,” he added.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Committee was keen to sign LVMH as it inches closer to its target of 1.4 billion euros in sponsorship deals, out of a total budget of 4.4 billion euros.
Antoine Arnault, head of communication, image and environment at LVMH, described the negotiations as a courtship dance that lasted more than a year.
“Such an important and wide-ranging partnership is a first for LVMH, so there were long negotiations, not only with the International Olympic Committee and the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, but also internally to work out the best way to develop this partnership,” he told WWD in an interview on Monday at the headquarters of Berluti, where he is CEO.
“It was important for us to be a know-how partner, and a partner that really contributes something to these Olympic and Paralympic Games, and not just a sponsor who signs a check and then completely steps back from the event,” he said. “When you think about the amounts that have been committed, it does not seem disproportionate either in terms of time spent.”
Arnault said the thorny issue of international rights had been resolved. Unlike global partners such as Coca-Cola, Omega or P&G, premium partners earn marketing rights for the country where the event is held. LVMH joins a cohort that includes retailer Carrefour and telecommunications operator Orange.
“These games take place in France and the visibility will start from France, but we obviously have international rights. We can’t tell you exactly and in detail everything that has been negotiated, but you will find out as the partnership is unveiled,” Arnault said.
While the LVMH logo will appear on sponsorship materials, another sticking point was defining the precise roles of its various brands as purveyors of specialized know-how, under the tag line “Artisan of All Victories.” Arnault said it was important to respect existing partnerships, which explains why none of its watch brands will be taking an active role.
Chaumet will design the medals, due to be unveiled early next year. “It’s the first time that a jeweler has designed medals, in association with the Paris Mint,” Arnault said.
He hinted that Dior would be in the spotlight during the opening ceremony, due to take place on July 26, 2024. For the first time in the history of the Summer Olympic Games, the event — conceived by artistic director Thomas Jolly — will take place not in a stadium but on the Seine River and in key locations in central Paris.
“We are the craftsmanship partner of these Olympic Games, and craftsmanship and know-how being one of the specificities of France, almost a question of national pride, this ceremony across Paris will have different themes and moments, and we hope that one of those moments will spotlight France’s craftsmanship, know-how and creative outlook,” Arnault said.
Moët Hennessy, home to 25 wines and spirits brands including Moët & Chandon Champagne, Hennessy cognac and Château d’Yquem wine, will provide its wares as part of hospitality programs. While French law prohibits the sale of alcohol in the sports stadiums and other venues where Olympic events will be held next summer, there are exceptions for VIP suites.
“There are private hospitality zones across Paris in which Moët Hennessy’s products will be available,” said Arnault, noting these were not limited to competition spaces.
Beauty retailer Sephora will be a partner for the Olympic Torch Relay, set to kick off in the southern French city of Marseille on May 8, and will offer activations for the public all along the relay route, as well as at group locations along the itinerary and at stops.
While Arnault declined to comment on the role of Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury brand has a history of sports collaborations, producing trophy cases for partners including the NBA, America’s Cup, the FIFA World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, and extending into esports via a partnership with Riot Games, the maker of the “League of Legends” video game.
The brand is likely to have some involvement with the Olympic medal ceremonies, sources said.
Meanwhile, Arnault said Berluti could dress the French delegation for the opening and closing ceremonies, since these are not covered by French athletic brand Le Coq Sportif’s contract as official supplier of the French Olympic and Paralympic team uniforms, designed by Pigalle Paris founder Stéphane Ashpool.
In addition to Marchand, who set a new record on Saturday in the 400 meters individual medley at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan, LVMH expects to partner with another four or five athletes, Arnault said. They will benefit from financial support and privileged introductions to the group’s houses.
“They will not wear an LVMH logo,” he said. “It’s the start of a relationship and after that, they will be able to forge links more specifically with the houses they’re interested in. They become LVMH athletes and then, gradually, this will spread across the group through their meetings and interactions with the various houses and their leaders.”
Vuitton has been stepping up its partnerships with sports stars. Last year, its campaign featuring soccer stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing chess went viral, and it recently signed tennis phenomenon Carlos Alcaraz as brand ambassador. Meanwhile, Dior’s current campaign for the Lady 95.22 handbag features champion wheelchair fencer Beatrice “Bebe” Vio.
LVMH is also teaming up with one of its existing partners, French charity Secours populaire français, on an initiative to enable access to sports for 1,000 children and young people aged four to 25 who live in vulnerable situations. The group will provide funding for sports association memberships, training programs and beginner classes.
Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, told a press conference last week that it had recently crossed the threshold of 1 billion euros in sponsorship deals, and expects to end the year with 92 percent of the partnership budget secured.
“From the very outset of our project we have wanted the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to contribute to promoting the image of our country and France’s many remarkable talents. Today, with the LVMH group, Paris 2024 has taken a decisive step forward,” he said in the statement.
He noted that in 2016, LVMH was one of the official sponsors of the French capital’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“With its exceptional know-how, the LVMH group will bring its immensely creative talent to this project and enable us to benefit from its extensive experience. This partnership also sends a powerful signal that France’s leading businesses are behind the Paris 2024 Games, which will let our country shine brightly around the entire world,” Estanguet said.
With revenues of 79.2 billion euros in 2022, LVMH may seem well-placed to support the Games, but Antoine Arnault emphasized it was a first for the luxury group.
LVMH has been stepping up its efforts to be seen as a good corporate citizen amid mounting anti-rich sentiment in France, which was shaken by a series of violent protests this spring against the government’s pension reform, including a demonstration in April that spilled over into its corporate headquarters on Avenue Montaigne.
“I know we’re the biggest French company, but we never do this kind of huge partnership at group level, simply because our group is like a confederation of houses, so it doesn’t really make sense,” he said.
“We’re doing it for the first time out of a sense of responsibility, because we think it’s important that as ambassadors for France, we are present for these Games which promise to be exceptional in Paris. It’s also a source of pride to represent France and to be a partner of this planetary event which will be a showcase for France throughout 2024,” he said.
Arnault minimized the expected disruption caused by the Games, which have prompted the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body, to move forward the dates of the fall 2024 edition of Paris Couture Week.
“We’ll work around it,” he said. “We have made it through COVID-19, we have overcome worse things than the traffic disruption caused by the Olympic Games.”
He said the group’s 75 houses had already requested tickets for their staff and partners to attend events, indicating that despite grousing from Parisians about the cost and impact of the event, there will be strong domestic support for the Games.
“Athletes and craftspeople have a lot of things in common: a passion for perfecting repeated gestures, always wanting to do better, and these important moments which for the athlete is the day of the competition, and for the craftspeople, the launch of a product,” he noted. “The closer we get to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the more it feels like it was meant to be.”
This story was reported by WWD and originally appeared on WWD.com.
