LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton – the world’s behemoth luxury conglomerate – has officially been inaugurated as a premium partner for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The grandeur of the Olympic stage melds with the sophisticated world of luxury, promising a stunning spectacle to billions worldwide.
Culminating a period of bustling speculation, LVMH’s new alliance guarantees it prime visibility during the planetary event, including its highly anticipated opening ceremony. While LVMH remained tight-lipped about the financial aspects of the sponsorship, informed sources alluded to an investment around 150 million euros. Organizers are pitching the Paris Games as “the planet’s largest spectacle“, with projections of 4 billion TV viewers, 13 million on-site spectators, and 20,000 journalists.
Several eminent LVMH brands will share the limelight during the Games. With Chaumet, the jeweler, crafting the medals, other illustrious names like Louis Vuitton, Dior, Berluti, Sephora, and the Moët Hennessy wines and spirits division are also slated to participate.
On the athletic front, the luxury group will extend its patronage to sports figures, like French swimmer Léon Marchand, who recently shattered Michael Phelps’ last individual world record during the last 2023 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka (Japan). These alliances will set the stage for sports stars to secure brand ambassador contracts with LVMH’s houses.
The symbiotic partnership, as Bernard Arnault, the Chairman and CEO of LVMH, pointed out, would serve to amplify France’s allure. He elaborated, “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. 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”.
This union serves to underline the city’s unique role as a backdrop for this grand event, playing on the world’s love for Paris. Indeed, as Arnault poignantly remarked, “What setting could be more beautiful, more desirable, more beloved throughout the world than Paris?”.
Emphasizing LVMH’s powerful economic influence, Arnault and his son Antoine, the Head of Communication, Image, and Environment at LVMH, were accompanied on stage by French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra; Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo; Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, and Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, inching closer to its target of 1.4 billion euros in sponsorship deals, was eager to seal the deal with LVMH. The negotiation, described by Antoine Arnault as a year-long courtship dance, resulted in a vital and far-reaching partnership, a first for LVMH.
Arnault further elucidated that their aim was to be a significant know-how partner. He stressed, “We are not just a sponsor who signs a check and then completely steps back from the event”. He reassured that the commitment made was proportional to the time and resources spent.
The resolution of international rights was a critical part of the negotiation. LVMH now joins a prestigious league that includes retailer Carrefour and telecommunications operator Orange, earning marketing rights for the country where the event is hosted.
The broad role of LVMH’s diverse brands was another critical point. Chaumet, for instance, will design the medals, which will be unveiled next year. Dior is slated to be in the limelight during the opening ceremony, on July 26th, 2024. The event, for the first time in the history of the Summer Olympic Games, will unfold not in a stadium, but on the Seine River and in key central Paris locations.
Through the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games partnership, LVMH aims to heighten France’s appeal worldwide. “It was only natural that LVMH and its Maisons be part of this exceptional international event”, remarked Bernard Arnault, emphasizing the synergy between the values of high-level sports and the ethos of LVMH’s teams.
LVMH, in its effort to be seen as a responsible corporate citizen, is stepping up to support an event that promises to be extraordinary in Paris. With the world’s biggest luxury group in its corner, the Paris 2024 Games are set to let France shine brightly around the globe.
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