The opening of the Paris Olympics is less than 100 days away. One of the highlights before this Olympic Games is that many luxury brands have entered the game through sponsorship, making the Paris Olympics more glorious-
Luxury brands can be seen everywhere you look: open a custom-made LV suitcase and take out the Olympic torch, don a medal designed by Chaumet after the competition, and celebrate with a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne at the Olympic Village, managed by Europe's largest hotel group......
The sponsorship of these luxury brands adds a glitz to every detail of the Olympic Games. But it is only on this stage where human beings touch the limits, show the possible, and are absolutely fair, that the practicality of luxury brands, which is always criticized, can be neutralized.
In recent years, the boundaries between fashion and sport have blurred, and after the Paris Olympics, the union between the two will be even more profound.
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Text / Yin Hang
Editor / Li Luyuan, Yin Haonan
LVMH, AccorHotels blessing,
The most "fine-grained" Olympics is coming
After 100 years, the Olympic Games return to Paris, France. At such a grand moment, how will the host French team appear at the opening ceremony?
Haute couture brand Berluti has the answer. On April 17, the brand officially unveiled its opening costume for the French team.
Berluti designed suits, shirts and sneakers for the French team, both men's and women's clothing are mainly dark blue, and the blue, white and red of the French flag are integrated into the collar in a gradient form.
The brand put a lot of effort into this design. A total of 8,000 meters of fabric were used in the apparel section, with a total stitching length of more than 100 kilometers, equivalent to the distance of two marathons, and 380,000 stitches were required for each pair of Shadow sneakers. Berluti is known for its craftsmanship in dress shoes, and the importance of such a reworked design is also a testament to the brand's commitment to the Olympic Games.
If there is a key word in the previous Olympic Games, such as science and technology, environmental protection, and inheritance...... Then the key word of the Paris Olympics is "luxury".
Berluti's parent company is LVMH, which acquired the historic fashion house in 1993. Berluti was able to design the opening ceremony costumes for the French team as part of LVMH's "Premium Partner" for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The sponsorship is said to cost up to 150 million euros.
Many LVMH Maisons are closely related to the Olympic Games, including the jewelry brand Chaumet, which was contracted to design the Olympic medals.
The medal features and highlights a piece of metal belonging to the Eiffel Tower in the center. During the renovation, some of the metal on the original building was replaced, and the remaining pieces of iron were set in the center of the medal, like diamonds on fine jewelry.
In addition, Sephora, an LVMH company, will be the official partner of the Olympic torch relay, Moët & Chandon Champagne will be used as a suite welcome, while Accor will host more than 90 buildings in the Olympic Village and Media Village, 1,700 hotels throughout France, and guest information centers.
The addition of these fashion brands and high-end hotels makes the entire Olympic trip more like an ultra-luxurious vacation. Vogue will also host the Vogue World: Paris fashion event in June at Place Vendôme in Paris, with the theme "The Olympics and French Fashion". French brands such as Jacquemus and Balmain will be on the runway.
Who can tell whether this is the "Paris Olympics" or "Paris Fashion Week"? Sports and fashion are further intertwined, luxury brands are looking to gain influence from sponsorship of Olympic events, and the Paris Olympics are also using these long-established brands to bring France's charm to life.
Luxury brands: more elite, more athletic, younger
In the run-up to each Olympic Games, brands that have entered the competition through sponsorship are in the spotlight. The super influence of the Olympic events has constituted an absolute attraction to the brand. Throughout 2024, the Paris Olympics are attracting global attention, and exposure on such a top-level stage is of great significance to the brand.
At Tokyo 2020, many of the matches in the Americas and Europe took place late at night, but more than 3 billion viewers around the world tuned in. For a large-scale event of such a size, which has penetrated nearly half of the world's population, there is no second answer except the Olympic Games.
LVMH and other lavish money are also squeezed into the Olympic sponsorship list, which is perhaps the most important and fundamental consideration. But there are other attractions that make luxury brands fascinated by the Olympics.
Luxury was born to serve a small number of aristocrats, and even if people still default to such rules today, the idea is still too traditional. Brands want to capture Gen Z consumers, and sports and sports are a perfect entry point.
This is best exemplified by the linkage between athletes and luxury brands at the Beijing Winter Olympics. When American freestyle skier Julia Marino stepped on a Prada snowboard at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing's Tiffany ring became a hot item, and luxury brands found that young athletes could not be inferior to "old money".
LVMH, which sponsors the Paris Olympics this time, has plans to further strengthen the brand's sports genes.
在公布巴黎奥运赞助身份之后,LVMH集团就反复提及,品牌赞助奥运的使命是Artisan of All Victories(做胜利背后的工匠)。
This phrase was also embroidered by Berluti on the collar of the shirt
Chaumet, the aforementioned jewellery brand, has designed jewellery for Napoleon and the French royal family, and the high jewellery brand has always been proud to have served the royal family. But in 2024, brands will begin to turn their attention to the arena, and sports elites from all over the world can still bring glory to brands in the context of a new era.
The fine jewellery that once wore around the necks of royalty is now a medal – an honor only for athletes who have finished on the podium. The prestige of the Olympic champion fuels the reputation of the brand, and every breakthrough moment in the Olympic arena is deeply involved in the Chaumet brand, and the brand value is also reflected.
The positive exposure provided by elite athletes allows the brand to spread its influence more widely without demeaning its high-end positioning.
These stars who stand out with their strength in a certain sport can afford the word elite, and it also shifts the attention of the younger generation to the sports arena. Luxury brands must of course follow the wheels of progress and strengthen their ties to the Olympics and top athletes.
After all, "more sports" means more youthful for brands. In addition to showing their taste, young consumers' demand for luxury goods has gradually shifted from simple fashion and good looks to focus on function and practicality. By participating in sports sponsorship, luxury goods make the brand image more pragmatic and conducive to the development of the brand in the future.
Local sponsorship makes the brand more aware of the Olympics
When it comes to sports sponsorship, LVMH is already experienced.
Just two years ago at the Qatar World Cup, Messi and Ronaldo created by LV in the same frame and topped the top ten on the Instagram like list in one fell swoop, becoming a phenomenal marketing event.
Looking back at the group photo marketing at that time, there were no new products, no new designs, and even Messi Ronaldo was not really in the same frame - the photographer took two photos and then combined them together. But it was such a simple photo that prompted LV to become the most out-of-the-circle luxury brand during the World Cup.
Through the cooperation with the Paris Olympic Games, LVMH once again seized the marketing opportunity of the competition, and with the history of the Maison's birth in Paris, France, it strengthened the geographical and cultural compatibility of the sponsorship cooperation, contributed to the unity of values of both parties, and allowed the Maison to open up more diverse forms of cooperation.
Looking back at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, local sponsors such as Canon, Meiji, and Nissin are concentrated in the technology and food fields, and it is not surprising that ASICS participated in the Olympic sponsorship as a sports brand, while Uniqlo sponsored the Swedish national team, and the local fashion brand was not related to the Olympics.
French luxury brands have history as part of their brand culture, and top brands such as Chaumet and Berluti have long roots, symbolizing top-notch craftsmanship and reinforcing the impression of luxury and high-end made in France. These brands and the Paris Olympics constitute a strong alliance.
Following the release of the French team's uniforms for the Opening Ceremony, Paris Olympic President Tony Estanguet said: "Berluti is the perfect embodiment of French excellence and we are proud to showcase the best of our country with these garments, which will be a testament to the extraordinaryness of this Olympic Games." 」
Sponsorship is not all LVMH's actions, and the group is currently signing French athletes as its ambassadors for the Paris Olympics. The 22-year-old French swimming rookie Leon Marchand, who broke the world record in the 400m medley set by Phelps last year, was also signed by LVMH.
Leon Marchand
Source: LVMH
In the past, sports brands would only market athletes before the competition, but now luxury brands are also involved in the long-term support of athletes. With such a recruitment, the brand bets on athletes in advance and gilds French athletes. The signing of a top luxury group such as LVMH will undoubtedly greatly enhance the personal commercial value of athletes.
So, even if we still don't know if the opening ceremony will land on the Seine as we wish, and whether Paris's poor metro system can support the influx of hundreds of thousands of tourists, the cooperation between local French luxury brands and the Paris Olympics has shown a further integration of sports + fashion, and its cooperation form may also provide reference and reference for future brand sponsorship.
Here, elegance, luxury and sportsmanship no longer exist in isolation, but are united as an inseparable whole.