Paris 2024 Olympics: A Global Stage for Luxury

From July 26, the world will have its eyes on Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games. It will be the largest televised audience in the world across all sectors. Brands cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity. For them, the stakes are high: to be part of a historic event and to shine internationally. Among the 77 official partners are two major luxury players: Swiss watchmaker OMEGA, the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games since 1932, and French luxury giant LVMH, named a premium partner alongside Carrefour, Orange, Visa, Sanofi, EDF, Groupe BPCE, and Accor.

A few days before the start of the 2024 Games, Swiss watchmaker OMEGA unveiled an international advertising campaign. Twelve athletes and brand ambassadors are featured in various disciplines: Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Léon Marchand (swimming), Gianmarco Tamberi (high jump), Erriyon Knighton (sprint), Shericka Jackson (running), Ma Long (table tennis), Marcel Hug (para-athlete), Bebe Vio (fencing), Simon Ehammer (hurdles and long jump), Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (sailing), Mickael Mawem (climbing), and Céline Boutier (golf). "The athletes featured in the campaign were already our sports ambassadors. Léon Marchand, for example, has been part of the Omega family since 2022. We built this film around their skills," explains Raynald Aeschlimann, CEO of Omega.

In this campaign with cutting-edge special effects, the host city transforms into a fantastic playground where its most recognizable monuments serve as a backdrop to sporting glory. The one-minute film, which reached 300,000 views on YouTube a week after its release, is also available in print ads, playing with locations and optical illusions. The campaign captivates visually and musically with the imposing voice of French rapper SDM, who exclusively reinterpreted the original lyrics of the song "Born to be a Legend" for OMEGA, celebrating themes of self-surpassing and dreams of victory.

Listen to our podast "OMEGA, The Art of Timekeeping" on all platforms

The Bienne-based watchmaker proudly embraces its role as the official timekeeper of the Olympic and Paralympic Games across all events: "It's an honor, but also a key part of our heritage. This role symbolizes our commitment to precision and excellence because so many people depend on the accuracy, innovations, and impartiality of timekeeping. At this level of competition, the margin between gold and silver comes down to fractions of a second," explains Raynald Aeschlimann.

In addition to digital advertising, OMEGA will honor its role as the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games with the installation of its "OMEGA House" throughout the summer. Located a few steps from the Musée d'Orsay, this exclusive venue will welcome members, guests, VIPs, and athletes, as well as broadcast events and host themed events and parties.

On July 24, 2023, LVMH announced it would become a premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, an ideal opportunity for the French luxury giant to showcase its brands and artisans internationally: Chaumet will design the Olympic and Paralympic medals; Louis Vuitton will create the medal cases and torches; Berluti will tailor the French delegation's outfits; Moët Hennessy will refresh guests in VIP lounges, and Sephora will support the Olympic torch relay.

"LVMH approached us for the expertise we have built around the Games for over 30 years, and probably also because we had already collaborated with some of the group's brands on other sports partnerships," says Augustin Penicaud, Vice President of the Havas Play agency, in an interview with Luxury Tribune. While juggling meetings at the "Cannes Lion Festival 2024," which annually rewards the best communication and advertising works, Augustin Penicaud took the time to tell us more about the collaboration between Havas Play and the luxury group: "We started working on this project with LVMH before the July 2023 announcement, which allowed us to negotiate partnerships with athletes, develop the overall strategy, and design various campaigns to showcase LVMH's role."

Virtually entering the "House of All Victories" online showcases content related to the Olympic Games, mostly created by Havas Play. Among them, two major campaigns stand out: "The Mission" and "The Rooftops".

Directed by head of production Antoine De Bary (Iconoclast) and released following the LVMH announcement, "The Mission" is a one-minute film that features artisans from various brands in their workshops discovering their mission letter: "To Make People Dream," the purpose of Bernard Arnault's group. But it is especially the film "The Rooftops" that has been talked about recently: "With this campaign, we wanted to show determined and conquering athletes while highlighting the most beautiful monuments of Paris," explains Augustin Penicaud. "There were very obvious links to be made between the athletes and LVMH's artisans, notably excellence, know-how, and creativity."

For this one-minute film, worthy of cinematic production - broadcast online and on television - LVMH heavily invested in sponsorship by expanding its team of athlete ambassadors. Once again, French swimmer Léon Marchand, also featured in the OMEGA campaign, appears alongside fencer Enzo Lefort, wheelchair tennis player Pauline Déroulède, rugby player Antoine Dupont, and gymnast Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos. Against the backdrop of five iconic Parisian landmarks, each of them faces the challenge ahead. The campaign is built around this film, available in 60-second and 30-second versions, billboards, social media content, and five formats for display and print advertising.

For the Vice President of Havas Play, "Luxury and sports have long been realms that foster beautiful partnerships, such as Louis Vuitton's collaboration with the FIFA World Cup since 2010 or the America's Cup in 1983." But obviously, the ties have strengthened further with the arrival of this global event, he confirms: "This global sporting event generates a lot of interest and allows us to work on magnificent projects. At Havas Play, we support about fifteen partners. For us, it's the flagship event of our sports sector, generating a quarter of our activity for 2023-2024."

While luxury and sports have always been in synch, as Augustin Penicaud explains, all industry players want their share of the prize and are willing to put in extra effort and creativity to be associated with the event in one way or another. Exclusive collections, new choices of sports ambassadors, partnerships, and collaborations: advertising activation ideas have been plentiful in recent months.

In early June, watchmaker Hublot chose French boxer Estelle Mossely as its new ambassador, who will fight this summer to try to win another gold medal. A month earlier, luxury pastry chef Ladurée, as an "official licensee of Paris 2024," unveiled a collection of macarons in the event's colors in exclusive boxes decorated with the official mascot; Guerlain opened an unprecedented cultural exhibition - "Or Norme" - at the Maison Guerlain on the Champs Elysées, centered around the theme of gold, the emblematic material of the house and in reference to the medals; Kim Jones (artistic director of Dior) selected four athletes to wear his looks in a fashion campaign.

A thrilling outcome to the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (COJO), as the budget for these Olympic Games reaches 4.4 billion euros, while LVMH committed as a premium partner with a contribution of 150 million euros. This new partner allows COJO to reach over 96% of its goal: 1.24 billion euros in partnership revenue, not to mention the benefit to the international reputation of French luxury houses.