CNBC reported on August 11 that as the “creative partner” of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the luxury goods giant has invested €150 million ($150 million) in producing Olympic staples, including Chaumet medals and the uniforms worn by the French athletes.
Daniel Langer, professor of luxury strategy at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, said LVMH’s involvement in the Paris Olympics was a “master class” in brand engagement.
“LVMH’s unprecedented sponsorship of the Olympics has taken brand engagement to a whole new level,” Langer told Business Insider.
The Paris-based luxury brand also enjoyed home ground advantage at the Olympics.
This gives LVMH “the opportunity to welcome the best clients and offer them once-in-a-lifetime experiences and access that other brands can’t offer,” Langer said.
Guests at LVMH’s pre-Olympic party last month included some of the biggest names in sports and fashion, including Anna Wintour, LeBron James, Zendaya and Serena Williams.
LVMH did not respond to a request for comment.
Left to right: LVMH executives Antoine Arnault and Bernard Arnault, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, and Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts attend the Olympic Games pre-party in July. Victor Boyko/Getty Images, LVMH x Vogue x NBC
“Culturally significant” cities
LVMH isn’t the only company to turn the Paris Olympics into a retail showcase: American mass-market brands like Glossier, Skims and Lululemon have also sought to capitalize on the city’s cultural importance and the return of large crowds post-pandemic, BI reported in July.
“The city of Paris has huge cultural significance,” Harry Poole, vice president of marketing solutions at Excel Sports Management, told BI last month. “There’s no question that this market makes a lot of sense in that regard.”
But it wasn’t just about Paris and French brands: The Olympics gave LVMH marketing clout by literally putting its brands on the podium.
Big marketing investments are nothing new for LVMH: The luxury giant is spending €72 billion on advertising and promotion between 2010 and 2023, €22 billion more than its top five rivals combined, Bloomberg reported in July.
“The spotlight is on the athletes and naturally people will be paying attention to what they’re wearing,” Fleur Roberts, global head of luxury at Euromonitor International, told BI in July.
Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, told CNBC that LVMH’s visibility at the Olympics could sway potential luxury buyers toward its brands.
The Olympics came just after LVMH announced that its revenue for the first half of this year had fallen 1.3% from 2018 to 41.7 billion euros. The luxury goods conglomerate’s slump in sales was also dragged down by a slowdown in demand for luxury goods in China, as well as a weakening champagne market.
Looking to the future, Langer, the Pepperdine University professor, sees no reason why LVMH shouldn’t continue with its Olympic strategy: The next Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in global fashion capital Milan in 2026, followed by the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
“LVMH is a global company and the U.S. is one of its key markets, so you can imagine that sponsoring future Olympics would be a long-term commitment,” Langer said.