The world’s largest luxury group has eked everything possible out of a partnership with the IOC which cost LVMH a reported 150 million euros ($163 million) when it was agreed in 2023.
What sets the Olympics apart from other events is that its stadia are free from advertising.
The uniforms worn by the French team at Friday’s opening ceremony were designed by LVMH, although due to the heavy rain they were largely covered by ponchos.
However, their branding was clearly on display on their trademark trunks and suitcases in one segment of the ceremony.
Aside from that, at this Olympics LVMH made the trunk for the torches, the medal bearers will be dressed in outfits designed by the group and both the medals and their presentation trays are created by them.
The global exposure could not come at a better time for the group after they announced earlier this week their half-year net profit slid 14 percent.
Michael Payne, a former head of IOC marketing who was credited with overhauling its brand and finances through sponsorship, says that while LVMH’s partnership with the IOC for the Paris Olympics has been “brilliant”, he thinks they got a “massive free ad” at the opening ceremony.
Payne says it could upset the IOC’s 15 TOP partners — who unlike LVMH are tied in for several Games at great expense. He himself helped found the programme and he advises several of the TOP partners.
During the last quadrennial, they accounted for approximately 30 percent of the IOC’s $7.6 billion revenue.
“I thought the ceremony was spectacular,” Payne told AFP on Saturday.
“The direction of stylish sponsor product placement may not be wrong but needs exceptionally careful management.
“LVMH got a massive free global ad last night and other partners are all going to be asking, how did that work?”
He said the IOC’s other partners could well be asking “why were we left out and given no chance to propose ideas or even had them rejected?”
“LVMH partnership potential is right — but at your peril don’t get caught being unfair with your long-standing international partners,” said Payne.
Ricardo Fort, the founder of Sport by Fort Consulting and a former sponsorship executive for Visa and Coca-Cola, cast an admiring glance at LVMH’s ceremony exposure.
“I can’t remember in an International Olympic Committee – IOC Opening Ceremony a branded moment like Louis Vuitton today in Paris. Their trunks were an integral part of the story,” he said on social media.
The chief organiser of the Paris Olympics, Tony Estanguet, said he had no qualms with the LVMH segment.
“We are very proud to have LVMH as a partner and they have contributed to the success of Paris 2024,” he told a press conference on Saturday, adding the group had “really bought into our ambition of organising this ceremony in the city.”
Terrence Burns, another former IOC marketing executive, says the Olympics would lose its unique appeal if advertising was permitted.
