Olympics 2024 | For LVMH, the Olympics are welcome, but not without risk

Paris: Among the dozens of sponsors of this summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, one will be by far the most visible and influential: LVMH, the French luxury goods conglomerate. The company has invested 150 million euros (Rs 1365 crore) in the 2024 Olympic Games, a gamble for a brand that has long marketed its goods to the upper echelons of society. And the company isn't just putting its name on the event. It is putting its products ... well, pretty much everywhere.

Louis Vuitton created the trunk that carries the Olympic torch and the medal trays for the victory ceremonies. Various other LVMH companies are involved as well. Jeweler Chaumet designed the medals, all of which will include a piece of wrought iron from the Eiffel Tower. Berluti, together with French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld, designed the outfits the French team will wear during the opening ceremony. And Louis Vuitton and Sephora are in charge of the Olympic torch relay, which started May 8 in Marseille, France, and ends next Friday in Paris, when the Games begin.

"This is the biggest event of our life in terms of commitment," Antoine Arnault, who is in charge of image and environment at LVMH, said at a conference about sports and fashion organized by The New York Times in Paris this month. Arnault is the chair of Loro Piana and the oldest son of Bernard Arnault, the chair and CEO of LVMH.

"We decided not just to sign a check," Antoine Arnault said. "We decided that if we were going to do it, it was going to be new. It was going to be something that was never seen before."

But becoming not just a sponsor but what the company calls the "creative partner" in the 2024 Olympics, and turning what is seen as a national showcase into a luxury advertisement, comes with risks.

LVMH will be highly visible during the opening ceremony, a 4 1/2-hour event that will be watched by 1.5 billion people around the world and that Arnault described as "very visibly LVMH-created." The official Olympic Games website promises that it will be "bold, original and unique." A lot rests on those hours, he said, citing potential hiccups beyond his control -- a security incident, a strike or bad weather that could derail the ceremony.

"This is a big risk for us," Arnault said. "It needs to go perfectly for us to feel good about our commitment to these Games. If the ceremony fails, it's not going to be a very good night for us."

Looking back at the negotiations leading up to the sponsorship announcement in 2023 and the unique way in which LVMH is putting its stamp on the games, Arnault said that the decision to participate became "obvious" and that it had been received well internally and externally.

"We were never proactively thinking of being the main sponsor," he said at the Times conference. But after another major sponsor withdrew, "it suddenly became possible" he said, for the company to have a seat at the table and to have real influence on the Games.

"As a sports fan, as an Olympic Games viewer and passionate about this world, I thought it was essential and obvious for us to carry that role as the leading luxury group in France," Arnault said.

LVMH has strengthened its relationship with the world of sports in other ways in anticipation of the Olympics. This year, for the first time since 2017, Louis Vuitton is sponsoring the America's Cup, the world's most prestigious sailing yacht competition.

Yet as LVMH becomes an increasingly visible part of the French economy and the Parisian streetscape, it has become -- inevitably, it seems -- a target of criticism. In April 2023, for example, demonstrators who were protesting plans to raise France's retirement age, forced their way into the company headquarters on Avenue Montaigne.

LVMH, as well as its CEO, faced criticism when it promised to invest $226 million in the restoration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame after it was engulfed by flames in 2019. There were people who criticized the wealthy donors for not paying their fair share in taxes, depriving the French government of revenue to repair the cathedral. Others criticized the reputational boost bestowed on philanthropists during a time of tragedy.

"There's always a lot of criticism around anything we do," Arnault said. "It's almost a part of the French way of life." Still, there has been less criticism than might have been expected on the company's involvement in the Olympic Games, he said.

The Olympics, too, are not without criticism, especially from Parisians who are finding their city much harder to live in this summer because of traffic and increased security. Other challenges abound as well. As of June, the Seine remained too dirty for open-water swimming events. Officials said that because of unusually heavy rain, sewage water had ended up in the river.

In a show of discontent, some residents threatened to use the river as a public toilet on the original day that Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, had planned to swim in the Seine to prove the water was clean. (The protest did not seem to materialize, but the mayor did take a dip in the Seine this month.)

As LVMH continues to engage in major sporting events, it is not unreasonable to assume that it has its sights on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Arnault was wary of making any statements before this year's Games had even begun.

"For 150 million, let's just make this one work well," he said. "We'll talk about LA after."