Louis Vuitton, Rolex and Tag Heuer at 2022 Monaco Grand Prix highlight how luxury brands and sports have never been closer

The worlds of fashion and sport have always been closely intertwined, from athletes working as brand ambassadors to labels sponsoring sporting events. In recent years, however, this relationship has deepened, especially at the top end of the luxury segment.

This was on full display at the recent Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco, the car race held every year in the wealthy principality nestled between France and Italy. Brands such as leather-goods maker Louis Vuitton, and watchmakers Tag Heuer and Rolex, were extremely active during the two-day event, which took place on May 28 and 29.

At the swanky Louis Vuitton lounge overlooking the circuit, celebrities such as actor Patrick Dempsey and legendary racing car drivers including Alain Prost and Mark Webber rubbed shoulders with clients and a smattering of journalists invited by the brand to take in the competition.

Decorated with Louis Vuitton coffee tables, leather pieces from the maison and, taking pride of place, the Louis Vuitton case created by the company’s ateliers in France to hold the Grand Prix trophy, the lounge was a great branding opportunity for the luxury house.

For the occasion, Louis Vuitton invited top-spending clients from the US and various European countries, as well as from mainland China – at least those currently living in North America, due to ongoing travel restrictions in China – to entertain them and to help them experience the Grand Prix like A-list celebrities.

Meanwhile, Tag Heuer chartered a luxury cruise ship on which it held one of the weekend’s many bashes, attended by Dempsey and newly named brand ambassador Jacob Elordi, the breakout star of hit show Euphoria. Models Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, actors Simone Ashley and Kit Harington, and Monaco’s royals were also spotted at the race.

She hated being Asian and ‘big’. Now she’s a Sports Illustrated cover model

“One of the main drivers for luxury brands to come into sports is the access to a fan community that’s very engaged,” says Hervé Bodinier, a sports marketing consultant. “We know how much money and time it takes to talk to new consumers, and in sports you have a community that’s already engaged, so if you find one that’s already passionate about motor sports or soccer or rugby you can talk to them.”

Louis Vuitton in particular has been extremely active in courting sports fans, using its expertise at making one-of-a-kind trunks as a way to celebrate athletes and their achievements.

Besides the travel case for the Grand Prix trophy, the leather-goods house has also partnered with entities including the NBA (National Basketball Association), Fifa (International Federation of Association Football) and the Rugby World Cup 2023 to make trophy cases that, in the case of the NBA for instance, often extend into full-fledged lines of co-branded clothing and accessories.

“It’s been going on for over 50 years,” says Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke. “It’s not something born out of a marketing plan. Fifty years ago, when we started with the America’s Cup [sailing competition], it was a collaboration with no sponsorship and no merchandising and no PR hoopla. We were just supporting a great sport that represented all the values of Louis Vuitton like travel, crossing oceans, so sailing was always part of our DNA.

“From then it went on to Fifa and rugby and tennis and then Formula One, the NBA and more to come. Any sport based on hardship and dedicating your entire life to excellence and overcoming difficulties is something that we’re involved in because that’s also what we were born out of.”

Another factor that has made the Grand Prix, and Formula One in general, even more appealing to brands is the recent success of Formula 1: Drive to Survive, the hit Netflix docuseries that has turned racing drivers such as Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo into international celebrities.

While an informal survey among Formula One insiders during the Monaco Grand Prix revealed a number of inaccuracies and exaggerations in the way the world of Formula One is portrayed in the show, they all agreed that it has been a positive influence in that it has made a sport long seen as rather elitist more accessible.

Nine-time Formula One Grand Prix winner Mark Webber says the success of the series has opened up Formula One to relatively new demographics such as female fans and the United States, which this year held its first Formula One Grand Prix in Miami, Florida, after moving the event from Austin, Texas, where it had been staged since 2012.

“What has been fascinating in the last three to four years is the digital component, which is heavily influenced by the younger generation,” Webber says. “[Brands like] Rolex and Tag Heuer have been [involved] from day one, but Formula One is like the pinnacle of innovation – standards are very high and so are the commercial values, whether it’s drivers or team ownership.

“Football is huge of course but when you look at how famous Formula One is and the drivers, the brands [appreciate that]. Formula One oozes style, class, sophistication and of course oozes glamour, and glamour comes with top brands like Louis Vuitton.”

Many regular long-time Grand Prix spectators also expressed their enthusiasm for attending the event in person after the hiatus imposed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and a more low-key version of the Monaco race in 2021.

Like fashion shows and concerts, the Grand Prix is just not the same viewed on a screen, in spite of the success of shows like Drive to Survive, which has already been renewed for two more seasons by Netflix.

And from a luxury-brand perspective, there’s nothing more valuable than being associated with a glamorous real-life experience that their clients will treasure for years to come and remember when they make their next purchase.