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French luxury group LVMH is venturing into the world of Hollywood entertainment as it seeks to market the group’s 75 brands through movies and television.
The venture, called 22 Montaigne Entertainment after the address of the group’s Paris headquarters, will be overseen by Antoine Arnault, eldest son of LVMH’s founder Bernard Arnault, and by Anish Melwani, chair of LVMH North America.
The platform will be a collaboration with Superconnector Studios, a US-based consultancy that connects brands to production companies, celebrities and studios in the entertainment business.
LVMH will seek to bolster promotion of the group’s brands — which include fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Dior and jeweller Tiffany & Co — through projects ranging from advertising to product placement and original projects in TV, film and audio that LVMH would co-develop, co-produce and co-finance.
The cross-pollination between luxury, fashion and entertainment has a long history, from the 1961 Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany’s to House of Gucci, the 2021 movie with Lady Gaga on the rise and fall of the Italian label’s founding family.
“We are excited to formalise our approach to the promotion of our brands across entertainment formats . . . complementing [their] direct engagement activity,” Melwani said in a statement.
LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group with a market value of €418.19bn, has led the industry’s efforts to capitalise on associations with popular culture and celebrity to boost its appeal, hiring singer Pharrell Williams to design menswear at Louis Vuitton last year and agreeing deals with figures such as Beyoncé, Lionel Messi and Zendaya to front campaigns.
Last year François-Henri Pinault, chair of smaller French rival Kering, bought a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency, the Los Angeles talent outfit that represents actors and directors including Pinault’s wife, actor Salma Hayek.
Antoine Arnault, 46, is in charge of image and sustainability at LVMH, which the Arnault family controls and where all five children work. He stepped back from his role as chief executive of menswear label Berluti recently, taking over management of family holding company Christian Dior SE in December.
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