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On Monday, Sept. 2, director Claude Lelouch, best known for his romantic 1966 film Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman), will receive the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the Venice International Film Festival for his contribution to the film industry. The award ceremony will take place at the Palazzo del Cinema before a screening of his latest feature film, Finalement, starring Kad Merad, Michel Boujenah and Sandrine Bonnaire.

Cartier has been sponsoring the Venice International Film Festival since 2021. This allows it to hold glitzy parties attended by celebrities, or “friends of the maison,” as well as some of the jeweler’s best clients.

“This collaboration with one of the most renowned international cultural events builds on the Maison’s long-lasting commitments to preserve cultural heritage and support contemporary artistic creation,” Cartier says on the Venice film festival’s website.

Cartier’s ties to art go way back. In 1984, it became the first luxury brand to create a major art gallery with the launch of the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. At the time, CEO Alain-Dominique Perrin was worried the brand could be nationalized by France’s socialist government. His idea was to use art to shield Cartier from leftist politicians who attacked it as a symbol of the rich and the elite. Every other major brand would follow in his footsteps.

From Louis Vuitton to Prada and Hermès— today most big megabrands have an art foundation. Not only does it elevate their status — from a commercial venture to that of patrons of the arts — it reduces their tax bills, since donations to foundations are tax deductible.

After art, now comes film. The film industry is where luxury brands are investing a lot of money these days. The success of a brand has become tied to the strength of its relationship with major actors, producers and film festivals. Together with art, the film world now forms the bedrock of a brand’s soft power.

DESIRABILITY

As the luxury industry navigates its worst downturn in decades, the battle for visibility is greater than ever. Desirability is the name of the game. Sponsoring or co-producing feature films, dressing actors on the red carpet at festivals, creating so-called branded entertainment and investing in the production of films about the brand, its products and its history is all part of a multi-pronged strategy to use the film industry to feed that desirability — and hopefully lift sales.

This summer’s set of half-year results showed a continued polarization of the luxury sector. Only ultra-desirable brands such as LVMH’s Loewe, Prada’s Miu Miu and Kering’s Bottega Veneta continued to grow or remained stable. Weak ones such as Gucci and Ferragamo with unclear stories and inconsistent product assortments and pricing policies suffered a massive drop in sales. In the current tough environment, only the strongest brands survive.

According to data analytics company Launchmetrics, the ceremony for the Oscars this year generated 12% more MIV (media impact value) than all four Fall/Winter 24 fashion weeks combined. Cannes 2024 generated almost the same amount of MIV as the same four fashion weeks, which generated only 2% more.

Zendaya’s attendance at the Met Gala wearing Maison Margiela by John Galliano made waves on social media, but the star attending the Oscars generated 48% more MIV. Margot Robbie’s appearance at the Barbie Los Angeles film premiere, wearing Schiaparelli, generated over $2.1 million in MIV in 24 hours. This is more than half of the entire Schiaparelli FW23 show with $4.1 million in MIV.

Fashion and luxury brands know that if they build a closer relationship with the film industry, they will have an easier time recruiting actors and actresses who can act as ambassadors and boost visibility.

If a brand co-produces or sponsors a film, its “friendship” with the actors and actresses involved becomes stronger. The brand gets to direct some of the content as well dress the film’s heroes at red-carpet events such as the Cannes or the Venice film festival, invite them to events and sit on the front of their shows.

Investing in Hollywood also carries risks. “What if the film turns out to be terrible,” points out Georges Kern, CEO of independent watch brand Breitling. “Then you are stuck with your products featuring in a film that got bad reviews and that’s not good for the brand,” Kern told Miss Tweed on Friday at Geneva Watch Days.

“I get one email every day from Hollywood. They are all looking for money to produce films,” he said. For the moment, he said he had not received an offer worth the investment. Producers tend to ask for big amounts, usually at least $500,000 for a product to appear in a film. This is no small investment for a brand. Omega has had a long-running deal to feature in James Bond films and this has paid off for the watchmaker over the years. “If you are part of a Netflix series that is popular, then you know what you are dealing with. Otherwise, it’s difficult to tell what the future of a film will be,” Kern explained.

On top of having a person in charge of relations with VIPs, most brands including Chanel, Miu Miu and Dior now have a person who coordinates the brand’s relations with the film industry.

This person plays a key role in fueling a brand’s desirability. Take Chanel for example. The French megabrand recently supported Marcello Mio by Christophe Honoré, which was in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year. They created costumes for the role played by Catherine Deneuve, in collaboration with costume designer Pascaline Chavanne, and provided financial support to the production. In 2023, Chanel provided some of the costumes for the film Barbie by Greta Gerwig.

Chanel is also accompanying the production of Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s next documentary dedicated to French artist Jean Cocteau. It includes a part on the friendship between Cocteau and Gabrielle Chanel.

This year, Chanel backed the restoration of Wim Wenders’ 1984 film Paris, Texas broadcast at the festival, creating an occasion for a soirée with clients around the event. It published an exclusive interview with Wenders for its own website and social media accounts. The brand has financed the restoration of many films and is the official partner of several festivals including the Deauville American Film Festival, the Villa Medici Film Festival in Rome, the Tribeca Festival, the Busan International Film Festival in Korea and the Biarritz Film Festival.

Chanel has a webpage called Chanel and Cinema on which it publishes interviews “in conversation with” famous actors like Catherine Deneuve and film directors such as Francis Ford Coppola.

SAINT LAURENT

Saint Laurent, owned by Kering, is another brand building a major presence in the film industry. Like Chanel, it sponsors films but it also has its own production arm called Saint Laurent Productions. In 2023, Saint Laurent was the associate producer of a spaghetti Western featuring Ethan Hawke and directed by Pedro Almodovar. The half-hour film did not generate much enthusiasm among film critics but the costumes designed by Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello got a lot of praise.

This year, Saint Laurent backed three films presented at the Cannes festival: Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard with Selena Gomez, Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino with Celeste Dalla Porta and The Shrouds by David Cronenberg with Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger.

American freelance film critic Benjamin Croll who writes for Variety and other film trade publications has noticed that luxury brands such as Saint Laurent tend to only co-produce films by celebrity directors and featuring popular actors. It is unlikely you will see the luxury brand backing a documentary film or a film with actors people don’t really know.

“These are the films that would have that kind of red carpet exposure for the house,” Croll told Miss Tweed about the three films Saint Laurent presented in Cannes this year.

Since 2019, Kering has secured its place in Cannes by setting up the Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award which includes a grant of €50,000 to support a film project. During the festival, Kering competes with Chanel and other major luxury sponsors like Chopard for hosting the most glamorous parties with the most “in-demand” celebrities whose photos and videos will go viral on social media.

Last year, the Pinault family who control Kering went up the value chain by acquiring a controlling stake in CAA, one of Hollywood's most powerful talent agencies. This strategic purchase — spurred by the Kering CEO’s celebrity actress wife Salma Hayek — gave Kering’s brands unparalleled access to a wide array of talent. Equally important, it allows Kering to tap into actors and filmmakers who can help it better compete in the new era of branded entertainment where brands create TV shows and films to market their products instead of using traditional film or photo ads.

Celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch, who has worked with Hayek and Halle Berry, watched how fashion and Hollywood have become increasingly intertwined over the years. In the 1990s, he recalls how luxury brands were not as organized as they are today. Back then, stars were doing their own shopping. Only a few brands like Prada, Valentino, Armani and Jimmy Choo had representatives in Los Angeles. “They didn't pay celebs to begin with. It was an honor,” Bloch said. “Now celebrities all have deals with brands.”

The CAA deal for Kering “was the thing to do,” Bloch argues. “Why don't we buy the agency? Then we own the talent. Then the money we give them comes back. How can you not get the celeb you want if you own the agency? It's a way for the money they are paying talent to come back to them,” added Bloch.

Fashion houses are also getting involved in financing films at an earlier stage— sometimes when the script has just been finished and the production and actors chosen. It gives them even more sway over the content. “Film is the ultimate medium for a designer because it shows the clothes in action,” said Bloch, who has made several films.

Mayhoola’s Balmain co-produced a TV series for Channel 4 in Britain called Fracture. The French brand provided all the costumes and the series carried the Balmain logo on the bottom right of the screen.

MEDIA COMPANIES

The coproduction of feature films is just one part of luxury brands’ marketing strategy. They also spend vast amounts on producing long and short films about their products and their designers, their craftsmen and their heritage. “Many have only one story to tell and it is about the beauty and the heritage of the brand,” says Clement Boisseau from creative agency BETC.

Films also allow brands to better control the narrative and feed the beast of social media.

Statistics show people spend more screen time watching videos than looking at photos or reading texts. Video is THE medium that is the most reposted and shared on social media platforms. Therefore, they impact a brand’s visibility the most. Some of the best in the field of short films for self-promotion include Celine— thanks to Hedi Slimane’s strong photographic eye – and Simon Porte Jacquemus, known for his zany adverts such as films of giant handbags rolling through the streets of Paris. Chanel and Dior have also produced numerous films to promote their products and their history. This year, Chanel released an ad directed by Inez and Vinoodh featuring Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz to promote its 2.55 handbag inspired by Lelouch’s Un homme et une femme film.

In February, LVMH set up 22 Montaigne Entertainment to create short films and feature films about the heritage and stories behind the French group’s many brands.

“Luxury brands have become entertainment companies,” says Boisseau. “They publish their films on their own social media platforms and this has allowed them to create their own community with high engagement levels.” Indeed, today people spend more time browsing social media platforms than reading glossy magazines or watching television.

“Typical marketing avenues for luxury brands have been in steady decline over the past few years; , think full-page ads in glossy physical magazines, or well-respected newspapers,” said Matthew Bailey, Senior Principal Analyst Advertising at the global analyst and advisory firm Omdia.

Luxury and fashion brands have become an area of interest for many young consumers. “Actually, if you remove fashion and luxury from Instagram— you only have cats and dogs,” Pierre Denis, Jimmy Choo’s former CEO and fashion tech investor, said at Miss Tweed’s Luxury at the Summit in Val d’Isère in April.

AMAZON, NETFLIX

The arrival of the streamers like Netflix and Amazon has shaken up Hollywood and provided new opportunities for creating content. The parent of Saks Fifth Avenue recently acquired department store Neiman Marcus with Amazon's help. It plans to leverage the U.S. giant’s e-commerce technology but also its powerful content distribution. The deal could accelerate the move towards branded entertainment from luxury houses, argues Soumya Sriraman, the former head of Amazon Prime Video Channels.

“This next phase of brands, retail and advertising will determine how customers interact with their fix of luxury, and we can buckle up for a ride of shows that are brand luxuriant versus product nods and brand stories versus commercial ads,” said Sriraman.

With the current boom in ads created by generative AI software — as Miss Tweed reported in July, — creating exceptional films will become even more crucial to stand out from the crowd, media experts predict. Many brands also like to broadcast the “making of ” a short film or a photo shoot. Hermès was one of the first big luxury brands to exploit that genre.

Fashion and luxury’s love affair with the film industry looks here to stay. Not only does it increase visibility and desirability through highly “Instagrammable” parties during film festivals, it also gives privileged access to the most “bankable” stars. Connecting with the movie world allows brands to stay connected with popular culture and keep track of social change.

“It’s all about culture,” says LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, who was the first to coin the term two years ago during his group’s results presentation. Brands don’t sell products, they sell culture, a certain worldview, he argued. Many luxury bosses would agree with him.

Since 2012, Miu Miu has sponsored two women who make short films. The brand says its goal is to showcase women’s talent and creativity – just like Kering with its Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award. The two films, part of the brand’s Miu Miu Women’s Tales film series, were shown on Saturday during the Venice International Film Festival, with their directors and casts in attendance.

After creating art galleries, publishing books, sponsoring music, ballet and other forms of performing arts, forming literary circles (Chanel and Miu Miu), generating podcasts (Chloé and Chanel), film is what brands are spending increasing amounts of marketing money on. “Follow the money,” so the adage goes, to find out what’s really going on. These days, a lot of luxury money is going to Hollywood.