In its capacity as an official partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Air France has unveiled a new advertising campaign which it says has been designed “to proudly welcome all the national delegates traveling to Paris and France to celebrate the special events”. The Olympics will run from July 24 until August 11, 2024, with the Paralympics running from August 28 to September 8, 2024.
With exactly 100 days to go before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics, and millions of tickets already sold for the 329 medal events across 32 sports, Air France is hoping that the new campaign will both highlight the Games themselves and promote the carrier’s presence on the global stage.
The new campaign features a young woman wearing make-up in the colors of the French flag as its centerpiece, accompanied by a welcome message from the 39,000 Air France staff which reads, “Proud to welcome the world to France”.
The special make-up used to create the young woman’s facial look was the handiwork of celebrated French make-up artist Carole Lasnier, who has worked with some of the biggest names in global fashion. According to a statement issued by the carrier, more than four hours of preparation were needed to realize the reimagined version of the French Tricolore upon the model’s face. It has been designed to resemble the French national flag “billowing in the wind.”
The portrait of the model featured in the campaign was captured by well-known French photographer Olivier Rose, who has an international reputation for his attention to detail.
According to the airline, “This image of a woman’s face is used by the company to symbolize France and Air France. In a nod to the allegories of Marianne and the French Republic, this young woman will welcome the world and visitors at every stage of their journey, with a message in French, English, as well as in their own language, with slogans translated into Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, Spanish and Italian.”
The woman’s image is intended as the first point of contact for visitors as soon as they arrive in the French capital. The campaign has been coordinated so that the image will accompany international visitors to Paris 2024 throughout the Olympic festivities.
The promotional campaign will be visible from the moment visitors arrive at the airports in Paris, with giant displays in all passenger terminals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Paris-Orly (ORY). The images will be found in the airline’s lounges across France, and on billboard posters near the competition venues in Paris.
The visuals will also adorn the main façade of Air France’s headquarters at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, with an advertising tarp covering more than 1,000 sq m that will be visible from roads in the vicinity of the airport, the CDG passenger terminals, and directly from taxiing aircraft on the ground at the airport. Elsewhere, in other French cities hosting sporting events including Marseille, Lyon, and Nantes, the campaign will also feature heavily. It will also be deployed within the company, for staff to see posted around the company’s various sites.
In addition to physical promotion, the campaign will also be rolled out extensively in global print media and online. The media campaign will focus on titles dedicated to the highlights of the Olympic Games, and international publications aimed at visitors, such as the “Special Olympic Games.” Short videos destined for social media will be created to enhance the campaign and to encourage its “virality potential”, according to the carrier.
Created by Air France’s marketing agency, this new campaign is said to support the airline’s current advertising slogan, “Elegance is a journey. Air France”. “We are committed to embodying the French art of hospitality, underpinning Air France’s raison d’être and forming an integral part of its DNA”, said Fabien Pelous, Air France’s SVP of Customer Experience. “With this campaign, we are reaching out to the world, to uphold the tradition of hospitality that our staff perpetuates every day with an unwavering focus on elegance and attention to detail.”
“The values of openness, courage, and pride that are characteristic of the Olympic discipline provide a formidable creative playground and are perfectly in line with our brand territory. They will be the common thread running through all our communications around Air France’s partnership with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games”, Pelous added.