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Gooooooooal. ICYMI, the Women’s World Cup is kicking into full swing this week. Hosted by Australia and New Zealand, this summer’s tournament is the ninth edition and already seeing some major upsets. The famed USWNT remain reigning champions, having won the previous two tourneys back to back (2015 and 2019). Can they defend their title? Stay tuned…
In other news… LVMH strikes Olympic deal, Travis Scott’s movie madness, and Gersh goes for growth.
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FASHION
LVMH wins the Olympics
The Future. LVMH has struck a roughly $166 million deal with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to become one of the games’ “premium partners.” The deal, which will certainly make the Paris games the most fashionable in history, may also be a key feather in Antoine Arnault’s cap as he vies for his father’s throne.
Paris players
LVMH is keeping things “Made in France” with its sprawling new Olympics deal, putting its armada of luxury labels to work.
Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Berluti will provide clothing for the French team (the fancy kind, not the performing kind).
Möet Hennessy will keep the champagne flowing for celebrations.
Chaumet will create the competition medals and other “silverware.”
The partnership is a big victory for LVMH, which has been pushing hard into sports after Antoine Arnault (CEO Bernard Arnault’s son who serves as the group’s head of communications and image) recently said “athletes [are] getting interested in fashion, and wearing couture brands in a way they didn’t used to,” using things like tunnel walks and travel days as fashion flexes.
So, LVMH has met that demand, inking deals with the Alpine F1 team and the Paris Saint-Germain football club, and even redoing the NFL’s Vince Lombardi trophy.
Talk about style MVPs.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Cactus cinema // Illustration by Kate Walker
Travis Scott is putting on the Circus Maximus
The Future. Travis Scott is pulling out all the stops for the release of Utopia, his first album since 2018’s Astroworld. Next on the queue: a mysterious feature called Circus Maximus. Whether it’ll help to meaningfully drive sales of Utopia is still up for debate, but the film does cement Scott’s desire to transition into filmmaking… just like his hero, Kid Cudi, did.
Cinematic drop
Yesterday, Scott surprised fans with the announcement of a movie titled Circus Maximus, which will play sporadically at AMCs during the next week.
Scott is credited as the writer-director, but the film also has an impressive lineup of five “additional directors.”
Gaspar Noé (Enter the Void)
Nicolas Winding-Refn (Drive)
Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers)
Valdimar Jóhannsson (Lamb)
Kahlil Joseph (music videos for Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar)
A24 is listed as one of the movie’s producers, but the company denies that’s true (despite Scott striking a deal with the studio a couple of years ago).
So, what exactly is the film about? Well… it’s vaguely described as “a kaleidoscopic exploration of human experience and the power of soundscapes.” If you’re intrigued, Scott also dropped a roughly 30-second teaser for what could end up being a very expensive vanity project — or a groundbreaking nexus of music and filmmaking.
And that’s on top of playing at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt the same day. We can’t fault Scott for being ambitious.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Let’s close.
Gersh goes for growth
The Future. Flush with cash from Crestview Partners (the first private equity investment the company has taken since 1949), The Gersh Agency is looking to level up. It may buy a rival or expand into new areas of representation. Whatever Gersh ends up doing, its intention to expand may demonstrate that very few agencies are comfortable staying small while top firms become more than representation houses.
Above scale
Gersh wants to make some headlines.
THR reports Gersh tried to buy Verve, but the overture was quickly shut down.
So, the firm is keeping its options open, including getting into live entertainment, sports, and music representation, and making a play for another agency.
Gersh’s appetite for a deal or talent expansion shows the agency may feel like the only way to compete in the brave new world of super agencies, like WME and CAA (which recently took over ICM and is possibly up for sale itself), is to be what they were… about ten years ago.
It’s a similar proposition to APA’s merger with AGI to form International Artist Group. The new ambition is to scale enough to take on UTA — the other acronym in the Big Three, which is also on an acquisition spree.
It looks like agencies are making as many deals for themselves as they are for their talent (pre-strikes, of course).
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Doja Cat is at war against Stans, refusing to say she loves her fans and telling them to quit calling themselves “kittenz”... bucking the trend that artists should cater to their super fans. Read more → complex
With Gen Z fueling Spotify’s user growth, CEO Daniel Ek said he plans to focus the company’s podcast ambitions on younger creators, with a premium on video podcasting and “Internet-native” creators. Read more → deadline
NY Rep Robert Garcia launched a Popular Arts Caucus, which has already roped in 20 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and will tackle issues like piracy, AI, copyright, and labor relations. Read more → thr
Fashion & E-Commerce
Lakers star Austin Reeves is unboxing his first sneaker, the Rigorer AR-1, making him one of 20 people in the NBA who currently have their own signature shoe. Read more → complex
TikTok Shop is dropping next month, hoping to beat Shein and Temu at selling “Made in China” products in the US. Read more → wsj
Laws in New York and Washington may allow booze retailers to use biometric data (face, retinal, and palm scanning) to verify age. Read more → axios
Tech, Web3, & AI
Over the past few months, ChatGPT has become a lot more inaccurate. Read more → alexbanks
In California’s farm-rich Central Valley, startup Solar AquaGrid is installing solar panels over rivers to reduce evaporation and generate a lot of extra electricity. Read more → fastcompany
Wayfair’s Decorify generative AI tool can redo your whole living room. Read more → theverge
Creator Economy
According to brand agencies and various analysts, Elon Musk may have removed $4 billion to $40 billion in value from Twitter by rebranding it as X. Read more → bloomberg
First-mover influencing: creators are on the hunt to monetize Threads while the getting is good. Read more → insider
Threads is debuting a “Following” feed so you don’t have to see influencer posts if you don’t want to. Read more → theverge
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Melody Song. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.