Core Values

Read the campaign story

Louis Vuitton’s Core Values campaign debuted in September 2007, according to the portfolio of Laurent Janneau-Houllier, who describes leading the pitch and account at Ogilvy & Mather Paris. Annie Leibovitz photographed the initial portraits. The campaign placed travel within a broader idea of personal journeys and appeared alongside seasonal fashion advertising rather than replacing it.

LVMH later documented a 2024 revival featuring Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, again photographed by Leibovitz. That revival remains part of this family. The portfolio’s heading spans 2006–2011, but its explicit debut statement anchors the campaign in 2007. Its promotional commercial attribution lacks a published causal method, so no sales increase is presented here as an established campaign effect.

Editorial interpretation: the platform separates durable brand meaning from seasonal novelty. A travel object can accompany a person through changing circumstances, allowing the brand to speak about continuity without depending on a particular collection. The challenge is to keep the product’s role credible. If the portrait would communicate exactly the same idea without the object, celebrity recognition may be doing more work than the brand proposition.

Editorial interpretation: a personal journey is also a flexible narrative container. Different subjects can contribute different experiences while the frame remains recognisable. That flexibility creates a risk of becoming generic inspiration. The most useful adaptations identify a specific relationship between the person’s experience and the category. They also avoid implying that a purchase confers the subject’s achievements, values or social standing on the buyer.

Define the enduring role before choosing a face

Write the category’s long-term role in a customer’s life without mentioning a celebrity. Then ask what kind of person could illuminate that role through a relevant experience. This reverses the common habit of selecting a famous face first and inventing a connection afterward. A less famous but genuinely relevant subject may make the proposition clearer and the production more manageable.

Keep the object consequential but proportionate

Show why the product belongs in the scene without forcing it to explain the person’s whole life. A useful prop can supply context, continuity or a practical function. Check whether viewers remember both the subject and the brand’s role. If they recall only the personality, reconsider the framing rather than adding a larger logo to an otherwise unrelated portrait.

Measure continuity without mistaking repetition for progress

For a continuing platform, track whether new chapters reinforce the same intended association and add a distinct perspective. Do not count each celebrity or year as a separate strategic innovation. Maintain a record of what changed and why. This helps a team decide whether the platform still clarifies the brand or has become a familiar production formula with diminishing informational value. Review the portrait without its caption to see whether the proposed connection is visible or depends entirely on an explanatory headline.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: create three permissioned portraits of adult customers describing a specific journey in which a durable product had a practical role, compared with conventional testimonials.

Measure the intended brand association, correct product attribution and whether participants can explain the connection between person and object. Evaluate delayed recall separately from immediate celebrity or personality recognition.

Stop if the story implies unearned achievement, invents a relationship with the product or uses a person’s sensitive history primarily to lend emotional weight to a sales message.

• Select stories for relevance rather than fame, and verify the product’s actual role.
• Agree portrait rights and avoid unnecessary personal history or implied endorsement beyond the approved story.
• Keep product information and the next step identical across both treatments.