World Cup social media sensation for Louis Vuitton
Leathergoods brand Louis Vuitton caused a social media sensation at the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Its link to this competition and many similar tournaments is that it is the official provider of the case in which the trophy is transported, in this case from France, winners in 2018, to the host nation for this year’s event, Qatar.
As part of its celebration of the start of the competition on November 20, Louis Vuitton commissioned famous photographer Annie Leibovitz to shoot two of the stars of world football, Lionel Messi, captain of Argentina, and Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of Portugal.
She positioned them sitting opposite one another with a large Louis Vuitton leather trunk, similar to the one that carried the World Cup trophy to Qatar, between them and a smaller leather attaché case from the brand placed on top of the trunk.
The attaché case has the squares of a chess-board marked out on it and some chess-pieces on top. The two footballers are a study in concentration as they play out a game.
They both posted the image on their individual Instagram accounts at seven o’clock in the evening on November 19, the eve of the tournament. Cristiano Ronaldo has almost 500 million followers on the social media platform and Lionel Messi more than 375 million.
Within 24 hours, their posts with the Annie Leibovitz photo had accrued a combined total of more than 56 million likes and instantly became the most liked post Lionel Messi has ever had on the platform and the third-most liked for Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the shoot, Lionel Messi said his favourite Louis Vuitton product is a briefcase. Cristiano Ronaldo picked out the brand’s Horizon suitcase as his favourite piece.
