Paris-2024: from Carrefour to Sanofi, the opportunity for partners to develop cohesion and sporting practice

Montpellier table tennis players Alexis and Félix Lebrun, members of Team Carrefour, meeting employees of the Lattes hypermarket, this January 31, 2024. Carrefour – Nicolas Gouhier

Global or premium partners of Paris-2024, these brands want to bring the Olympic experience to the fullest internally, in particular to unite teams and develop the practice of sport among their employees. The goal: to improve well-being and health.

"Rings to unite them all and, in the light, bind them". We could thus rewrite in Olympic style the maxim of Tolkien's mythical Saga, The Lord of the Rings. Far from being dark, the power of multicolored rings exerts a real fascination on the economic world.

So much so that many companies seek to ride internally on these values ​​that they consider close to a certain ideal to be achieved share with their teams. In particular within the premium partners of these Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"teams" of athletes who work in business

"These brands join us because there is a project behind it that matches their business and they are convinced that it will help them to become better", says François-Xavier Bonaillee, director of business development and partnerships at Paris-2024.

76 partners for a quarter of the Olympic budget

Private partners provide 1.24 billion euros, or more than a quarter of the COJOP operating budget (4.4 billion euros).< /p>

There are four tiers of partnerships: 14 global partners, including Allianz and Coca-Cola, 7 premium partners (BPCE, Carrefour, EDF, Sanofi, Accor, LVMH, Orange), 13 official partners (including Air France, Décathlon, FDJ& hellip;) and 42 official supporters (including Arena, Enedis, La Poste…).

40 of these sponsors support a « team » athletes. One or two more partnerships could be signed between now and the Games.

And what better way to bring these values ​​to life than to rely on a "team", sponsored Olympic selections coming to share their experience high level and self-improvement within the company itself. At Carrefour, this could result in employees of the Lattes hypermarket (Hérault) sitting at the table, racket in hand, to rub shoulders with the fashionable duo of Montpellier table tennis players, the brothers Alexis and Félix Lebrun, newcomers&nbsp ;within a team of 17 athletes."There are common points between our universes, recognizes Alexis. It's bound to be enriching for everyone."

Also read: Paris-2024: Banque Populaire du Sud, premium partner and link with Occitanie businesses

"In our business project, creating internal cohesion, bringing the Olympics to life for employees is the first pillar of our partnership&quot ;, confirms Eve Zuckerman, in charge of the partnership with Paris-2024 at Carrefour. With, as a result, 7,000 tickets for the Olympic Games to be won.  

Internal Olympics and incentives for sports practice

Some brands are leaders in the field. Since 1991, La Française des Jeux has already supported more than 400 hopefuls, including a certain Tony Estanguet in 1991… 

A showcase to bring employees towards greater sporting practice. "Supporting the games is part of a logic of developing the sport in business", confirms Christophe Dépont in charge of partnerships, advertising and social networks at Allianz France, global partner of the Olympics. " A way for us to sustainably establish 30 minutes of daily physical activity for our employees. Our Allianz World Run challenge concerns 4,000 employees around the world this year and is a qualifier for the marathon for all."

Volunteers and bearers of the flame

Same desire, at Carrefour, to promote sport, a vector of well-being which echoes the distributor's mission for the games: to supply the Olympic restaurant with fresh and organic on health food vector background. "Our big internal multi-sport tournament brought together 10,000 employees while we were hoping for 5,000, enthuses Eve Zuckerman. We also financed sports practice for 4,000 of them through the Gymlib program and developed muscular awareness in the workplace, particularly for physically demanding jobs."

Providing volunteers and torchbearers will further promote immersion in the Olympic spirit. Without forgetting the development of inclusion through contact with Paralympic athletes.

For Sanofi, the partnership is "an accelerator"

"Since 2019, we have initiated a shift by developing a real culture of innovation in the company on the basis of resilience, performance, inclusion and diversity. This partnership acts as an accelerator", assures Mathieu Giraud, head of the partnership with Paris-2024 at Sanofi, which has 90,000 employees worldwide. "We will provide 2024 volunteers worldwide for these games, including 53 coming from our Montpellier site".

The pharmaceutical company does not skimp on resources, covering half of the leave, accommodation and transport for those who do not reside in Île de France . With 7,000 participants during the last internal Olympics, Sanofi is capitalizing on sport and its team of 14 athletes and coaches.

"An athlete's speech has more impact than any internal program&quot ;

Mathieu Giraud also sees it externally as "the ideal vector to speak to another audience who still sees us as a somewhat conservative company."

Behind the veneer of communication, a real desire to evolve internally ? François-Xavier Bonaillie, development director of Paris-2024, wants to believe it: “The covid crisis has revealed things about the value of sport. Companies have realized that athlete talk has more impact on inclusion or motivation than any internal program."

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