With the eyes of the world on France, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games posed an unprecedented creative opportunity: to design the first-ever Opening Ceremony staged outside a traditional stadium, transforming the heart of Paris into a living, breathing theatre of sport, culture, and unity. The brief? Redefine what an Olympic Opening Ceremony could be—bold, public, inclusive, and unmistakably Parisian.
Paname 24—an alliance of five of France’s leading creative agencies—developed a radical and poetic concept: “The Seine as Stadium.” Instead of bringing the world into an arena, they brought the Games into the city itself. A 6km floating procession on the Seine turned the river into a grand stage, with 160+ boats carrying athletes through the city’s historic arteries, framed by iconic landmarks like Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower.
This massive creative, technical, and logistical feat combined live performance, cutting-edge technology, broadcast spectacle, and public participation:
- Athlete Parade on Water: Each national delegation arrived via boats, a never-before-seen Olympic moment, offering close-up visibility to over 300,000 spectators lining the riverbanks.
- Live Art & Cultural Vignettes: Stages positioned on bridges and embankments hosted choreographed performances, film projections, and musical interludes rooted in French art, fashion, cinema, and hip-hop.
- Broadcast Innovation: With 80+ camera angles, drones, and augmented reality, the ceremony was produced as a cinematic experience, reaching billions worldwide.
- Open Access: Unlike past ceremonies locked behind ticketed stadiums, this ceremony was free to attend in the public realm—democratizing one of the world’s most exclusive cultural events.
The Impact
- Historic First: The first Olympic Opening Ceremony held in the streets of a city—a blueprint for future host cities to integrate urban life with global sport.
- Cultural Celebration: A masterstroke of soft power, positioning Paris as not just a city of beauty, but of bold creative vision and inclusivity.
- Global Reach: Broadcast to over 1.5 billion viewers, the ceremony became a viral moment of unity, culture, and reinvention.
In an era of growing demand for sustainability, accessibility, and relevance in global events, the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony rewrote the Olympic rulebook. With audacity and elegance, Paname 24 proved that cities themselves can be the stage—and that creativity can make tradition evolve.
AWARDS
Cannes Lions 2025
CREDITS
Client: Paris 2024, The Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP2024). Creative Agency: Paname 24 (Auditoire, Double 2, Havas Events, Havas Paris and Obo), Paris. Production Company: Ubi Bene, Paris. Post Production: Prose On Pixels, Paris.
