Exclusive: PSG in talks with Netflix show Emily in Paris over appearance
Paris Saint-Germain are in discussions with the makers of hit Netflix show Emily in Paris about a potential collaboration in the future, City PM can reveal.
The talks could see the Champions League holders and Club World Cup finalists feature in a future episode of the series, which follows the adventures of an American marketing executive working in France.
The show’s producers have already shown an appetite for sprinkling real-life stardust, with French first lady Brigitte Macron making an appearance in the fourth season and French Open venue Roland Garros being used as a backdrop.
Now PSG could be getting in on the act. When asked whether the club would be in the next season of the show, chief revenue officer Richard Heaselgrave said that the Netflix blockbuster is “obviously talking to us, yes”.
It would be the latest in a line of PSG collaborations with major brands, which includes a kit deal with Jordan Brand, a short sponsorship with Balmain and a collection with notable streetwear brand Nobis.
It comes as the Ligue 1 champions head to London next week to launch a pop-up experience at Cavendish Square, Ici C’est Paris La Maison.
The idea, the club say, is an “experiential laboratory imagined by Paris Saint-Germain, designed to bring sport, creativity, culture and art de vivre into dialogue”.
Emily in Paris featuring PSG?
Brit Heaselgrave added that “PSG, essentially, is coming to London. We’re expanding the club’s fan base and all our efforts internationally.
“The UK is a key market, which is a bit strange to some, but for us we like to think that we’ve got a little bit more going on than just football and there’s the brand of Paris.
“We think we’ve got quite a lot of people who already are fans, and a lot of people who are interested in our fashion, our music, our food, those things that perhaps are exciting about Paris itself. So we’re building a house in Cavendish Square, from 11 to 15 February, and it’s an expression of all of those magical parts of Paris.”
It is part of football’s shift into sectors outside of sport. Clubs across the world are now partnering with luxury brands and fashion houses; LVMH’s ruling Arnault family are shareholders in PSG’s city rivals Paris FC.
The pop-up will also head to the likes of Shanghai, Los Angeles and New York.
Said Heaselgrave: “If you play in England, probably you have a larger TV audience. We won the Champions League but we can’t bank on that happening all the time.
“So our point of difference as a football club is actually that we’re in Paris. There aren’t seven clubs in the league and from Paris [unlike London]. So when we look at our fan base and how we’re to grow it, we are exporting a city culture.
“That’s what we are, whether it’s the ultras or the Place de la Concorde. We’re exporting a touch of Paris, an experience of Paris, one part of which is our football heritage. We don’t rely only on that, and that for us is proving very successful.”