U Arena, Paris La Défense Arena, and now Plenitude Arena: the largest indoor venue in Europe is changing its name for the third time in less than ten years. Can naming really replace a territory?
One Thursday evening in July, in front of the Arena gates, two friends compare their tickets. “It says Plenitude Arena, are you sure we’re in the right place?” The other shrugs his shoulders: “I always say Bercy de l’Ouest.” Soon, this misunderstanding will become the norm. From July 1, the largest indoor venue in Europe will abandon Paris’ La Défense Arena to become Plenitude Arena, named after the subsidiary of Italian energy giant Eni.
A change of brand, apparently. But naming never just replaces one word with another. It’s a story that we’re trying to impose on an audience that already has its own. “There are two prisms: the economic, which makes money for the stadium, and the brand, which seeks visibility,” summarizes Jonathan Lumbroso, founder of Itro, an outsourced marketing management company. Two logics, not always the same story for the public.
A speaker doesn’t just sell a name, it sells a part of its identity. Paris La Défense Arena told one story: La Défense, its towers, its business district, the west of Paris. “This name made it possible to bring together several cities around a common place,” notes Jonathan Lumbroso.
The risk for Plenitude: remaining a displayed name, not inhabited
With Plenitude Arena, the territory moves backwards, the brand moves forward. The new partner focuses on energy and ecological transition. Not yet convincing for the expert: “It’s sponsorship, it’s not branding.” His verdict: “If the venue becomes the first place of energy innovation in the world for entertainment, then it makes sense.”
A name is not imposed, it is adopted. Accor Arena ended up existing next to Bercy. Allianz Arena is inseparable from Bayern. Others remain commercial stickers that no one uses in conversation.
The risk for Plenitude: remaining a displayed name, not inhabited. Especially since this is the third baptism in less than ten years: U Arena, Paris La Défense Arena, Plenitude Arena. A place becomes legendary through repetition, not through label changes.
On July 1, it will be necessary to repaint the highway signs, relearn a destination for VTCs, reprint the organizers’ visuals and thousands of spectators will undoubtedly continue to say “the Arena” at all.
