Behind the Choice of a Luxury-Bag Pitchman

The 70-year-old Muhammad Ali will be the next Louis Vuitton icon.

Print ads featuring the boxing champion will launch June 14, in the latest installment of an ad campaign that has featured Mikhail Gorbachev, soccer great Pelé, musician Keith Richards and, most recently, actress Angelina Jolie, who was shown floating on a Cambodian boat with a Louis Vuitton "Alto" bag at her side.

The ad, which will run in magazines and newspapers in 60 countries, seems to capture Mr. Ali in private reverie. Photographed last month by Annie Leibovitz in his Phoenix backyard, Mr. Ali watches with pleasure as a young boy stands with fists gloved, feet splayed, chest puffed. Though not identified in the ad, the child is his grandson, Curtis Muhammad Conway Jr. A $1,525 Louis Vuitton "Keepall 50" bag lies by Mr. Ali's left foot.

As it released a first look at the Ali ad, the company offered a window on how it chooses its eclectic group of pitchmen. Louis Vuitton, now part of the LVMH luxury conglomerate, started as a French luggage maker in the 19th century. While many consumers associate the brand with its "LV" logo wallets and handbags—or with its clothing designer, Marc Jacobs—the company sees travel and journeys as the central message of its marketing and hammers home the idea that there should be a Louis Vuitton bag along on any great journey.

It is common to see a pile of LV steamer trunks in the windows of a Louis Vuitton store—even though very few consumers are in the market for a logo steamer trunk. When the brand introduced its fall 2012 ready-to-wear collection in Paris in March, it designed a steam train to pull into a large tent by the Louvre, where the models stepped out of a train car accompanied by attendants loaded with handbags and luggage.

The company since 2007 has focused its ads on iconic individuals whose lives can be seen as extraordinary journeys. "We are a very specific brand—we are the only one bound with travel," says Yves Carcelle, Louis Vuitton's chairman and chief executive.

The campaign, which the company refers to as "Core Values," was the brainchild of Antoine Arnault, son of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault. While its execution is overseen by the Ogilvy & Mather ad agency, the list of human icons came from a meeting in which Louis Vuitton executives volunteered their own heroes. The result was a list that has included Andre Agassi, Sean Connery, and Catherine Deneuve. Mr. Ali was a hero chosen by Mr. Carcelle, as well as several others in the room, Mr. Carcelle says.

Mr. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was the campaign's first subject in 2007. He was seated in the back seat of a limo passing a remnant of the Berlin Wall, a Vuitton Keepall 50 bag on the seat beside him. Many people found that ad memorable—and it still wins kudos in the ad world. "Everybody remembers that," says Jan Wilker, partner at New York design firm KarlssonWilker Inc.

That and later Core Values ads have won a host of annual awards around the world—including Webbies, a Grand Prix du Luxe Strategies from Condé Nast, and a prize from the French Club des Directeur Artistiques. The company won a Clio in 2008 for its filmed ad "A Journey," which displays languid images of travel with a voice-over that refers to journeys and subtly flashes the LV logo at the end.

The "Core Values" campaign stands out in a sea of fashion advertising because it features people who have accomplished a lot and endorse little. Mr. Ali has lent his image to few products, though he has done ads for Apple AAPL +1.51% and Adidas. The Vuitton collaboration took "many, many months" to negotiate, according to a person familiar with the discussions, which involved Mr. Ali's requests that it be shot at his home and include his grandson.

The heroes so far have been short on racial minorities and people under 40. Ms. Jolie is the youngest of the group, at 37. Before Mr. Ali, the only black icon was soccer great Pelé, in 2010. Mr. Carcelle says the company doesn't consider race in its marketing and isn't seeking to market to minority consumers in particular. "We never think about that," he said.

The company won't disclose how much Mr. Ali was paid, but officials said payments were made to Mr. Ali's two organizations, one a personal business enterprise and the other an educational foundation. The ad, whose tagline reads, "Some stars show you the way," includes a Web link that refers to Mr. Ali's most famous boast: louisvuittonjourneys.com/thegreatest.

The three-year-old in the photo, who is often called "C.J.," is the son of Mr. Ali's daughter Laila, a retired boxer, and her husband, former National Football League player Curtis Conway.

Lonnie Ali, the fighter's wife, says Mr. Ali requested that his grandson be photographed with him. "The two share a special bond. "Of all the grandchildren, C.J. looks the most like Muhammad. And he even acts like him," Mrs. Ali said. "That child—I'll tell you!"

Eclectic Picks

Louis Vuitton has featured more than a dozen famous faces in its bag ads over the past five years.

2012: Muhammad Ali

2011: Angelina Jolie

2010: Mikhail Baryshnikov with Annie Leibovitz; Pelé with Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane; Ali Hewson with Bono

2009: Buzz Aldrin with Jim Lovell and Sally Ride

2008: Keith Richards, Sean Connery; Francis Ford Coppola with his daughter Sofia

2007: Mikhail Gorbachev, Catherine Deneuve; AndréAgassi with Steffi Graf

Write to Christina Binkley at christina.binkley@wsj.com or follow her on Twitter: @BinkleyOnStyle