ESSEC students present their future of luxury’s vision at the LVMH HQ

The INSIDE LVMH program was designed with professors from key partner universities and featured exclusive video content (50 short videos) showcasing different topics in the luxury industry and immersion into LVMH. ESSEC was one of the 6 key partner universities who participated in the design of the content, and LVMH Chair Professor Sonja Prokopec designed 3 video modules on the topic of luxury brand management.

At ESSEC, 39 student teams participated in this groundbreaking program by LVMH, and were supported by the Inside LVMH Program Ambassador, Ms Veronique Drecq, who is also the LVMH Chair Program Manager. The winning team, including Juliette Bert, Isabelle Terrier, Annaëlle Ber, Christel Bayle and Charlotte Voûte, were selected after their project was voted the best by ESSEC students, ESSEC professor ambassadors, and LVMH managers. They were given the opportunity to represent ESSEC at the final and to present their project at the LVMH headquarters in Paris, during the closing ceremony of the Inside LVMH program. They even received a surprise visit of Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH.

Juliette Bert, a student at the LVMH Chair at ESSEC, recounts this unique experience:

Can you describe this event?

The Inside LVMH Challenge took place from January 2018 to beginning of April 2018. It is the first time that LVMH launches such a project to embrace ideas for the future of luxury thought by students coming from over 40 of the best European universities. The goal was to invent the 'future of luxury’ but it also provided for students some insights within the companies of the luxury group. Our team, The Game Changers was a team of 5 students from the LVMH Chair (Grande Ecole and MS): Annaelle, Christel, Isabelle, Charlotte and I, Juliette.

What was your project?

Our project was named La Conciergerie LVMH. It aimed at providing an answer to the raising concerns for upcycling as well as facing the grey market that is growing in the luxury industry by generating new revenue streams for LVMH. Our Idea was to design a unique place where you can experience the LVMH spirit, particularly of the leathergood houses of the group by proposing to the customers the possibility to customise or transform their preloved leatherwoods from the LVMH brands and offer them the best experience possible according to the LVMH standards.

What did you learn from this event?

This event was very challenging because we had to come up not only with a disruptive idea but also a solid business plan that would make LVMH dream of and trust in our project. I really enjoyed the fact that at the beginning of the project we were in immersion in all the steps of the value chain of the LVMH Brands thanks to a platform with various interviews of managers from the group. I also loved working in my team, I believe we had a great team spirit that made things easier through the journey of Inside LVMH. I also liked the variety of projects that were proposed by students from all over Europe: I was glad we had the chance to have a look at the ideas of the other teams from ESSEC but also from the other European schools.

The event that took place on May 3rd was very rewarding because we had the amazing opportunity to pitch our concept in front of CEOs and senior executives from the group and even in front of Bernard Arnault! For me it was really the first time I had to pitch an idea in such a short time, we learnt a lot while getting prepared for this exercise! And then after all the pitch we were lucky enough to interact with different managers and HR from many houses of the group as well as with other students: it was a great event to network and share our passion for luxury.

What does the LVMH group mean to you?

For me, LVMH means Excellence, Disruption and Creativity - these 3 words encapsulate the values of the group, that I totally believe in! Compared to other luxury companies or groups, LVMH is always looking ahead and very innovative in the way it works (La Maison des Start Ups at Station F, one of the main partners at Viva Tech). As a last year student at ESSEC Grande Ecole, I am going to start in July an internship at Louis Vuitton, one of the most famous and prosperous brand of the group, so LVMH is also my future employer and I wish to stay in the group later. Being part of the LVMH-ESSEC Luxury Brand Management Chair allowed me to discover a lot about the group, its different divisions and its vision. I was impressed by the passion for these companies and jobs that all the managers we met share. I totally recommend this program at ESSEC for students that are passionate about luxury and want to learn more from inside.