I. Introduction
Hello everybody, I work for Louis Vuitton as Product Manager, and I’m here today to tell you about our collaboration with L’Oréal for the Chinese market!
To begin, I want to talk a bit about our luxury house, and then move on to the matter: why a collaboration with L’Oréal focused on China?
II. Who are we, and what is my mission here?
We are a French luxury leather goods house, founded in 1854 (eighteen-fifty-four) by mister Louis Vuitton in Paris, and then handed down generation to generation within the Vuitton family until the house was bought by the CEO of the LVMH group, Bernard Arnaud. We stand out from our competitors in the market thanks to our exceptional heritage, craftsmanship, and the experience we provide to every customer visiting any of our physical stores. As well as our product offering, which combines both tradition and modernity.
In fact, even though the company is old, we’ve never stopped innovating and coming up with new ideas as Mister Louis Vuitton always did. Among his most surprising innovations was the development of the square suitcase in response to the industrial revolution and the development of transport, so that it could be stacked more easily and travelled more easily at the time.
Within this company, I am Product Manager for the rigid products. These are boxes, caskets and trunks that are part of Louis Vuitton’s very high-quality product list and therefore represent the company’s know-how.
III. Why work with L’Oréal in China ?
First of all, like Louis Vuitton, L’Oréal is a French group and a leader in its market: cosmetics. Eugène Schueller, the founder, was a pioneer in the development of the first hair dyes. He was a leader in his field the same way Mister Louis Vuitton was.
Louis Vuitton, for example, was one of the first to use waterproof coated canvas for his trunks. This canvas protected travelers’ belongings from the elements and contributed to the trunks’ durability.
He also designed trunks with innovative locks that were both secure and tamper-proof, which was particularly important for travelers carrying valuables.
It’s also a company that invests heavily in research and development to create high-quality products that correspond to the ever-changing needs of consumers. This is something Louis Vuitton does as well in order to always combine tradition and modernity, as I have mentioned before.
It is also a company with a strong link to the world of art and culture, and has so far established numerous collaborations with renowned designers, photographers, and artists aimed at fusing the art world with that of cosmetics and beauty. A notable collaboration was with Karl Lagerfeld in 2019 on the creation of an exclusive make-up collection characterized by Karl Lagerfeld’s aesthetic.
Louis Vuitton also maintains close ties with the art world. The Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris is a perfect illustration of this relationship. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, this cultural institution is a space dedicated to contemporary art and exhibitions. The Foundation regularly organizes temporary exhibitions, highlighting renowned artists and innovative works.
Louis Vuitton has also often collaborated with contemporary artists. Yayoi Kusama, for example, brought her artistic vision to the house’s famous monogram motifs.
Over the years, L’Oréal has also made commitments to diversity and inclusion in the beauty industry. The « Because I’m Worth It » campaign and other initiatives underline the brand’s commitment to an inclusive vision of beauty.
Louis Vuitton is also committed to inclusiveness. This can be seen, for example, in the brand’s recruitment policy. Louis Vuitton is increasingly looking for atypical profiles, diversity, people who have that something extra that makes them unique and could enrich the teams.
Finally, L’Oréal also focuses on sustainability, striving to minimize its environmental impact.
Louis Vuitton is also making this effort. In fact, the house is planning to design and make things with textile 3D printers to make things to size, without wasting fabric, and ultra-fast!
They are also working on recycling inventories, for example with the creation of the Nona platform, which offers all LVMH’s unused fabrics for sale to professionals and young designers.
The company is also looking into other practices, such as up-cycling, with, for example, the transformation of bags from old collections into small leather goods. The company’s goal is to offer 100% (one hundred) eco-responsible products by 2025 (twenty-twenty-five).
The current breakdown of Louis Vuitton sales is as follows: 30% (thirty) Asia, 24% (twenty-four) USA, 19% (nineteen) Europe excluding France, 7% (seven) Japan and 9% (nine) France. We can therefore say that 37% (thirty-seven) of customers come from Asia, including Japan, and 24% (twenty-four) from the United States.
Despite a clear slowdown in economic growth, the Chinese market is still very important in the luxury goods sector.
IV. The Cosmetic case Louis Vuitton x L’Oréal
As Product Manager of the rigid products family, the designers and I want to create a Louis Vuitton cosmetic box to be offered exclusively to the Chinese ultra-billionaire market.
The case would be sold with a selection of bestselling L’Oreal cosmetic products inside of it.
Each section of the case would be conceived with precision in order to contain the L’Oreal products, elevated to a state of cosmetic works of art.
In addition to the cosmetic products, the Louis Vuitton case would be accompanied by a beauty travel set (a nod to the house’s traveling products, inciting escape and refinement wherever you go). It would include a pocket mirror, a makeup brush case, and a hairbrush case, made with high-quality leather and sporting the iconic monogram and checkered patterns of the house.
The pocket mirror would thus be compact and lightweight, perfect for retouching while traveling.
The makeup brush case would be accompanied by a high quality L’Oreal brush, and the hairbrush case would contain the very first L’Oreal hairbrush specially designed for this collaboration.
Showcased here on the board are the cosmetic Louis Vuitton case and the beauty travel set that would be put inside of it.
Potential customers would be invited to visit one of the Vuitton stores in China, after making an appointment with the store in question. On arrival at the store, the customer would be set aside in a private area to discuss the skin tone chosen for the foundation, the color of blush they wished to incorporate into the box, and the various options for personalizing the box (interior color of the box, possibility of adding their initials to the box, etc.).
In order to communicate on the collaboration, we will implement a digital communication strategy by publishing teasers on the social media accounts of the two brands. These teasers will be short videos highlighting the historic elegance of Louis Vuitton and the renown of L’Oréal cosmetic and beauty products.
We will also organize exclusive launch events with celebrities, bloggers, and influencers, to create immersive experiences reflecting the marriage of luxury and beauty. Profiles will be carefully selected to invite as many potential customers as possible.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my presentation, and thank you for taking the time to listen !
